Saturday started off with a chill in the air ( great conditions to race) en-route to the beloved Sutton park.  With 90% of the team travelling from the city ( Including Charlie  our Team Manager/Top supporter) and my good self via the road.  It then proceeded into carpark mayhem having joined the juniors and senior events on the same day #notenoughparking! However undeterred by the initial chaos it was then down to us "Belles" to fly the Belgrave flag, sadly due to the men unable to get a full team today.I had a cunning plan to bribe a team ( having seen them the weekend before at our training camp) with my new found fame #GBBO "Chia flapjacks", it worked as we managed to fight off colds and have the attendance of myself, Zoe Smith, JoJo Rhodes, and new teammate Rebecca O'Kill ( nee Prince)Having not run from the start Leg 1 for some time, I was far too polite and on the start line  and as a consequence pushed to the back amongst 70 or so women, to what I soon saw as 11th from the back. As Charlie would kindly put it, I  started with three-quarters of the field ahead of me, getting held up by girls in tights, then having to run through the field and finishing 20th out of 78.  Maybe It wasn't such a bad run and started off  getting the girls into a solid position.

As always we had great team spirit amongst us, Jojo was just coming back from injury, Zoe hadn't been feeling well but still came and ran ( Team spirit).  Then for Becky, it was all just a new experience and she equipped herself very well despite feeling disappointed she hadn't ran faster ( typical runners response :-) ).

So on a positive note, we finished ahead of Herne Hill and Ranelagh, the only teams in the Surrey League to complete a full team, so  the  " Belles" should be pleased 23rd out of 62 finishers (not including incomplete teams) and take this as a good result.Then we were in a whizz, out of the park to get ready for the awards Ceremony in the evening.https://www.race-results.co.uk/results/2016/natw416.pdf. Reported By S.Amend