Women's Surrey League, Race 2, Nonsuch Park, 6 December 2014.
Hey You With the Pretty Face, Welcome to the Human Race
It was enough to make anyone burst into some ELO:
Sun is shinin' in the sky,There ain't a cloud in sightIt's stopped rainin'Everybody's in a playAnd don't you knowIt's a beautiful new day.A stunning 14 starters were handed over to the scorers hut by a whamboozled CD. Had we got everyone? Was there an ill-tamed spaniel who had escaped our notice? There had been a jumpy feel to our preparations. Clapham Junction had done its worst, with a cancelled train stranding half the team. Was this a harbinger of doom for what the Clapham on the course had in store? But by noon, all 14 were lined up, albeit some with numbers scrawled on in fading marker pen, such are the verisimilitudes of this off-beat but delightful tournament.Runnin' down the avenue, (Pant, Pant, Pant)See how the sun shines brightlyIn the city on the streetsWhere once was pity,Mr. Blue Sky is living here today. 
It appeared an unspoken agreement that the team was in no mood for messin’. When there are so many good runners, the pressure is lifted, tactics less important. You have a clunker – don’t worry, there will be a voracious Belle just waiting to slip by.Mel, ZLD and Fee all started as if they had dropped hair-dryers in the bath. Hayley Munn is improving by the month and still riding high after a funky tour of Frankfurt in 2:37. But her defeat of Mel in February of 47 seconds is down to just 9 now; as Mel led from gun to second lap, when HM finally barked “enough!” But Lucie Custance was mad keen on silver so Mel couldn’t slouch. CC TM Bryn Reynolds writes to us: ‘Great race. Lucie threw everything at her to try and get away in the last quarter. Superb racing by Mel to hold on and then a great kick to finish after she pushed the pace early on.’
And Zoe wasn’t so bad herself. A year on from her dramatic blinder at Coulsdon, she secured a brilliant top 5, just getting the best of the dedicated Sarah Kinsella. As for Fee, what an outstanding performance. Far from freaking out at all the whipper-snappers at her heels, she roared to her equal best ever Surrey League [she was also 11th at Lightwater ‘13], over a period of exactly three years when we were just a little club in Division Two…. Just a coupla’ Surrey Leagues missed in that time, a true Captain Marvel.A celebration Mr. Blue Sky'sUp there waitin' and todayIs the day we've waited for
And it really did feel like that – the day when the squad announced: ‘we’re here to stay, get used to it Surrey.’ From JJR and Kezza scrapping for every point with stellar returns, all the way to Lea dipping her toes back in after a frenetic first term at Imperial; to newbie Gemma raising eyebrows; to Zoe S who ran a beaut on very little mileage; to another ledg from years past Anne wondering what she has to do to score around here; to Catherine blasting away on a sore foot to again serve as first reserve to the A’s (with Sally hitching a ride the entire way, and Flic water-skiing off the back of their boat); to our #1 cheerleader RO’B swapping a wicked first lap for the pom-poms; to last but not least debutante Tamsin swapping her well argued mid-week no, for a yes baby.In the league stakes, we are in full respect of the Chasers’ power. They’re a pretty scary outfit [4 in 12], and in order to win back-to-back leagues for the first time in our history, it’s pedal-to-the-metal ladies… a statement akin to presenting a drunkard with a case of Scotch.
1 H Munn (Clapham C) 22:51; 2 M Wilkins 23:00; 3 L Custance (CC) 23:01… 5 Z Doyle 23:50; 11 F Maycock 24:26; 14 J Rhodes 24:50; 18 K Mackenzie 25:03; 21 C Lovegrove 25:18; 22 S Underhill 25:20; 31 F Cole 25:39; 39 A Hegvold 25:54; 46 Z Smith 26:07; 66 G Farrell 26:53; 87 T Lees 27:54; 153 L Virchow 31:57. 189 finished.Teams: 1 Belgrave H 50; 2 Clapham C 62; 3 South London H 115; 4 Stragglers 137; 5 Belgrave B 159… 30 A&B Teams.
Overall: 1 Belgrave H 123; 2 CC 182; 3 SLH 266; 4 Dul R 319; 5 Strag 337; 6 G&G 384… 8 Belg B 409. 