Men's Surrey cross-country League, Div 1, Match 1, Reigate Priory, 14 Oct 2017

Enthralling Start to the new campaign

 After our brief foray on Div 2’s naughty chair, it was good for the Bels to be back where they belong, albeit with a squad that was missing loads.  No fewer than 22 athletes have those three little letters ‘inj’ in the TMs availability column.  And with 53 in the squad, that’s a 41% injury rate.  Brutal, whatever it is you’re doing guys, step it back a notch!  We had a further 9 overseas, and suddenly it was a big ask to put out a solid team.  Well, we did – just, and with a deficit to Thames’ lead of “only” 105 points, our Surrey league men can actually feel in as good a position as at any time in the last 15 years.There’s always that crackle of expectation and thrill when Nick Goolab pulls on the claret and gold, and after multiple scraps with Mo Farah on the track this year, we felt we had a good ‘un here to show the judges.  A nasty fall coming out of the woods at the end of the first lap didn’t phase him, but a bad stitch in the last mile had him very worried – this his first race since the Diamond League of August 20.  But with 6 seconds to spare he came through ahead of Andy Maud, with Paskar 3rd.  PO’s stated intention was to leave Nick unmolested but act as a thorough pest to those giving chase; and in splicing Maud and John Gilbert he did just that.After one of the best Bels R&C seasons in memory for Andrius last term, he remains right on the money, with sometime training partner and XC expert James McMullan plumb in the crosshairs.  Next up was Andrew Connick parachuting in from Ferrybank to rally the troops.  His 9mils jarred him on the firm sections and he found men flying past on the steep descent, then he’d make them back up, then they’d fly by again.  But he was still pragmatic about his run, which was indeed fine.As was the skipper’s!  No mistakes there, just what we wanted although with possibly the British duathlon champs (3rd) still in his legs.  Andy Fyfe went out like a bat out of hell as the early pace won’t have felt too bad given his 4:00 1,500 form.  But then the climbs and the long grind took their toll, although respectability was kept, and he’s a great find.  Another debutant came in Garret Lee who fought doggedly all the way round; and then a real handbags-at-dawn shoot-out between the silver foxes; Patrick placed 3rd M50.  And to close us in yet another new man, the 360th league scorer in our history, Chris Horne; welcome to the madhouse that is the Surrey League.1 N Goolab (Belgrave H) 26:50; 2 A Maud (CC) 26:56; 3 P Owor 27:12; 9 A Jaksevicius 28:14; 16 A Connick 28:54; 19 E Auden 29:02; 44 A Fyfe 30:16; 76 G Lee 31:37; 94 W Cockerell M40 32:28; 96 P McDougall M50 32:32; 133 C Horne 34:44; 139 S Addicott 35:00; 157 R Norville 36:07; 175 P Carstairs 38:03.  196 finished.1 Thames H&H 309; 2 H/W 316; 3 Kent 318; 4 HHH 334; 5 Belgrave H 414; 6 SLH 510; 7 CC 554; 8 RAN 587; 9 Rei 753.