Lion of Nagongera pips Pepper but Tickner breaks open the claret, as in 2012

 So part one of our masterplan executed with flair, what of the small matter of 15k of the scenic greensward?  This is a race to be endured rather than savoured, and having done all of this millennium’s bar 2001 I was more than happy to watch and learn such was the stellar roll call of names. After Phil’s confirmation that his virus remained, Taras too reported in with a nasty cold. He would give it a go and step off the course if he started to sink through the field. But everyone else seemed ‘up for it’ although Ruds later admitted to very little running since Chrimbo.Up the initial climb and we had 9 in 70, fantastic stuff and had stated our intent. Paskar prominent and Andrius about 35^th, keeping Craig and Stephen company. Things developed slowly as the first lap progressed with the only major mover being TT, going from 40^th to 60^th perhaps as expected. But he was still scoring so in he stayed.Lap 2 – moving day – as they say in the golf majors. The lead pack was still huge. PO glanced around, counted to 20 and lost all hope of a medal or even top 10. “There are too many, I cannot handle them all,” he thought. The Scots were looking strong, and Andy hanging on after that fast start but new man Alex Miller (welcome!) looming large. Taras was now under attack from Nicky-boy and Matt. Make it an 8-man race! Royston, our captain marvel there sweeping up and ready to help in case of a slip. And not to forget Paddy and Tim to splash the colours elsewhere.Finally, as the lap progressed, 20 became 12, which became 7 as the last tour was entered. PO dangerously tired now, quite literally losing his mind [he was even sure of the lap count until Mo Aaran put him out of his misery]. But as he came out of the woods, PO reports: “Oh Mr Will, there were girls there, they were three Belgrave girls! And they screeeaamm! Oh they scream so loud Mr Will. I think, ‘No! I keep this pace, I do not slow.’ ”In the team stakes it was hard to know what was going on, but it was clear Belgrave would be up there somewhere. PO dug deeper, perhaps deeper than he ever has for us before and messrs Pepper and Tickner were stuck to well. Tickner dropped back. PO or Pepper for the win?! But then with the final 600 approaching, Ben T burst through a gap in the middle of them, and the mind returned to Phil’s shattering loss here in 2012 when BT came from nowhere to surprise him on the final descent. With 400 to go Tickner lead PO by four or five strides as they ran lock step to the final corner. The roars of the crowd were unlike anything I’ve heard in 17 years of club life. Have we ever seen PO outkicked for us? Once or twice, but he was all in, and three times in that awful last minute he felt the vomit rise to his throat, only to keep it down. Such was his exhaustion it was no longer just Tickner to worry about as JP and Alex Bruce-Littlewood started to badly molest our man. But he had just enough left for a fantastic silver in a race some 18 times over his speciality. Hip hip hooray for the Lion – one of the greatest Belgrave XC runs of the last 50 years – and in the conversation for ever.Breath-taking stuff, and now the runners began to cascade down from the mount. Ruds’ 21^st was fine – we’ll take it, while Stephen just keeps getting better. Our Lithuanian dynamo had looked knackered all day, and when Alex caught him, I roared for AJ to stick to him, and for the two to encourage and help each other. Happily that’s how it went – superb teamwork and packing. Right, where was our 6^th? It was Nick having a blinder, 12 weeks of fatherhood has suited him well. Our work was done but try telling that to Taras who fought to the end as did Matt and Roy.Bedford and County eh! An incredible sequence of results in this race (around 11 wins from the last 15) and they’re National champions of course as well. We’re usually over 500 points off them so ‘only’ 79 is good going. Their team has a fairly new look these days, save for the ageless Darren Deed running in 14^th with a bad injury, into his 27^th season with the club. But our cushion over our chasers is significant, and there’s no doubt the mood in the camp is that we can crack on from here. A big relief to break the 44 year medal duck, but we haven’t won the race since the reign of King George, and the current monarch is becoming impatient. We’ll get there Ma’am!   1 B Tickner (Brighton Phoen) 51:21; 2 P Owor (Belgrave H) 51:24; 3 J Pepper (Brighton Phoen) 51:25; 4 A Bruce-Littlewood (Blackheath & B) 51:25; 21 C Ruddy 52:57; 25 S Trainer 53:07; 52 A Miller 54:33; 55 A Jaksevicius 54:40; 74 N Bundle 55:42; 87 T Telkovsky 56:11; 126 M Welsh 57:18; 132 R Maddams 57:29; 332 P McDougall 63:33; 569 T Weeks 71:06.  857 finished. 1 Bedford & C 150; 2 Belgrave H 229; 3 Highate H 328; 4 Herne Hill H 333; 5 Woodford Gr WEL 425; 6 Serpentine R 453.  55 teams closed in.