The Southern: Women 5th and Men 11th in Parliament Hill mudbath
An in-form Belles side scored an impressive team fifth while a rebuilding men’s team came 11th on a very sludgy Parliament Hill course for the South of England Cross Country Championships.
Georgie Fenn and Callum Stewart were the first Belgravians home for their respective teams.
Women (4 to score)
A terrific team performance by all 12 Belles, writes coach Charlie Dickinson.
This was one of the most memorable days the Belles have had. No less than a record twelve women, for this championships, braved the very muddy conditions and all finished well within the top 200 out of a total of nearly 700 runners. The A team finished a fine 5th ahead of all the Surrey League teams except THH. There are no B and C team results in this competition but if there were, the respective teams would have finished 12th and 23rd out of a total of 70 complete teams.
The conditions were grim, dampness in the air and the magnificent view of London from the top of Parliament Hill shrouded in mist. After the earlier junior races any remaining grass on the course had turned to sticky mud. This is probably the toughest course in the country, after the long uphill start just a series of undulations with very few flat paths. It really is a long slog from start to finish.
Georgie Fenn (4691) was the highest placed Belgravian of the Championships.
This team is a true mixture of new young members together with those with more experience. They are all inspired by co-captains Samantha Amend and Mhairi Hall who ran to support the team despite both having winters blighted with injury and illness. The Belles’ final finisher, Camilla Barden, should never have run having been ill and hardy eaten the week before but said she “didn't want to let the others down”. This sums up their attitude, no prima donnas, just a group of young women helping and supporting each other with a wonderful team spirit.
The team was led home by Georgie Fenn in 17th place. She is having a fine season mixing with some very good top athletes. Then came Rachel Brown and Olivia Papaioannou both in the fifties. Alice Reed completed the scoring team in 70th just ahead of Emily Barrett and Mhairi Hall. Both Olivia and Alice finished very strongly which resulted in the team gaining a place.
Next came another close trio of Iona Cousland, with a very strong second lap, Sam Amend, her first race back after a very prolonged stress fracture, and Mimi Coden-LLoyd, running a very good controlled race. Finally Jess Reed and Felicity Cole both battling well in the mud, just ahead of Camilla Barden.
All of these young women have tiring and stressful jobs and when they arrived and saw the conditions some wondered if they should have made different plans instead. However, after the race even though they were covered in mud, none regretted taking part. They could go home proud of themselves, have a shower, then a bath, then a meal followed by a few well earned drinks.
Men (6 to score)
TM Arne Dumez is proud of his battling boys.
The men had had a brief preview of the conditions from one of Mhairi’s instagram updates, but that didn’t prevent them from gasping when they actually arrived on site. Half of our men had never run the Parliament Hill course before, so this was going to be a baptism of fire for some and a brutal bit of reminiscing for others. Despite a few notable absences in the roster, the team looked very robust and we were excited to get started.
As the spikes were being tied on (or duct-taped on in Conall’s case), Callum looked at Paskar and admitted he really wasn’t sure how to pace this one. The triathlete had never run a long distance XC before and so just resolved to stick to the Lion for this one. Thus began another chapter of the Scotland v Uganda rivalry that has been colouring our winter season. This time, Callum just snuck in ahead of Paskar; he crossed the line in 48th place while Paskar was hot on his heels in 53rd.
Just a little bit further back, newcomer James Nutt was completing a huge week of mileage and sessions with one of the toughest XC outings of his career. Scholars will be studying his body’s coping mechanisms for years to come. Among all the numbers and cheers thrown at him along the course, he discerned Arne Dumez’s name - he knew the Belgian wasn’t far behind. The two spent the entire race carefully maintaining a 20s gap which put them squarely in 79th and 90th place.
With our first four scorers in the top 100 we were looking great - especially in such a competitive field! Andrew Cumine was our next man home. Stalking Arne through the thick packs, he lost touch slightly and just missed out on a top 100 placing. A real shame, considering he had successfully pulled off a ‘sit and kick’ two weeks ago at the Surrey League. His 123rd place was another great score for the team, though, and we know he’ll be a reliable scorer for years to come.
Finally, Matt Edgar closed the team of 6 with a real blinder! Absolutely loving the horrid conditions, Matt smiled his way through the sludge and brought himself home in a very satisfying 150th place. It is going to be such a loss when Matt moves to Canada in April…
The Belgrave train wasn’t just made up of six coaches though. Alex Miller was the next Bel home in 240th place. Alex is arguably one of our most successful XC scorer in recent times, but a rough time away from the race course translated into a real struggle on Parliament Hill. The ‘Hell of Hampstead’ indeed! But nothing can take away his talent for teeth gritting so he finished with dignity… and a bloody knee. Conall McNally also had a proper introduction with Parliament Hill’s senior course and paid the price. He has already proved himself to be a terrific signing for us this season, so we can gladly chalk this one up to experience. He can rest easy knowing he won’t have to run anything that challenging for quite a while now! Ben Hurley and Nathan Visick came back to the tent with huge beaming smiles on their faces. They’d spent most of the race trading blows with each other, but Ben ended up pipping the young buck in the final downhill. James Morris closed the Belgrave ranks with another masterclass in team spirit. He has been one of the most involved members of our team this year and always a pleasure to have around. He wouldn’t have missed this for the world and we’re so glad he was there.
An honourable mention to newcomer David Walsh who, after suffering a twinged shoulder during the warm up, had to pull out after two laps. When another runner slipped and caught himself by crushing David’s ankle with his heel, the Irishman made the sensible decision and retreated to fight another day. Recover well, David! See you at the next one.
Overall, we managed a very solid 11th team place. Looking at the podium teams and the rest of the top 10, this is a terrific return to form from the claret and gold. With just two more XC races on the calendar, we look all set to end one of our most successful winter seasons with a bang. National Champs, here we come!
Results
