And I think my Spaceship knows which way to go

As Paskar Owor tore through to the finish line to win his 13^th Surrey League, all and sundry could admire a magnificent athlete still at the top of his game in new found veteran status. So you can imagine his shock when the marshal pointed out, “you need to go round again, old son.” Oooff, it’s an awful feeling having to blast another 10 minutes, not to mention having to retrace 60 yards first. John Gilbert was in no mood for charity and churned out a deserved win. It was an unfortunate incident and the blame can neatly be divided three ways: the athlete, the TM’s and Clapham for not bothering with a pre-race-briefing. You live and learn.The back-up from Andrius Jaksevicius and Zek Abery on his league debut, and Nick Bundle (welcome back!) was excellent, and thereafter it was hold on for dear life for the next six men, as this relegation battle became ever more intense. Nick Smallwood gave us another priceless turn, and James Goymour and Ben Hurley exceeded expectation. Rob Norville scored in the Surrey League for the 14^th time, and the amazing kick-finish that both he and Ben produced to edge ahead of their opponents sum up the spirit of the squad.But perhaps man of the match was Phil Carstairs who also scored in this fixture 20 long years ago. Great resilience from he, and a performance that earnt valuable points. The other nine scorers from Jan ’96 are all long gone from our teams, although a certain C Dickinson now of course serves as the TM.Now, what about this relegation battle! It’s a real humdinger and Clapham and Ranelagh threw a combined 55 bodies at the problem, compared to the Bels' miserly 11. Yes, this means we've slipped into the drop zone, but only just, and with at least 20 men who were unable to help here, we should bounce back to finish the league in 6^th/9. But will we?1 J Gilbert (Ken) 27:52; 2 P Owor 27:58; 7 A Jaksevicius 28:35; 26 Z Abery 30:12; 33 N Bundle 30:34; 69 N Smallwood 31:58; 84 W Cockerell 32:35; 106 J Goymour 33:31; 116 B Hurley 33:52; 143 R Norville 36:24; 150 P Carstairs 37:08; 176 T O’Neill 40:03. 196 finished.1 Ken 237; 7 Belg 543.Relegation battle – one for the drop: 6 Ranelagh 1548; 7 Clapham 1570; 8 Belgrave H 1589.