The Belgrave XC Plate is an award given to the the most successful, prolific and consistent man and woman across the XC season. Starting in October with the first Surrey League fixture and ending at the National Championships in February, the plate goes to whichever athlete scored the most points for the claret and gold. Last year the plate went to Andrius Jaksevicius and Mhairi Hall. You may want to read Will Cockerell’s full account of the 2019-2020 season in all its beauty before we announce this year’s winners.

The rules - the first Belgravian across the line gets maximum points (25 for the men, 20 for the women) and every position after them gets one point less - second Bel gets 24, second Belle gets 19, etc… In other words, athletes collect points not just by excelling in one or two races, but by racking up the points across the season. You don’t even have to score in the team race to get points towards the plate. The prize rewards excellence just as much as it celebrates team spirit and consistency. The 2019-2020 season is one that we can truly be proud of. So from our coaches, captains and team managers, a big thank you to all of our runners!

Women

On the women’s side, we must first applaud a tremendous season. The Belles finished 3rd overall in the first division of the Surrey League - only 9 little points behind the Clapham Chasers. They also took home a team bronze in the Surrey XC Championships, a 5th place at the South of England Championships and an 11th team place at the National in Nottingham. This sort of success does not happen at the hands of a single star runner, or even two. This is the result of a truly outstanding team. Well done, ladies, and keep it coming!

On the individual front, we celebrate a winner who has been knocking on this door for a little while now. She literally did not miss a single XC race all season and has been an invaluable member of the team since she joined. Beloved by her teammates and her coach she has truly demonstrated what teamwork and team spirit mean. Mimi Corden-Lloyd is the winner of this season’s XC plate with 113 points! Last year’s winner, team co-captain Mhair, struggled with illness throughout most of the season and was not able to defend her title this time round, but she will be celebrating Mimi’s win all the same. A huge congratulations, Mimi!

Behind her it was the ever-reliable Alice Reed who claimed 104 points across all but two races. Interrupted by an insane endurance challenge in which she ran 280km in 6 days across the Azores to aid the fight against modern slavery, Alice’s XC season remained beautifully consistent. She put in the work, she put in the time, and she was always there for her team. Not only that, she also accomplished one hell of a mean feat for a good cause in the meantime.

Finally, it was Rachel Brown who concluded the podium with 95 points. Speaking of consistent… Rachel - a triathlete by background - ran five races across the season and was 2nd Belle in all of them. I repeat, she was second Belle in all of her XC races! Another fun fact for you, her highest ranking in the Surrey League was 9th. Her lowest ranking was 11th. Consistency, thine name is Rachel!

A small of 15 points separate Rachel from Georgie Fenn who entered the season late in January. She may have gotten in late, but once she was in she dominated, claiming a full 20 points in all entries from January 2020. She also put herself on the podium with a 3rd individual place on Wimbledon Common in the third fixture of the Surrey League (the Belles actually came 2nd overall that day). It would be incredibly remiss of us not to applaud newcomers Camilla Barden, Olivia Papaioannou and Emily Barrett who all played a huge part in the Belle’s success throughout the season. Camilla had never actually run a XC race before in her life, and Olivia is a 400m runner by background, so these two really did put themselves out of their comfort zones just to be team players. A huge thank you is in order!

Men

The winner of this year’s XC plate will not come as a shock to anyone. Not only is this man one of our most successful athletes ever having competed at two Olympic Games, he has become an icon on the South of England athletics circuit. People know him, people love him, it’s Paskar Owor! The Lion left very little chance to the rest of us and dominated the men’s plate standings with a staggering 144 points.

Usually, Paskar has to contend with former plate owners Andrius and Phil Wicks - both redoubtable runners over the country. Unfortunately, both of these men club legends were sidelined with injury for most of the season. Paskar, on the other hand, missed only two races all season and was within our top 3 men home at every single race except at the South of Thames 7.5Mi championship race in Lloyd Park where he was our first man home. A true Belgravian and a deserving winner of the honours. Congratulations, Paskar!

Behind Paskar, however, the race got very tight. We are delighted to announce that the second Bel in the rankings, with 116 points to his name, is Conall McNally. As a new recruit in late 2019, Conall has made a hugely positive start to his career with us and we are so pleased to see him in our ranks. Having only missed the South of Thames races, he put points on the scoreboard for us in every race he competed in except the South of England XC Championship on Parliament Hill where he encountered the steep, fabled and infamous ‘learning curve’. But he did not meet his maker and was back for more at Nationals on his home turf where he claimed 22 points as our 4th man across the line.

Just a mere 8 points behind Conall was one of our friendliest, smiliest but also toughest runners. That’s right, Ben Hurley takes the last step on the podium! He only missed two races all season, and we all remember his epic showdown with young bucks Will Johnson and Alex Mills on the plains of Morden Park. Ben came out victorious that day and showed those whippersnappers how one finishes third Bel. As well as haunting Conall’s heels in the plate rankings, Ben was next Bel behind Conall in both the Southern and National Champs. Watch your back, Conall…

Of course, we had many more men featuring in our colours this season and the scores look exceptionally cramped all the way down the list. Honourable mentions must go out to newcomers Callum Stewart and Matt Edgar who, despite this being their very first season in our colours, have put themselves squarely in the top 5 ahead of co-captain Arne Dumez. Also notable is Will Stockley, one of Craig Winrow’s boys at St Mary’s, who only ran the first and final Surrey League fixtures for us but was first Bel home in both. Clearly the 800m/1500m prodigy has got more depth to him than that! We cannot possibly forget to mention Nick Goolab, now British record holder over 5k on the road, who conquered our first Surrey League win since 2017 in Beckenham and crowned himself Middlesex XC champion. What a class act.

Full results