SEAA 3-Stage Cross Country relay, Wormwood Scrubs, October 21st 2017

October 24, 2017 Samantha Amend

FOUR BELLE'S TEAMS AND SILVER TEAM MEDALS AT THE SCRUBS

Forty mile an hour winds greeted no less than twelve Belgrave women who came for this popular 3-Stage cross-country relay at Wormwood Scrubs. The promised heavy showers thankfully held off, but regardless very grateful for the tent kindly brought by Aidan Grace. The largely flat circuit of just over 3km on grassland appeals to track, road and cross country runners alike so it was four teams that completed the race. With Belles out in force ( and the wind) the hard work paid off for our A team winning a well-deserved silver medal.

On the first leg for the A team, Saron Haileselase sensibly held back over the first kilometre or so, happy to sit in the pack in about sixth place being protected from the wind. She made her move on the far side of the course easily moving up to the far away leader passing all the other runners on the way. Saron hates the wind but battled her way against it up the final straight to finish a close second in a terrific time, the third fastest of the day, and a very long way ahead of the third place athlete. Her run certainly set the team up with a chance of a medal.

Katie-Ellen French took over from Saron and although she had not felt 100% during the week, ran a very strong leg to maintain second place handing over to Sam Amend. Although there was a large gap to the likes of Chloe Tighe of Herne Hill and Stefanie Davies of Clapham Chasers chasing hard for the medals, there is no one more reliable than Sammi in this situation, and the Belle's second-fastest leg of the day easily brought the team home safely to secure well-deserved silver medals.

L: R Saron Haileselase, Katie - Ellen French, Sam Amend

The Belle's three other teams all finished close together, within a minute of each other, and all in the first half of the 40 complete teams. Next to finish in 13th place was 'Team Goldie' with very strong runs from Iona Cousland and Lizzie Goldie-Scot who ran the Belle's fourth fastest leg. Then in 16th, 'Team 800' with Fiona Maddocks, Keri MacKenzie and Rose O'Brien all running very well with times within a few seconds of each other. Finally 20th, 'Team Megs'; after being set up by Mhairi Hall and Megan James, on the last leg, Jurgita Levertaviciute ran an excellent split showing how her hard training is really paying off.

With terrific team spirit, results to match, and support from President Carl Lawton, and the men's team including Arne Dumez, it was a very enjoyable day for the Belles.

L:R Saron, Jurgita, Megan, Mhari, Katie-Ellen, Sam, Iona, Charlie, Lizzie G, Jo Jo, Rose, Keri, Fiona

RESULT;

Chelmsford 36.37, 2, Belgrave A 36.59, (S. Haileselase 11.43, K-E. French 12.50, S. Amend 12.26) 3. London Heathside 37.10, ...... 13. Belgarve B 40.24, (J. Rhodes 14.00, I. Cousland 13.18, L. Goldie-Scot 13.06), 16. Belgrave C 40.35 (F. Maddocks 13.28, K. MacKenzie 13.31, R. O'Brien 13.26) , 20. Belgrave D 41.10 (M.Hall 13.44, M. James 14.08, J. Levertaviciute 13.18).

FASTEST LEGS;

H. Archer (West Suffolk) 11.36, 2. S. Davis (CC) 11.37, =3. S. Haileselase (Belgrave) and K. Johnson (Chelmsford) 11.43,