Belgrave’s Sarah Astin produced a brilliant run at Bolesworth Castle to become only the second Belgravian to win the senior National Cross Country title.

On a mostly firm and flat 8km course, Sarah looked in control of a pack of six, then three, then pulled away from former champion Gemma Steel with around 400m to go to win by five seconds.

A strong Belles team ran in support, but such was the quality of the race that we couldn’t improve on last year’s team 5th. Rachel Brown (45th), Kristina Popadich (68th) and Naomi Lenane (80th) combined for a total score of 194 and 6th place overall.

Charnwood AC took the women’s team title, with Aldershot in 2nd and Hallamshire third.

Olivia Papaioannou (84th), Anna Sharp (108th), Natalie Beadle (142nd), Ella-may Hards (180th), Mimi Corden-Lloyd (186th) and Clementine Cooper (214th) all ran well behind the scorers. Mimi’s run guaranteed that she takes home the club’s Winter Plate for the second time.

Coach Charlie’s view of the race

The only previous winner of any women's or men's National was Birhan Dagne in 2004. That day Birhan was the only Belgrave woman entered and turned up unexpectedly on the day at Temple Newton; she rarely ran cross country at that time.  The favourite, Louise Damon, stormed off at the start and forged out a 50m lead by the end of the first lap. But Birhan gradually reduced the lead, then pressed ahead to win by a convincing 20 seconds at the end.

Sarah's race was very different. The very fast pace reduced the leaders to a group of six at the end of the first lap with Sarah looking very determined and strong along with Niamh Bridson-Hubbard of Blackheath, Lauren McNeil of Hallamshire, Rebecca Murray of Bedford and Charnwood's Gemma Steel. Talented athletes such as Georgie Grgec of Herne Hill, who dominated the Surrey League this season, were left struggling to keep up. Georgia finished an excellent 9th, but over a minute behind the winner. 

On the second lap the experienced former champion Gemma Steel pushed ahead of the group accompanied by Sarah. Over the last mile the race was clearly between the two. Sarah left it to about 400m from the finish to make her final effort when she surged ahead to win by nearly 30m. A delighted Sarah was presented with a red rose at the finish and later the winner's silver bowl.

Individual: 1. S. Astin 29:28, 2. G. Steel (Charnwood AC) 29:33, 3. N. Bridson-Hubbard (Blackheath and Bromley) 29:43, .... 45. R. Brown 32:21, 68. K. Popadich 33:19, 80. N. Lenane 33:48, 84. O. Papaioannou 33:55, 108. A. Sharp 34;24, 142. N. Beadle 35;25, 180. E-M. Hards 36;14, 186. M. Corden-Lloyd 36:25, 214. C. Cooper 37:12. There were 774 finishers. 

Teams: 1. Charnwood AC 68, 2. AFD 97, 3. Hallamshire H 102, 4. Leeds AC 111, 5. THH 166, 6. Belgrave H 194, ...10 Herne Hill 384, ..14 Kent AC 434.

Bels

The men’s team, with none of their superstars available following a brutal winter season, took a compact but committed bunch up to the north west and were quietly pleased to come away with team 20th on the day. Sam Sommerville (116th) claimed the Harry Parker Memorial Trophy for the first Bel home at the National.

Captain Conall McNally (206th) made it a perfect attendance record for the winter season as second scorer, followed by Fin Dyer (239th) and George Loxton (246th), both in the first seasons as seniors. Michael McCarthy (273rd) and Angus Lamb (279th) closed out our scoring six.

Rob Kelly (327th) and Tom Lole (338th) both ran well on their least favourite surface; Steve Gardner recovering from illness (429th) and Val Rigori (444th) enjoyed a good workout together for almost the entire 12km. Will Cockerell (1016th) made it a remarkable 24 consecutive National appearances in claret and gold.

All gallery photos by Jerry Sun.