Men's Surrey League cross-country final 2020, Lloyd Park
Great depth today, but sadly without Goolab, Wicks, Jaksevicius and Buckle who would usually fill out our top five.
The Bels’ Surrey League campaign got off to a rocky start in Effingham Common back in October 2019, with circumstance and injury combining to result in poor turnout in all areas of the squad. But a great return to form in Wimbledon Common and Beckenham Place had massively boosted our confidence, steered us well clear of any relegation worries, and left us with an outside chance of catching Herne Hill and sneaking into 5th place. No small task, considering the growing depth they’ve brought to every fixture this season.
The medals were well out of contention, though, and Kent, who’ve absolutely dominated this season, had the title all but sewn up already.
The Final
Two Surrey League appearances, two first scores from Will Stockley.
Our team roster was looking very deep in the build-up, but unfortunately the winter season had taken its toll on our lads. Injuries and illness had ravaged our ranks to leave us little left to offer at the sharp end. Thankfully, Will Stockley came down from Teddington to inject his strength and raw talent into the squad. Following a few easier training weeks, he had competed at BUCS XC in Edinburgh for St Mary’s and was keen to get the ball rolling again. Needless to say his 14th place did just that! He beat Paskar (23) quite convincingly to be our first Bel home. And just like that, our first two scorers were in the top 25.
The third scorer came in the form of TM Arne Dumez (43) who had set off relatively steady and spent his entire race taking scalps, with a taste for Herne Hill blood. But who had expected newcomer Michael Mccarthy (45) to score that highly in his Belgrave debut?! We hadn’t - but that was clearly our mistake! The Irishman had been training with the Cottage group in Battersea Park and had just come back from a 10k PB in Chichester. If he can continue to develop over the road and track season he will be a very welcome addition to our XC squads. Welcome aboard, Michael!
Matt Edgar has quickly risen up the scoring charts this season, peaking at 5th scorer today just in time to piss off to Canada.
We then witness another huge run from Matt Edgar (57). Matt has enjoyed every single run out with us since his debut at the road relays in Crystal Palace back in September - and it shows. The man has improved with every outing and gathered invaluable points for us. He is moving to Canada in a few weeks and we will most certainly miss him when the time comes to lace up the spikes again…
Next came Alex “the ol’ steamboat” Miller (65) who was keen to do as much damage to Herne Hill as he could. He asked the TM on the start line “what vest am I aiming for?” and that was all he needed to know. He was our 6th scorer on the day which shows he clearly put in a good shift! TM Steve Gardner (76) and Nathan Visick (77) came in as a cluster separated only by 2s. Steve will be the first to admit he had a real stinker in Lloyd Park, but considering he is currently sitting in the deep end of marathon mileage it is no surprise his legs just didn’t fancy it with a much more important task ahead of them in a few months time. Nathan, on the other hand, had another cracker. His outing on Parliament Hill taught him a valuable lesson: muddy courses require spikes! He laced up a pair for the first time and felt relieved to finally experience the wonderful feeling of grip.
Conall McNally (84) and Alex Mills (98) were to be our final two scorers. Conall had had a rough time on Parliament Hill and had been ‘aching’ to redeem himself. This was his opportunity and, while still a little disappointed, he did good work here. He is another hugely promising find and we can’t wait to see what he will do for us over the coming years. Mr Mills is also training for London Marathon so this must have been a nice bit of ‘sharper’ work. In fact, he had pulled out of the race in the week prior and decided last minute to take part after all. Not quite his 89th place in Beckenham, he still put himself in the top 100 and put down a lovely 74 points for us. Thanks, Alex! Much appreciated.
Dylan Mitchard on debut.
Of course, the team is so much more than just the scoring 10. A huge shout out to Belgrave newbie Dylan Mitchard (122) who not only had his first race in claret and gold on the day, but his first ever XC race! Having run 10 marathon and god-knows-how-many other races between them, Dylan is clearly a promising talent who is sure to creep into the scoring ranks in the not-so-distant future. Welcome, Dylan! He narrowly held off Ben Ireland (126) and David Walsh (128) - only one of them actually is Irish, and it’s not the one you think - who keep adding to our depth and are hugely valuable cogs in the Belgrave machine.
Then came Will Cockerell (138) and Lawrence Burton (142) who duelled over the final stages of the race (maybe the early stages too, who knows) in another chapter of old vs new. The Cockerpillar is one of the staples of Belgrave’s racing history while Lawrence is fresh-faced newcomer to our circuit. With only 14s separating them, it’s fair to say this duel is far from over… Alex Janiaud (154) and Rob Norville (159) just missed out on a top 150 placing but have a lovely goal to aim at for next season. That top 150 is yours, boys!
Finally, we have to recognise the brilliance of Alex Luce (196) and Terry O’Neill (202). These two are never far away whenever Belgrave is racing. Always friendly, always a pleasure to speak to, always a great part of our team. Terry actually ended his season as 2nd best V60 overall! A huge congratulations, Terry!
Concluding thoughts
Overall, we finished 6th with 1,954 points. We were left just outside of the ‘middle pack’ of the league - SLH, THH and Herne Hill - but stayed well clear of any relegation battles, with a comfortable buffer before Guildford, Clapham Chasers and Dulwich. Even more promising, our second and third fixture scores, where we combined top end turnout with superb depth, got us challenging for medals.
With this squad, I don’t see how we could fail to do that. Promising new additions like Stewart, Stockley, Mccarthy, McNally, Nutt and Edgar have made all the difference to this year’s efforts. Combined with the class and experience of Goolab, Wicks, Buckle, Owor and Jaksevicius things are looking brighter than ever. Take Cockerell’s word for it: “this is the deepest squad we have had for a long, long time.”
This was a good first step in our ambition to restore our reputation as the best distance-running club in the country.
Results
Gallery
All photos by coach Matt Welsh
