Women's Surrey League, Div 1, Race 2, Esher, 7 Nov 2015
Crash, Bang, Wallop!
Our defence of the league title called for a big reaction to our flub in the first match, so the TM went to his list of runners, and once the incommunicados are taken out (always around a quarter of the list for those who are irregular; too far away etc), we still had 26 Belles very much in contention and up for the fight.But the tale for 22 of those was: working, wedding, Paris, Adelaide, Geneva, Manchester, Tokyo, unwell, unwell, child unwell, resting, injured, injured, injured, injured, injured, injured, injured, injured, injured, injured and injured.Oops. This left us four, one shy of a quorum. Anne stamped her time-card for her 16th season and duly became the sixth Belle in history to log 50 or more Surrey league points; and Nici answered our frantic plea by playing that old game that all parents know so well of, “how long can I leave my child at the school gates for pick-up before social services come down on me like a load of bricks?” Christina was back for more after the weird hazing process of match 1, and Zoe continues to lead our lines.To the off and ZVS got terribly caught up in the melee, making new friends in the 40’s in the first half mile. She is too polite, and yes, a tad naïve, to make a place on the front row on race start-lines her own, but that’s enough of that. From now on, until at least the year 2030 she’s a front-row girl, no more of this, “After you,” “no, no, after you!” Starting a race with the mother of all finishing bursts always leads to a sub-par run, and this was another day for Z to “pay her dues.” But she still matched 8th from Roundshaw, and it’ll all click into place one day soon.
Nici, albeit not at her fittest, still had a cracker, and we’re so grateful for the stunt. Hopefully her second race was met by smiling child not frowning copper. Anne scampered along in her normal clinical fashion, and to our amazement was tracked every step of the way by CP; up a terrific 25 spots on match 1, for a 32% improvement. Yowzers.So - scores at the doors? Stone bonkers last. Every single other club bar one completed at least two teams, and as far as capitulations go, this is pretty epic. But you won’t hear a shred of complaint from me. The last four years of managing this team has been a wonderful ride, and there’s barely been a bad day in there. We were well overdue this gnarly tax bill, and there’s good reason to still anticipate the remaining two-thirds of the season with relish.1 L Custance (CC) 24:33; 8 Z Vail Smith 25:44; 26 N Cahusac 27:22; 52 A Hegvold 28:46; 53 C Pennock 28:49. 217 finished.1 Clapham C 77; 2 SLH 115; 3 THH 123… 15 Belgrave H 366.Overall: 1 CC 168; 2 THH 222; 3 SLH 223… 10 Belgrave H 562.