South of the Thames Championship, Coulsdon, December 20, 2014

14 Belgravians Excel Over 13k of the Downs

We have a long, laudable history at this venerable if quirky institution. It took us 15 years before we troubled the podium, finally striking hardware in the 1903-04 season. We then had to wait another 24 years to savour our first gold, before an excellent spell, as six wins came our way between 1935-1955. Then a long slumber with just one further win before a reboot came in the late 1990’s. After Chas anchored us to silver in 1997, we embarked on a spectacular run of form in the Mead years with seven golds in 11 attempts. There was the St. Valentine’s Day massacre… the Thriller of Sparrow’s Den… the Marvel of the Millennium… not to mention three classic wins on our own course in ‘04, ‘08 and ‘09 and a blistering blitz at Brockwell in ’06.--------------------------------------------

Andy's Breakthrough Run

So, some fond memories there, and what of the 2014 vintage? Extremely noble is the answer, as despite a startling list of fall-outs in the days – and hours – leading up, we offered eight strong men to the challenge. Andrius proved his fine debut was no fluke with an even better run here, and a remarkable 9^th to lead us home. His upright style, with the low heel lift may look a trifle ungainly, but it’s very effective. Taras had a peach of a run too, roaring from 20^th to 12^th over the second lap. How pleased we are to have these men for future battles.Nick then had a remarkable race-long duel with Stuart Major. He was unaware of the quantity of ledg he was dealing with – a former champion of this and hundreds of other races. But finally, on the long run in, NB got his man. Close behind came more terrific runs from a returning Matt Taylor and a brilliant debut from Ed Auden. Our engine room is suddenly packing a stellar punch which bodes so well.Your correspondent was happy to observe from the sidelines knowing he could make little impression after a fortnight of boy-sniffle (the inbred sprog of manflu), but there was a big question as to how our 6^th man would go. It was the Welshman, on crutches a few short weeks ago, and taking one for the team in a big way. The second-half was painful, but his small fade did not cost us a medal, and indeed another man in the 30’s would still have seen us a fraction short of bronze. With messrs McDougall and O’Neill bravely tracking our scorers’ every move, our work was complete and we can savour the progress made since October’s untidy visit to Happy Valley.1 D Lacy (Camb) 42:45; 9 A Jaksevicius 45:44; 12 T Telkovsky 45:58; 25 N Bundle 46:44; 30 M Taylor 47:20; 32 E Auden 47:33; 61 M Welsh 50:21; 102 P McDougall 53:21; 148 T O’Neill 59:06. 208 finished.1 Tonbridge 114; 2 Brighton 116; 3 Herne Hill 122; 4 Kent 141; 5 Belgrave 166. 23 Teams closed in.-----------------------------------------

Vix Vapour Rub Saves The Day

How many times in 14 years of loyal service has Vicki popped up to save us when all was looking lost? She reminds me of the Wolf in Pulp Fiction. No fuss, no frills: “you have a headless body, in a car, in a garage. Take me to it.” For several years her sweepage of the scrapes the Belles find themselves in have come via Geneva, and it does so help that her Pa lives on the Coulsdon course, even if some of his ‘encouragement’ is best kept to himself. “Ok, getting cold now,” he muttered to his girl’s fury, as this overlong slugfest played out.Anyway, it wasn’t supposed to be like this. But like falling dominoes we lost both skips plus JJR, SA, CL, GM, HB, RT, LV and quite a few others in the build-up. Even with our depth, we were down to our last. And so it proved: everyone to score, and ZLD to start, despite a hungover hubby in traction on the living room floor and 8-year-old son in charge of the tribe. That’s our girl.In the turbulence all around Mel gave us yet another gem. First Amy Clements gave her a thorough going over on lap 1, and then the excellent Reid of Tonbridge had our hero sweating some over the second circuit. Could she deal with the threat? Yes, brilliantly, as a full 200 yards were extracted (hold the anaesthetic) over the final lap. Congratulations Mel, and now for Brighton!Zoe all but saw off the incredible Clare Elms, what a scalp that would have been; while Keri and Zoe S gave our middle order the perfect boost with 10^th and 11^th. Celine has spent much time on the sidelines of late and this was a brutal return for her. But she had a job to do and summed up the thoughts of many with her FB pronouncement of, “Damm, this cross-country was the hardest one I’ve done!” And still we needed one more, not just to log a result, but, er, WIN! Time to call the Wolf.1 M Wilkins (Belgrave H) 50:59; 5 Z Doyle 53:57; 10 K Mackenzie 56:59; 11 Z Smith 57:29; 30 C Duraffourd 63:09; 35 V Goodwin 64:36. 74 finished.1 Belgrave H 92; 2 Dulwich R 138; 3 Kent 142; 4 South London H 163; 5 Clapham C 223. 6 teams closed in.