Women's SEAA X-country relay, Wormwood Scrubs, 17 Oct 2015

The Lead That Was. Wasn't. Was. Wasn't

 As ever this short, sharp, shock provided highly entertaining fare, and the Belles have been right at the heart of the action since its inception. Many would say it triggered the uptick in our fortunes when Flic, Zoe VS and Catherine Bryson romped to a fine bronze in March 2011. Six months later the race switched to October in the calendar and we had a fine team for Biggleswade, only for Nellie to take a train to Aldershot. D’oh. We were treated to the bizarre sight of my wife discarding her fetching tangerine frock for a Belgrave vest and taking us to silver, but the officials were not amused. A wonderful win followed in 2012, then a 6^th, then last year’s gripping 2^nd where we fell short by just 13 seconds.And this year, a repeat, just 17 secs off the bullion, in a totally different kind of race. Flic went from anchor in ’11 to opener here and did a splendid job, with the day’s 8^th fastest and setting JJR up a treat in 5^th. As the leaders Bracknell ploughed away far ahead of the field, Newbury in 2^nd sunk without trace. Jojo calmly dealt with Herne Hill and Heathside and had an epic duel with Barnet’s Kent, which Jojo just won to take us into silver (see image).However, in a remarkable twist of fate Bracknell’s Turton had no-one to hand-over to. A great example of how fragile club athletics can be. You just wonder how this can happen, don’t you? But it’s a weird anomaly we’ve seen before. I recall Harrow leading the National 4-stage after three legs at Mansfield a few years ago, but there being no fourth. And it happens a dime a dozen that a team finds itself one short, so decides not to travel. Good on the two Bracknell girls for at least doing that. They’ve made a big statement to the rest of their club.The TM from over the other side of the take-off zone barked out at Rose, “You see that Rose?! Gone! Out!” Rose did not see anything, and wondered why the TM was babbling random nonsense. If I had my time again I would have spelt things out more clearly, but at the time it appeared crass to shout to all and sundry that Bracknell had spontaneously combusted.Off RO’B went with the lead out of sight (in her mind), little did she know she was it. A very bizarre set of circs., but Rose still wanted that silver so there was no slacking. And that wasn't the end of the drama. 1:05 after Rose’s departure Steph McCall flew off in 5th like a scalded cat. 65 seconds over 3.5k is a lot but we feared at once that our anchor was in for a world of trouble. It simply wasn’t enough lead for someone only on the comeback trail after a lengthy lay-off, raided from the B’s after ZVS called in sick. They duly came together with 600 to go. If it had been 150, the powerful O’Brien kick may have had something to say, but McCall, in the form of her life, was in no mood to find out.It was great to have the Baby Bees out in force who charged to a redoubtable top 10 finish. HBR looked strong, Genia scythed through seven and Sally continued the advance. 1 South London H 37:34; 2 Belgrave H 37:51; 3 London Heathside 38:14; 4 Dulwich R 38:17; 5 Herne Hill 38:18… 9 Belgrave H ‘B’ 39:54. 25 teams started, 22 finished.F Cole (5) 12:32; J Rhodes (2) 12:35; R O’Brien (2) 12:44.H Barsham-Rolfe (17) 13:49; G Marek (10) 13:00; S Underhill (9) 13:05.Fastest: S McCall (SLH) 11:22; P Bowden (Bracknell) 11:49; S Crumly (Newbury) 12:01.