Nos Galan 5k, Mountain Ash, 31 December 2009.

Men. 1 C Davies (Telford) 14:28; 3 S Davies 14:40.

Buntingford 10 miles, 28 December 2009.

Women. 1 V Knight 1:08:18.

Harrietsham End of '09 10k, 27 December 2009.

Men. 1 S Bradley (Tonbridge) 32:07; 3 H Raidi 33:01.

Groggy Doggy 5m, Bungay Common, 27 December 2009.

Women. 1 N Neal 37:03.

Bushy Park parkrun 5k, 26 December 2009.

1 J Taylor-Caldwell (Ealing S&M) 16:49; 2 R Stannard 16:51.

Wimbledon Common parkrun 5k, 26 December 2009.

1 L White (Hercules Wimb) 16:40; 2 R Ward 17:17.

Christmas Day Paarlauf, Wimbledon, 25 December 2009.

1 A Hussein (Herc. Wimb)/K Quinn (Aldershot F&D) 5m 1349y; 4 K Hegvold (Belgrave)/V Pauzers (Herne H) 5m 892y.

Banstead Woods parkrun 5k, 25 December 2009.

1 N Torry (Serpentine) 16:18; 3 R Ward 17:56.

South of the Thames CC Championship, Wimbledon Common, 19 December 2009.

Freezing but sunny conditions saw Belgrave retain one of the oldest titles in our sport - but it was a fairly close run thing.

After the first 4k lap Paskar Owor and James Kelly were pushing along at the front with Kent's John Gilbert, guesting Orlando Edwards (Shaftesbury Barnet) and Dean Lacy (Cambridge Harriers) in tow. Paskar threw down a challenge on lap two that disposed of all opposition - except James - but as the hill to the Windmill was crested for a second time it was James who was able to maintain his pace the best and he slipped ahead while Paskar suffered.  A 10 metre lead became 25 by the end of the lap and the final circuit saw James come home ahead of his club mate by a full half minute and more. 

It was a third consecutive weekend of racing in the vicinity for James who had placed 4th in the Oxford vs. Cambridge Varsity race on the Common and 2nd in the Surrey League in Richmond Park.  But these were the conditions that suited him best he averred afterwards - hard underfoot and cold. He's been putting in high mileage and plans for the Spring include the Virgin London Marathon.

It was great to see James Fairbourn getting to where he wants to be after a couple of years of having his training ruined through illness or injury. Running through the first lap shoulder to shoulder with Will Cockerell, it was "gloves off" for both of them as they prepared for two more laps of man to man stuff. It was an impressive run from James who nevertheless just had to give way to the hard bitten Cockerpillar. 

Mal Byansi had earlier attempted the, "I'm not feeling too good, do you really need me for the twelve," routine. Twelve!  We needed him for the six!  Mal ran and did well for 29th with Richard Stannard, getting fitter, closing in the team.

105 points. Had we done enough? Herne Hill had got ten men home before our half dozen, and Kent too got their six home ahead of ours - but our two forward placings did the trick and the Dewar Shield remains in Belgrave hands.  A special final word too for Alex Marek who ran his best ever race to become our seventh man.

Men 12k. 1 J Kelly (Belgrave) 40:51; 2 P Owor (Belgrave) 41:28; 3 D Lacy (Cambridge H) 41:37; 15 W Cockerell 43:32; 16 J Fairbourn 43:46; 29 M Byansi 45:06; 42 R Stannard 46:35; 55 A Marek 47:39; 89 R Norville 51:29; 119 T Kingston 55:08.

Teams: Dewar Shield (6 to score)

1 Belgrave H (1, 2, 15, 16, 29, 42) 105; 2 Kent AC (4, 6, 20, 25, 27, 32) 114; 3 Herne Hill H (11, 17, 18, 21, 23, 30) 120; 4 Brighton & Hove AC (9, 13, 40, 43, 49, 57) 211; 5 Herne Hill H 'B' (34, 35, 37, 39, 50, 51) 246; 6 Epsom & Ewell H (14, 22, 31, 48, 60, 72) 247.

Coleman Cup (12 to score)

1 Herne Hill H 366; 2 Kent AC 579; 3 Epsom & Ewell H 918.

Wimbledon Common parkrun 5k, 19 December 2009.

Men. 1 R Ward 16:38; 64 D Anderson 23:01.

Serpentine Last Friday 5k, Hyde Park, 18 December 2009.

Men. 1 P Martelletti (VP&TH) 15:32; 2 H Raidi 16:06.

"Sweatshop" Men's Surrey CC League, Petersham, 12 December 2009.

Always a favourite course, taking in as it does sections of Richmond Park that are oft traversed in training runs, but the team was a bit thin and with South London Harriers getting a boost after realising that Michael Coleman was eligible to score after all (he was classed as a non-scorer in the previous race) our Coulsdon based rivals pipped us for third team place.

Paskar Owor had the better of Coleman in race two but here he had trouble holding on to the leaders as our own James Kelly and Thames' James McMullen forced the pace round the first lap with Coleman five metres back and Owor in 4th. Lap two saw Coleman move up and take the initiative with our James hanging on but losing out to his rival's final flourish.

A weaker than normal Thames Hare & Hounds still got the better of Herne Hill in the team stakes, in spite of the latter turning out 47 men.

Paskar now has a strong claim for the individual title, leading after this race with 7 points to James McMullen's 10.  Third and fourth are way back: Herne Hill's Alan Barnes on 41 and Will Cockerell on 47.

Men. 1 M Coleman (South London) 28:43; 2 J Kelly (Belgrave) 28:47; 3 J McMullen (Thames H&H) 28:55; 4 P Owor 29:09; 14 W Cockerell 29:56; 31 M Byansi 31:05; 41 L Eguia 31:29; 44 R Stannard 31:42; 48 K Gadd 31:46; 93 A Marek 34:01; 107 A Luce M40 35:08; 126 E Smith 36:48; 132 R Ingoldby 37:10; 137 P Marsh M55 37:46; 164 M Humphrey 51:10.

Teams:

1 Thames H&H (3, 9, 11, 12, 13, 15, 21, 30, 48, 53) 215;

2 Herne Hill H (5, 7, 10, 17, 22, 23, 33, 40, 50, 54) 261;

3 South London H (1, 6, 31, 34, 43, 55, 57, 60, 62, 66) 415;

4 Belgrave H (2, 4, 14, 29, 39, 42, 46, 75, 83, 88) 422;

5 Hercules Wimbledon AC (8, 25, 28, 36, 45, 51, 61, 64, 67, 73) 458;

6 Reigate Priory AC (24, 38, 44, 47, 49, 52, 56, 58, 81, 89) 538;

7 Epsom & Ewell H (16, 20, 27, 37, 41, 70, 72, 86, 87, 90) 546;

8 Guildford & Godalming AC (18, 19, 35, 59, 63, 69, 74, 79, 84, 85) 585;

9 Ranelagh H (26, 32, 65, 68, 71, 76, 77, 78, 80, 82) 655.

Overall: 1 Thames H&H 575; 2 Herne Hill H 642; 3 Belgrave H 1333; 4 South London H 1358; 5 Reigate Priory AC 1480; 6 Hercules Wimbledon AC 1558; 7 Epsom & Ewell H 1689; 8 Guildford & Godalming AC 1744; 9 Ranelagh H 1906.

Women's Surrey CC League, Petersham, 12 December 2009.

What tough luck!  After winning match two at Dorking and hanging on to third in the overall classification, it all unravelled here as the Belles were unable to field a full scoring five and had to take last scoring place in the race.  That's all it took to cause a plunge to 15th place on the day and 8th overall.

Once again Sarah Murphy led our team home and must harbour high hopes for a top placing in the Surrey Championships early in January.

Women. 1 J Bleasdale (Thames H&H) 28:27; 2 F Clark (Reigate P) 28:53; 3 S Morris gst 29:22; 6 S Murphy 30:31; 27 M Heaton 32:52; 50 V Goodwin 34:33; 117 C Eastham 39:01.

Teams: 1 Thames H&H 64; 2 Herne Hill H 84; 3 Ranelagh H 162; The Stragglers 164; 5 Wimbledon Windmilers 167; 6 Reigate Priory 175; 15 Belgrave H 379.

Overall: Thames H&H 334; 2 South London H 334; 3 Ranelagh H 440; 4 Herne Hill H 473; 5 The Stragglers 552; 6 Reigate Priory 554; 7 Dorking &MV 644; 8 Belgrave H 655; 9 West 4 H 759; 10 Wimbledon Windmilers 784.

Luton Marathon, 6 December 2009.

Women. 1 S Amend 2:48:14.

Rock 'n' Roll Las Vegas Half Marathon, Nevada, USA, 6 December 2009.

Men. 1 B Daba (Ethiopia) 1:01:40; 14 B Poore 1:07:41.

Oxford vs Cambridge Varsity Match, Wimbledon Common, 5 December 2009.

Men. 1 D Bruce (Oxf) 38:02; 4 J Kelly (Camb/Belg) 38:26.

Scottish West Champs., 5 December 2009.

Men 9.6k. 1 1 T Tewelde (Shettlestone) 30:24; 4 D Mulhare 30:59.

Brighton & Hove parkrun 5k, 12 December 2009.

Men. 1 R Ward 16:11.

Banstead Woods parkrun 5k, 5 December 2009.

Men. 1 R Ward 17:14.

Bushy Park parkrun 5k, 5 December 2009.

Men. 1 M Bristow (Brighton & Hove) 16:38; 3 R Stannard 16:59.

Wimbledon Common parkrun 5k, 5 December 2009.

Men. 1 E O'Connell (Serpentine) 17:31; 53 D Anderson M50 23:26.

Thirsk 10 miles inc. Northern Champs., 29 November 2009.

Men. 1 D Webb (Leeds) 48:32; 5 S Moralee 51:17.

Great Australian Run 15k, Melbourne, Australia, 29 November 2009.

Men. 1 G Weidlinger 43:01; 3 M Dent 44:00.

10k, Basel, Switzerland, 28 November 2009.

Men. 1 J Mwangangi (Kenya) 28:37; 13 N Speaight 29:57.

McCain Cross Challenge & European Trial, 28 November 2009.

Senior Men. 1 M Skinner (Blackheath & B) 28:36; 7 P Wicks 28:46; 134 J Fairbourn 33:20.

Under 20 Men. 1 R Goodman (Shaftesbury BH) 19:39; 5 N Goolab 19:49.

Banstead Woods parkrun 5k, 28 November 2009.

Men. 1 R Ward 16:54.

Richmond Park parkrun 5k, 28 November 2009.

Men. 1 B Osborn (Stragglers) 16:54; 8 T O'Neill M55 19:22.

Wimbledon Common parkrun 5k, 28 November 2009.

Men. 1 L Malroux 18:13.

Reading parkrun 5k, 28 November 2009.

Men. 1 R Brookling (?) 17:46; 2 M Trees M45 17:51.

Bushy Park parkrun 5k, 28 November 2009.

Men. 1 J Goullis (Stragglers) 16:49; P Chapman 18:55.

Serpentine Last Friday 5k, Hyde Park, 27 November 2009.

Women. 1 V Goodwin 19:51.

Run to feed the hungry 10k, Sacramento, California, 26 November 2009.

Men. 2 B Poore 30:52.

BMC 4k Cross Country Classic, Bristol, 22 November 2009.

Men. 1 T Russell (Bristol &W) 11:59; 7 S Jones 12:25; 9 S Davies 12:28.

Leeds Abbey Dash 10k, 22 November 2009.

Men. 1 J Mellor (Liverpool) 29:14; 22 M Pollard 31:50.

8.39k, Bulle, Switzerland, 21 November 2009.

Men. N Speaight 24:24.

Bushy Park parkrun 5k, 21 November 2009.

Men. 1 W Cockerell 16:28; 4 R Stannard 17:14; 6 M Trees M45 17:45; 11 B Barton M45 18:22; 17 P Chapman 18:50.

Heaton Park parkrun 5k, 21 November 2009.

Men. 1 P Freary M40 16:47.

Banstead Woods parkrun 5k, 21 November 2009.

Men. 1 R Ward 17:13.

Wimbledon Common parkrun 5k, 21 November 2009.

Men. 1 E O'Connell (Serpentine) 17:17; 58 Don Anderson M50 22:25.

Brooks Brighton 10k, 15 November 2009.

Men. 1 C Davies (Telford) 29:04; 2 P Wicks 29:32; 9 S Sharp 30:51; 13 B Poore 31:13.

Sweatshop Surrey CC League Race 2, Coulsdon, 14 November 2009.

Once again it was Paskar Owor leading the Belgrave team home, this time over storm-wracked Farthing Downs. Lying third at halfway and around 8 seconds behind Thames man James McMullen with a guesting Michael Coleman (Medway & Maidstone) a similar distance away at the head of the field, Paskar made a great effort into the wind and up the hill on the second lap to move into 2nd place. He kept the pressure up in Happy Valley to catch Coleman and move into a winning lead and thus joins an illustrious list of individual Belgrave winners ... Dessaix-Chin ... Wicks ... Sharp ... Anderson ... Barden ... Graffin ... all the way back to Gerry North forty years ago.

It was Max Kiralyfi's first ever run in Belgrave colours and at eighteen years of age it was a great début. His 12th scoring place was just what we needed on a day that saw us a little short on numbers. Max is a first-claim member of Winchester & District AC, residing in West London, and incredibly his run was just the second time in the last decade that we've seen a second-claim member in our line-up, the previous man being Richard Ashe of Harrow.

John Charles had his eyes on the back of Will Cockerell's vest for most of the race but couldn't get any closer as they book-ended the 20s ... and while we're waxing metaphorical, Paskar's first scoring place was matched at the other end of the book shelf by Ed Smith's 90th as we were the last team to close in; congratulations to Ed whose name will now go down on the all-time list of Belgrave's league scorers.

Men. 1 P Owor (Belgrave) 28:31; 2 M Coleman (Medway & M gst) 28:43; 3 J McMullen (Thames H&H 29:09; 14 M Kiralyfi U20 30:21; 20 W Cockerell 30:38; 29 J Charles 31:15; 48 K Gadd 32:17; 58 L Eguia 32:47; 89 M Humphrey 34:37; 103 R Norville 35:36; 108 A Luce M40 36:18; 120 E Smith 37:14; 121 P Chapman 37:23; 133 P Marsh M55 38:22; 151 finished.

Teams:

1 Thames H&H (2, 5, 6, 10, 13, 15, 21, 22, 30, 33) 157;

2 Herne Hill H (3, 4, 7, 17, 19, 20, 34, 35, 36, 40) 215;

3 South London H (9, 29, 43, 47, 48, 49, 50, 53, 54, 55) 437;

4 Belgrave H (1, 12, 18, 26, 42, 51, 71, 82, 84, 90) 477;

5 Reigate Priory AC (11, 16, 38, 39, 45, 57, 59, 63, 74, 89) 491;

6 Hercules Wimbledon AC (8, 37, 41, 44, 46, 62, 64, 70, 73, 80) 525;

7 Epsom & Ewell H (14, 24, 31, 32, 56, 60, 81, 83, 86, 88) 555;

8 Ranelagh H (23, 25, 27, 65, 68, 69, 72, 76, 77, 79) 581;

9 Guildford & Godalming AC (28, 52, 58, 61, 66, 67, 75, 78, 85, 87) 657.

Overall: 1 Thames H&H 360; 2 Herne Hill H 381; 3 Belgrave H 911; 4 Reigate Priory AC 942; 5 South London H 943; 6 Hercules Wimbledon AC 1100; 7 Epsom & Ewell H 1143; 8 Guildford & Godalming AC 1159; 9 Ranelagh H 1251.

Women's Surrey CC League, Dorking, 14 November 2009.

As the rain lashed down across Denbies Vineyard near Dorking, the Belles provided some awesome running that took them a point clear of South London Harriers for a league win. All of a sudden league hopes came alive as we zoomed from 8th to 3rd overall, just 6 points behind Thames Hare & Hounds.  Ok, South London are too far away to worry about being caught but the runners up spot is a real possibility.

Women. 1 G Bruinvels (South London H) 22:40; 2 K Ellison (Herne Hill H) 22:51; 3 S Murphy 23:15; 7 Z Vail 24:17; 13 A Hegvold 24:49; 20 M Heaton 25:17; 31 V Goodwin 25:54; 65 C Eastham 27:43; 105 J Beecroft 30:21.

Teams: 1  Belgrave H 74; 2 South London H 75; 3  Ranelagh H 91; 4 Thames H&H 123; 5 Dorking & MV 171; 6 Reigate Priory 172.

Overall: 1  South London H 152; 2 Thames H&H 270; 3 Belgrave H 276; 4 Ranelagh H 278; 5 Reigate Priory 379; 6 Stragglers 388; 7 Herne Hill H 389; 8 Dorking & MV 399; 9 Dulwich Runners 483; 10 Clapham Chasers 486.   

Richmond Park parkrun 5k, 14 November 2009.

Men. 1 C Wilder White Horse) 17:48; 10 T O'Neill M55 19:39.

Bushy Park parkrun 5k, 14 November 2009.

Men. 1 A Orr (Serpentine R) 16:58; 3 R Stannard 17:52.

Heaton Park parkrun 5k, 14 November 2009.

Men. 1 P Freary M40 16:55.

Marathon des Alpes-Maritimes Nice-Cannes, 8 November 2009.

Men. 1 R Adelo 2:10:17; 206 A Sentance 2:56:59.

Heaton Park parkrun 5k, 7 November 2009.

Men. 1 P Freary M40 17:06.

Wimbledon Common parkrun 5k, 7 November 2009.

Men. 1 E O'Connell (Serpentine R) 17:04; 4 L Malroux 18:31; 84 D Anderson M50 23:37.

Bushy Park parkrun 5k, 7 November 2009.

Men. 1 J Goulis (Stragglers) 16:18; 6 R Stannard 17:33; 13 B Barton M45 18:14.

Women. 1 A McGhee (Loughborough) 17:31; C Eastham 22:25.

Richmond Park parkrun 5k, 7 November 2009.

Men. 1 M Holden (West 4) 18:11; 11 T O'Neill M55 19:48.

Rainforest 10k, Finsbury Park, 1 November 2009.

Men. 1 J Kimaiyo 35:19; 2 M Byansi 36:50.

Ronhill Surrey Classic Series 10k, 1 November 2009.

Men. 1 A Nippard (Sutton R) 35:42; 4 M Webb M40 37:03.

Thames H&H vs Cambridge University H&H, Wimbledon Common, 31 October 2009.

Men. 7.5 miles: 1 J Kelly 38:05.

Horizon League CC Champs, Detroit, Illinois USA, 31 October 2009.

Men. 8k: 11 K Gauson 25:42.

Below: Steve Sharp makes new friends in mid-field.  Nick Goolab - up to 16th - and a fraction faster than Nick was Simon Jones. By the time Phil Wicks had finished his stint we were in 8th - same as last year. Photos by Alan Mead.

ECCA National Cross Country Relay, Berry Hill Park, Mansfield, 31 October 2009.

When we discovered that of the 208 teams entered for the senior men's championship at Berry Hill, Mansfield, we had been designated team no. 13, we laughed.  "Unlucky for some," we said, "but not for us!"  The talk was of teams that were likely challengers for the title and whether we could get the better of Bedford & County AC, a feat, we felt, that if achieved could earn us the win. But some evil Hallowe'en witch was at that very moment concocting a spell to thwart our hopes … and when the starter fired his gun she cast her curse down on the assembled field to cause mayhem.

The start area seemed a little narrower than normal as the organisers had tinkered with the take-over arrangements. As a result the eager first leg men were packed ten deep or more. There were numerous pushes and shoves and on the front rank, down on the deck went Sharpy. An attempt to get to his hands and knees failed as a man behind ran over him.  A second crack at getting up was no more successful, a hurdling runner's knee striking him in the back and expelling every last gasp of breath; but up he got, eventually, in his own words, “stone bonkers last.” Certainly he had, perhaps, a hundred men ahead of him.

“I did bring a few others down,” he later related to his team mates, as if that was some saving grace.  “Yeah”, muttered Phil with a grin, “not the right ones though.” Not the right ones indeed, for most of the likely contenders were already well to the fore as the multi-coloured stream of vests were now strung out over more than 200 metres as the leaders entered the narrow paths in the woods.  We say ‘most’ because although Sharpy ploughed on manfully, receiving apologies from unfamiliar rivals as he overtook them (“Sorry I trod on you mate!”), Blackheath continued to languish down the field, ending the stage in 44th – and look what they achieved.

Nick Goolab anxiously looked down the field as the leading runners were away on the second stage. City of Norwich headed the charge with New Marske Harriers ahead of Morpeth … and then Bedford; no slip-ups for them then.  Our man eventually got called into action in 34th place. Surely we can justify a time 30 seconds faster for Stephen Sharp, a margin that would later have put us well into the medals – but staying on one’s feet is all part of the game.

Nick gained eight spots with a time right on a par with last year's – but charging through the field was Mike Skinner for the ‘Heathens’ rising 37 places with the day’s fastest of 14:47-odd.  That’s a super time which features well up the all-time list on a course that some feel is somewhat longer than of yore.

Enter the fray Simon Jones.  With a professed dislike of cross country, a new training regime which involves plenty of it seems to be paying dividends.  Our forward momentum was maintained with a time a fraction quicker than Nick’s and by the end of his two circuits of the park we were up to 9th.

Bedford were now the owners of an unassailable lead and had the reliable Neilson Hall to maintain it, but the race for the lesser medals was far from over as the field was closing up.  It would be nice to record that our own ‘Wicksy’ the wizard, who does all that we ask of him except walk on water, was able to counter that wicked witch’s spell, but there were some other aces taking over in the pack ahead of him. Overall, Russell, Hudspith, McLeod … all were equally intent on grabbing some hardware for their clubs.  Phil gave it everything – probably more than he should have done over the first lap – and it was a gamble that didn’t pay off.  Several of the teams ahead of him were pulled back but he was unable on this run to convert seconds gained into more than one place.

It really was a great effort from all four of the Belgrave lads who never gave up on the task – but the result was the same as last year – 8th. Well done to the Bedford Boys - to retain this title is something special.

1 Bedford & County AC 1:01:12.75; 2 Blackheath & Bromley H 1:01:35:65; 3 Bristol & West AC 1:01:37.15; 4 Morpeth H & AC 1:01:39.50; 5 Derby AC 1:01:42.10; 6 Tipton H 1:01:44.35; 8 Belgrave H 1:02:00.40; 164 teams started, 151 teams finished

Fastest: M Skinner (Blackheath & Bromley H) 14:47.90, 2 S Overall (Blackheath & Bromley H) 14:58.30, 3 M Goose (City of Norwich)14:58.50.

Belgrave: S Sharp (34) 15:56.80, N Goolab (16) 15:24.65, S Jones (9) 15:24.20, P Wicks (8) 15:14.75.

Wimbledon Common parkrun 5k, 31 October 2009.

Men. 1 A Mercer ( ) 16:44; 15 S Ryan 18:34.

Bushy Park parkrun 5k, 31 October 2009.

Men. 1 J Goulis (Stragglers) 16:12; 38 R Stannard 19:34.

Women. C Eastham 22:51.

Great South Run 10 miles inc. ERRA Championship, Portsmouth, 25 October 2009.

Men. 1 M Farah (Newham &EB) 46:25; 7 P Wicks (3-ERRA) 48:38.

Ronhill Surrey Classic Series 10k, Oxshott, 25 October 2009.

Men. 1 A Robinson (Herc W) 34:18; 4 M Webb M40 36:35.

Bushy Park parkrun 5k, 24 October 2009.

Men. 1 J Goulis (Stragglers) 16:34; 14 B Barton M45 18:23.

Roundshaw Downs parkrun 5k, 24 October 2009.

Men. 1 R Ward 17:41.

Wimbledon Common parkrun 5k, 24 October 2009.

Men. 1 D Symons (Thames H&H) 17:12; 72 D Anderson M50 24:09.

Amsterdam Marathon, 18 October 2009.

Women. 1 E Kuma (Ethiopia) 2:27:43; 17 S Murphy 3:04:46.

Cardiff Half Marathon, 18 October 2009.

Men. 1 S Lawson ( ) 1:05:50; 3 S Jones 1:06:39.

Cabbage Patch 10 miles, Twickenham, 18 October 2009.

Men. 1 M Geele (Newham &EB) 50:03; 22 M Byansi 56:19.

Croydon 10k, 18 October 2009.

Men. 1 G Sobczyk (unatt) 31:23; 3 J Kimaiyo 33:31; 5 J Charles 34:12; 30 M Humphrey 38:58.

While others engage in the mad scramble at the start, Stephen Sharp celebrates his 34th consecutive road relay with the hokey-cokey. He puts his right foot in, his right foot out ... Steve Davies, prominent on the right, takes an easier route across country. Photo by Alan Mead.

ERRA Men’s National 6-Stage Road Relay, Sutton Coldfield, 17 October 2009.

… Thus spake the ‘Sharpster’ as stage four drew to a close. Leeds were only 17 seconds down on the leaders while a mere 20 seconds further back, five more clubs including the Bels thundered through the take-over zone with less than half a minute between them.  You’d have though that with a haul of 32 area and national road relay gongs stuffed in his cupboard at home some of the excitement would have worn off by now – but not a bit of it!  And of course Stephen Sharp was dead right.  The team came away well pleased with their effort.  On this occasion there was no way that they were going to hold on to a full strength Newham outfit but the Bels had done all the team manager had asked of them: they’d run inside 1:45 – a time which has never before, on the current course, resulted in less than gold medals.

The mad scramble heralded by the starter’s gun raised an initial worry that lead-off man Sharpy had lost a shoe he appeared to stumble but it was all part of the rough and tumble expected when around ninety runners are fighting for a four metre wide strip of road. Stephen was giving as good as he got though while Steve Davies, kick starting the Bs, had decided on a spot of cross-country in his initial dash.  Soon they were sorting themselves out and before long it was Forrester of St Helens leading the field home. 

Carnage

There was carnage at that first take-over. Only seven seconds covered the leading six and after that, nineteen teams went through within sixteen seconds. Runners couldn’t fight their way out of the holding pen quick enough and in the ruckus Sharpy went through in 17:28 while next runner Nick Goolab couldn’t get onto the road for a further six seconds. As a result, Nick’s official time is six seconds longer than it need have been.  Just nine seconds behind Stephen but twelve places in arrears was Steve Davies – a great start for the Bs – sending Mark Pollard on his way.  Nick moved up several places on his way out to and past the Jubilee Stone but as the lap closed he was under attack and had to be satisfied with a net gain of three spots and 8th place; but we were only seventeen seconds off the lead being scrambled over by the Beagles and Derby with Bedford making an early bid just a tick behind.

Purposeful

Simon Jones had not seen the best of his form in the last month or so and having initially not been named in the A squad suddenly found himself drafted back into the first team when Mark Miles went down with a cold and sore throat.  Si grasped his chance and seemed so much more purposeful than of late as he overtook Sunderland … Altrincham … Sale … Bedford … and Derby. Claret & Gold entered the top three and our man was still working hard when he ran out of lap. 

Neither Mark Pollard or James Kelly were satisfied with their B runs on stages 2 and 3 but their efforts saw our second squad into the top twenty, Jim moving up eight spots, and more was to come as Paskar Owor kept the forward momentum going … to sixteenth … a superb position for a B team. Up ahead, Dan Mulhare found himself under pressure and as the field came together, with Leeds making inroads into the Beagles’ advantage and Bedford and Altrincham both coming past Dan.  Aldershot and Tipton were both breathing down his neck as well.  The race was living up to its promise to be a ‘cracker’ and, oh my word, AFD ace Chris Thompson was being wheeled out for the Hampshire club on stage 5 while Mo’ Farah would surely put things beyond doubt for the Beagles.

But we had our own ace in Phil Wicks who set out in 5th and was soon in overtaking mode.  Thompson, too, intended taking no prisoners and as they tackled the hill he was up and alongside our man. But that was as much leeway as Phil intended granting.  Our spotters out on the course relayed the info that Phil was moving clear again while ‘Thommo’ was not looking comfortable.  Back at the take-over the announcer informed … “and it’s B..e..lgrave, moving into 2nd,” his voice laden with the threat that the champions were moving forward.  But of course Mo’ was in a class apart and our race was now for the silverware.

Captain's role

We needed a Captain’s role now and Sp8y was on hand to deliver. Pre-race comments included, “if they come up to me then I’ll not fight them all the way round.  I’ll let the field close up … and wait … and wait.” It didn’t happen that way.  Belgrave and Aldershot took off eleven seconds apart and finished with precisely that gap; our SEAA defeat had been avenged.  Meanwhile, Newham & Essex Beagles, with an in-form Moumin Geele providing the finishing flourish, had demolished our course record by a whopping minute and ten seconds.  Hugely tantalizing for Bedford & County was the fact that they were within eight seconds of a set of medals – tough to take home nothing when you’ve run a time that very often would have won.

And we still had another team on the road.  John Charles savoured his first race in a Belgrave Road Relay team and enjoyed the experience immensely.  Preceded by Will Cockerell they had to face an onslaught from opposition A teams and the unofficial B team contest ended up:- 1st AFD, 2nd the Beagles, 3rd Belgrave.

A great race.  Plenty of “ifs” and “buts” followed but the Bels had done a great job.  We’d knocked out the fastest ever non-winning time and couldn’t really have done anything better. We’ve dominated in the past decade but it’s obvious that with the rivalries now in place, particularly among the clubs based in the South, road relay running is on an upward trend.

1 Newham & Essex Beagles 1:43:14; 2 Belgrave H 1:44:54; 3 Aldershot, Farnham & Dist. 1:45:05; 4 Bedford & County AC 1:45:13; 5 Leeds City AC 1:45:43; 6 Shettlestone H 1:46:09; … 29 Belgrave H ‘B’ 1:51:10; 87 teams started, 80 teams finished.

Belgrave ‘A’ Team: S Sharp (11) 17:28, N Goolab (8) 17:35, S Jones (3) 17:43, D Mulhare (5) 17:37, P Wicks (2) 17:09, N Speaight (2) 17:22.

Belgrave ‘B’ Team: S Davies (23) 17:37, M Pollard (26) 18:20, J Kelly (18) 18:05, P Owor (16) 18:14, W Cockerell (20) 19:20, J Charles (29) 19:34.

Fastest: 1 M Farah (Newham & Essex Beagles) 16:33; 2 C Davies (Telford) 16:42; 3 J Miles (Phoenix) 16:49; … 8 P Wicks 17:09.

Right: Tilly Heaton, Zoe Vail, Will Cockerell (team
manager), Helen Smethurst and Jenny Beecroft.

ERRA Women’s National 4-Stage Road Relay, Sutton Coldfield, 17 October 2009.

After 19 “no’s” and a “maybe” for the Southern four-stage, it was heart-warming  to send four strong and true Belles to do battle with the very best of the rest at Sutton Park, Will Cockerell writes.  First up was the extremely talented, though inexperienced school-teacher Zoe Vail.  The start of this race is not for the faint-hearted: narrow, fast, downhill, and with a sharp early turn.  162 flying elbows all vying for supremacy.  Zoe took it all in her stride and was in 20th at the turn and looking good – nearly a foot taller than some of her rivals.

Attacking the hill, Zoe’s calves inexplicably tightened and it was grit your teeth time for the next twelve minutes, as some two dozen came by.  Appearing at the finish somewhat shell-shocked, we had to explain to Zoe, that for the most part, every club had fielded their strongest runner.  “I can do better than that – we’re back here in the Spring aren’t we?”  she asked determinedly.  Yes we are Zoe, have a great winter and see you then. 

Next up was the ever game Tilly Heaton.  An extremely loyal club stalwart entering into her ninth season as a Belgravian, Tilly’s strength is indisputable as shown by her superb 34th in the London Marathon two years ago.  This is more of a speedsters race, and Tilly has been lacking in quality sessions since joining Christie’s as a lawyer in dispute resolution.  But her strength is still fine, and she’d have progressed more than her four places up the list if not for a stomach cramp at half-way.

Step up Jenny Beecroft, more comfortable in less ferocious surroundings than this, but boldly weighing in to keep us afloat.  We were prepared for Jen to bleed a few positions and what we hoped against was a haemorrhage.  Not a bit of it.  A mere six athletes passed, setting up supervet Helen Smethurst nicely in 51st place.  This was Helen’s first scamper for two weeks due to a bad cold, and on the gentle warm-up her pulse was already pushing 180.  What a trooper.  Her familiar long-loping stride looked in fine stead in the closing stages.  “How many did you catch,” we asked anxiously.  “Caught two, lost two...”  So 51st appeared our fate unless any clubs ahead had failed to find that fourth body.  YES – two had.  We were inside the top 50 in the land, and in six months we can surely massage that to top 30.  From there, the top 20 shimmers brightly ... and, well, you get the picture.

1 Aldershot, Farnham & Dist AC 57:09; 2 Chester-le-Street 58:17; 3 City of Norwich AC 58:53; … 49 Belgrave H 1:10:11; 81 teams started, 73 teams finished.

Belgrave: Z Vail (49) 16:15, M Heaton (45) 16:55, J Beecroft (51) 19:16, H Smethurst (49) 17:45.

Fastest: C Purdue (Aldershot F&D AC) 13:53; 2 F Murray (Chester-le-Street) 13:54; S Twell (Aldershot F&D AC) 14:00.

Surrey Veterans CC Champs., Petersham, Richmond Park, 17 October 2009.

Men. 1 A Weir (Thames H&H) 34:24; 15 W Lynch 5-M40 37:45; 30 T O'Neill 3-M55 39:27; 54 M Nouch 8-M55 43:17; 60 L Rehn 18-M45 43:53; 73 H Corbett 15-M55 47:13; 91 G Collins 2-M70 55:32; 94 A Lane 2-M75 61:25.

M50-59 Teams: 1 South London H 6; 2 Ranelagh H 26; 3 Dorking MV 32; 4 Belgrave H 41.

Roundshaw Downs parkrun 5k, 17 October 2009.

Men. 1 R Ward 17:32.

Wimbledon Common parkrun 5k, 17 October 2009.

Men. 1 A Vandenburg (Herc. Wimb) 16:45; 53 D Anderson M50 22:34.

IAAF World Half Marathon Champs., Birmingham, 11 October 2009.

Men. 1 Z Tadese (Eritrea) 59:35; 46 M Miles 1:04:21; 60 P Wicks 1:05:18.

Royal Parks Foundation Half Marathon, London, 11 October 2009.

Men. 1 P Sandali ( ) 1:09:31; 6 L Huang 1:15:45.

Hampshire Cross Country League, Farley Mount, 10 October 2009.

Men. 1 T Lambert (Winchester &DAC) 27:42; 26 M Kiralyfi 7-U20 31:10.

Cambridge University Freshers 5.17k, 10 October 2009.

Men. 1 J Kelly 15:40.70.

Paskar Owor, John Kimaiyo and Will Cockerell form an early spearhead of the Belgrave team in the "Sweatshop" Surrey Cross Country League League at Reigate Priory Park. Photo by Alan Mead.

"Sweatshop" Surrey CC League Race 1, Reigate Priory Park, 10 October 2009.

Oh! How the seasons roll round. As we embark upon the 48th winter of the Surrey Cross Country League we still harbour deep desires to win the series again.  Nine times we’ve achieved it, just missing out as runners-up on another eight occasions. Not a bad record, although we must remember that on five instances we’ve also briefly dipped our toes into the murky waters of division two only to jump straight out again.

Nowadays, though, we have to be realistic as we thread our way through a busy fixture list. With Thames Hare & Hounds and Herne Hill giving this series priority and regularly turning out such strong teams, it only takes one poor result from the Bels to wash away all chance of a win, and so we seem to have settled into targeting a slot in the top half of the division. All in all then, third team place in glorious sunshine and among the benign surroundings of Reigate Priory Park was an encouraging start.

What a great surprise it was to see Mike Webb turning out for us again.  We couldn’t quite remember when he last ran Surrey League but we are reminded that Mike ran in this equivalent race some ten years ago when he outpaced “Cockers” to become ninth scorer. A decade on and he was our seventh man across the line. Welcome back Mike!

In fact Mike Webb wasn’t the only old timer: Rob Harding completed a lap before deciding that as he was out of the ten perhaps, after all, he wouldn’t attempt a second circuit of the park.  Mike and Rob were two thirds of our National “team” at Havant in 1997 in the bad old days when we had temporarily forgotten that we were Harriers and these guys, with Don Anderson were our cross-country torch-bearers until better times.

But back to Reigate where Ben Whitby was soon making the pace, shadowed for the first lap by our own Paskar Owor.  Paskar tells us that his international athletics career for Uganda is now over as he prepares to shoulder arms for the British Army.  Sure he’ll run for the Army and the Bels when he can but at a lower level than in the days he faced Borzakovskiy & Co at two Olympic Games. Class will out, however, and although unable to match the superb downhill running of Whitby who took 30 seconds out of Paskar on the second lap, the Belgrave man hung on well in isolation to give us a good team start. He also became the 100th league scorer for the Bels this decade.

Starting his twelfth season of Surrey League races – with just two canters missed along the way – Will Cockerell occupied his normal highly respectable place in the low teens, and then came the globe-trotting John Kimaiyo.  John Charles ran regularly for us as a youth and junior and is now back in London working as a podiatrist having graduated; he’s a great boost to the team.  Beginning to make a few waves is Ben Hurley and he should be delighted with his 36th place - we are!  Well done too, Kevin Gadd, just off nights at the fire station yet prepared to come along and keep the team solid.

Can we maintain third all the way through the season?  Come along to Coulsdon on November 14th and find out.

Men. B Whitby (Herne Hill) 26:13; 2 P Owor (Belgrave) 26:46; 3 P Rogers (Reigate Priory) 27:05; 13 W Cockerell 28:30; 27 J Kimaiyo 29:17; 35 J Charles 29:48; 36 B Hurley 29:56; 49 K Gadd 30:46; 67 M Webb M40 31:36; 74 J Webb M40 31:57; 79 M Humphrey 32:21; 86 T Ellacott 32:49; 114 R Norville 35:11; 117 P Chapman 35:42; 126 J Hall M60 36:05; dnf R Harding, A Marek.

Teams:

1 Herne Hill H (1, 8, 11, 14, 17, 19, 21, 23, 24, 28) 166;

2 Thames H&H (4, 5, 6, 7, 15, 20, 25, 38, 41) 203;

3 Belgrave H (2, 13, 27, 35, 36, 47, 62, 66, 70, 76) 434;

4 Reigate Priory AC (3, 10, 22, 30, 40, 49, 59, 65, 86, 87) 451;

5 Guildford & Godalming AC (12, 18, 31, 33, 46, 56, 67, 78, 80, 81) 501;

6 South London H (9, 34, 43, 50, 51, 52, 54, 57, 71, 85) 506;

7 Hercules Wimbledon AC (32, 37, 39, 53, 55, 61, 64, 74, 77, 83) 575;

8 Epsom & Ewell H (16, 29, 44, 45, 58, 60, 69, 88, 89, 90) 588;

9 Ranelagh H (26, 48, 63, 68, 72, 73, 75, 79, 82, 84) 670.

Surrey Women's CC League Race 1, Reigate Priory Park, 10 October 2009.

1 F Clark (Reigate P) 22:34; 2 G Bruinvels (South London H) 22:59; 3 S Murphy (Belgrave) 23:50; 14 A Hegvold W40 25:54; 18 M Heaton 26:17; 84 J Beecroft 29:58; 85 M Noel W45 29:59; 86 C Eastham W35 30:04.

Teams: 1 South London H 77; 2 Clapham Chasers 101; 3 Thames H&H 150; 4 Herne Hill H 159; 5 Dulwich R 162; 6 The Stragglers 174; 8 Belgrave H 'A' 204; 33 Belgrave H 'B' 762.

Richmond Park parkrun 5k, 10 October 2009.

Men. 1 D Norman ( ) 17:19; 12 T O'Neill M55 19:13.

Reading parkrun 5k, 10 October 2009.

Men. 1 R Ward 17:12.

English Half Marathon, Warrington, 4 October 2009.

Men. 1 J Kimeu (Kenya) 1:05:08; 12 J Charles 1:15:05.

SEAA 10k Championship, Crystal Palace, 4 October 2009.

Men. 1 B Whitby (Windsor SE&H) 31:27; 13 J Kimaiyo 34:37; 17 M Byansi 35:57.

Belgrave 5k Yacht Handicap, Wimbledon, 3 October 2009.

The traditional Yacht Handicap has had a miserable time in the last dozen years or so but the latest incarnation of the event saw an upswing in interest.

One of our oldest races, the Yacht '3' (that's 3 miles) used to start almost on the doorstep of Belgrave Hall at the Ridgway end of Lauriston Road before heading up to the Common, round to the War Memorial, up Parkside to Windmill Road, left to the Windmill, and back along the dirt road, through the village and round the edge of the Common to finish at the other end of Lauriston Road.  Competitors numbers were often well over fifty ... even sixty or more ... as track runners ended their season and clashed with distance runners starting theirs, all setting off at intervals to finish more or less together.

The '80s and '90s saw the numbers plummet and by the end of the decade the field, often containing some very young runners, were hurtling up what was now a narrow one-way road (against the traffic) at The Green towards the War Memorial and risking life and limb to run across the Cannizaro Road/Parkside Junction. Sadly an alternative course had to be considered.

One attempt was made to run the event from the pound in Parkside - but wasn't very satisfactory. Battersea Park was tried but eventually the race limped to a halt.

Happily a revival was attempted last year, with the race run on our Belgrave Bolt 5k course starting in Cottenham Park Road. Admittedly it's not a great circuit, being a good ten minutes jog from the Hall, but at least it visits some of the roads not raced over by Belgravians since the demise of yet other events - the '5 ¾' and the Belgrave '20'. It also has the advantage of being an accurately measured 5k. Sixteen runners showed up.

In 2009 we moved a little further in the right direction with a field of 18.  With 'Boofer' Bruce unavailable there was a new handicapper in Charlie Dickinson and a good job he did too, ignoring the shady tactics of Terry O'Neill in pleading an injured leg, and managing to get fourteen runners finishing within a minute, ten of those within 21 seconds.

Maybe more than a score in 2010?

Bushy Park parkrun 5k, 3 October 2009.

Women. 1 J Bleasdale (Thames H&H) 16:50; C Eastham 23:01.

Invitation CC, South Bend, Indiana USA, 2 October 2009.

Men. 1 A Baker ( ) 23:45; 43 K Gauson 24:35.

Run to the Beat Half Marathon, London, 27 September 2009.

Men. 1 E Cherop (Kenya) 63:00; 10 J Kimaiyo 73:38; R Norville 1:21:21.

Aldershot Road Relays inc. SEAA Men's 6-Stage Road Relay, 27 September 2009.

So, how would Château Belgrave 2009 measure up to expectations?  When the starter popped the cork at 2:30pm sharp there was an immediate heady bouquet as Sp8y and Dan Mulhare rushed along near the head of the field but thereafter our brew became "vin ordinaire" before a final fruity flourish. We were only six seconds slower than our winning mark of 2008 - not bad considering the warm conditions.  Aldershot, on the other hand, knew that this was going to be their day and ran within ten seconds of our best ever - in fact they have never run faster - so well done to them!

Neil Speaight had a cracking run. Now residing in Switzerland, his training includes rather more hill sessions than he’s been used to – and it seems to suit him. Only Ben Whitby of Windsor had the beating of our man on stage one as they ran what turned out to be the fourth and fifth fastest times of the day. But Neil was headed for some time by our own B-man Dan. A further ten days off training at the end of an illness and injury-wracked summer, meant that he’d requested a spot on our second team.  Maybe we shouldn’t have been so accommodating. There was plenty of excitement still in store for Sp8y as he headed off to the car park for a quick getaway and an attempt to reach Gatwick Airport before his flight check-in closed just an hour and 27 minutes after his run was completed. We next heard from him as the race was drawing to a close - he'd made it by five minutes.

Step up James Kelly who, like others, had been looking forward to the relays for weeks. Jim made swift inroads into Windsor’s lead and entered the arena at the head of the field; but there was an ominous figure clad in red, green and white not far behind and as the lap was completed Ben Lindsay took Aldershot to the front, up from 4th. No other man slipped past on the second circuit but we ended up 19 seconds down. Pbs have come on the track this summer but on this occasion our man was unable to translate that into road form and admitted to disappointment with his run.  Will Cockerell had a somewhat torrid time for the “bambinos” as nine rivals floated past. "New babies at home weaken legs," was an excuse he peddled after.

What could the “Sharpman” do about rival Paul Rogers – in truth not a lot!  It was a solid “ok” run and he appeared to making ground but the watch doesn’t lie and AFD’s advantage actually stretched by three seconds; and we had far from cracked the Beagles who were occupying third place just eleven seconds behind.  It was brilliant to see John Charles racing for us again, back from university with a 72:56 half marathon under his belt and promising to become a regular in Surrey League races this winter.

Nick Goolab received a big build-up from the announcer who reminded onlookers that here we had the National and Inter-County Junior Champion in action. Nick gave us an 18:12 overture in his first appearance on this circuit twelve months earlier.  A clocking like that would have seen the Bels in the lead – but it just wouldn’t come and he had to be satisfied with scaling back the AFD advantage to 13 seconds.  There were a few worried faces when the Beagles’ Sam Farah closed Nick right down, but our guy was running a very even stage while poor Sam lost all he had gained and more after a mega positive split.  Another blast from the past was evident for the Bs as Paskar Owor, a veteran of both the Sydney and Athens Olympic Games for his native Uganda came up six places to run sixth fastest on the stage. Paskar ran British League for us a few years back but is now set on a life in the British Army.

Another man not satisfied with his recent form was Simon Jones.  Barely a month ago he’d gone under 30 minutes for 10k on the track but athletics is a capricious sport and here he had to face a confident Ben Moreau. As Moreau took time out of Simon, so did Si take time out of Newham’s Kairn Stone and with 50 seconds odd now between each team, the effect of each outfit having saved their fastest until last meant – no change.  Phil Wicks scorched along like a good’un. He was a mere 4 seconds down on his best for the course and third best of the day. But as we said – no change – because ahead of him AFD’s Andy Vernon was second fastest and behind him the Beagles’ Moumin Geele produced the day’s best.

Eagerly grasping the chance of helping out the Bs, rear-gunners Ben Hurley and Matt Whiting manfully spent 42 minutes fighting off attacks and the team came home in 18th - three seconds faster than 2008 and up three places.  Thanks to them, yet again we can take two teams to the National.

Silver medals were a new experience for the Bels, only having garnered gold, bronze or nothing in the Southern 6-Stage before, but perhaps the most important thing we took away from the race was the reminder that we are going to have to raise our game to make an impact at Sutton Park.       

1 Aldershot F&D AC 1:49:28; 2 Belgrave H 1:50:30; 3 Newham & Essex Beagles 1:50:54; 4 Bedford & County AC 1:52:25; 5 Blackheath & Bromley H 1:53:58; 6 Thames Valley H 1:54:02; ... 18 Belgrave H ‘B’ 1:59:23; … 92 teams started; 78 finished.

A – N Speaight (team position 2, ranking on stage 2, halfway split 8:52) 18:03; J Kelly (2, 7, 9:14) 18:51; S Sharp (2, 4, 9:00) 18:29; N Goolab U20 (2, 3, 9:12) 18:35; S Jones (2, 2, 9:19) 18:47; P Wicks (2, 3, 8:42) 17:45.

B – D Mulhare 18:27 (6, 6) W Cockerell (15, 23) 19:45; John Charles (17, 29) 20:28; P Owor (11, 6) 18:53; B Hurley (14, 33) 20:40; M Whiting (18, 40) 21:10.

Fastest: 1 M Geele (Newham & Essex Beagles) 17:23; 2 A Vernon (Aldershot, Farnham & Dist AC 17:36; 3 P Wicks (Belgrave H) 17:45; … =5 N Speaight 18:03; … 20 D Mulhare 18:27.

Fifth Avenue 1 Mile, New York, 26 September 2009.

Men. 1 S Baddeley (GB) 3:51.8; 12 T Bayley 3:58.3.

Bushy Park parkrun 5k, 26 September 2009.

Men. 1 S Renfer (Elmbridge) 16:26; 20 B Barton M40 18:09.

Wimbledon Common parkrun 5k, 26 September 2009.

Men. 1 E O'Connell (Serp) 16:56; 3 S Ryan 17:51.

Roundshaw Downs, South Croydon, parkrun 5k, 26 September 2009.

Men. 1 R Ward 16:24.

Great North Run Half Marathon, Newcastle to South Shields, 20 September 2009.

Men. 1 M Lel (Kenya) 59:32; 32 J Kelly 1:10:08.

Great North City Games, England v Australia, 19 September 2009.

Men. 1 mile: 1 A Baddeley 4:02; 8 S Moralee 4:24.

Bushy Park parkrun 5k, 19 September 2009.

Men. 1 G Thornton (Kent) 15:06; 9 M Trees M45 17:33; 14 P Chapman 17:49.

Roundshaw Downs, South Croydon, parkrun 5k, 19 September 2009.

Men. 1 R Ward 17:11.

Three2go 5k, Hackney Marshes, 13 September 2009.

Men. 1 H Raidi 16:09.

Bolton MNDA 5k, 13 September 2009.

Men. 1 T Valentine (Bolton) 16:54; 2 P Freary M40 17:34.

Surrey Road Relay, Wimbledon Park, 12 September 2009.

A different line-up this year as no fewer than nine of the Surrey men we normally call upon were unavailable for one reason or another. Our six enjoyed their afternoon and Ben Hurley ran exceptionally well to be our fastest man.

Men. 1 Thames H&H 1:31:16; 2 Herne Hill H1:31:36; 3 Herne Hill H 'B' 1:33:43; 7 Belgrave H 1:37:33.

A - M Humphrey (9) 15:48, B Hurley (5) 15:31, K Gadd (5) 15:34, D Mason (5) 16:40, P Chapman (6) 17:01, R Norville (7) 16:59.

B - R Harding (23) 19:35.

Tesco Grand Prix 10k, Prague, Czech Republic, 12 September 2009.

Men. 1 D Mkami Marwa (Tanzania) 28:24; 10 P Wicks 29:53; 24 S Jones 31:45.

Banstead Woods parkrun 5k, 12 September 2009.

Men. 1 R Ward 16:38.

Wimbledon Common parkrun 5k, 12 September 2009.

Men. 1 E O'Connell (Serp) 17:06; 4 S Ryan 18:15.

Innovation Sports 10k, Clapham Common, 6 September 2009.

Men. 3 R Norville 37:32.

Adidas Women's 5k, Hyde Park, 6 September 2009.

Men. 1 V Cheruiyot (Kenya) 15:11; 38 C Edis 19:42.

Harry Hawkes 8 miles, Thames Ditton, 6 September 2009.

Men. 1 S Molden (Thames H&H) 44:34; 2 W Cockerell 45:02.

Bristol Half Marathon, 6 September 2009.

Men. 1 E Cherop (Kenya) 1:03:26; 3 M Miles 1:04:54. 26 H Raidi 70:07.

BUPA Great Yorkshire 10k, Sheffield, 6 September 2009.

Men. 1 E Kipchoge (Kenya) 28:30; 6 P Wicks 29:46.

Heaton Park parkrun 5k, 5 September 2009.

Men. 1 P Freary M40 17:00.

Bromley parkrun 5k, 5 September 2009.

Men. 1 R Ward 17:06.

Self Transcendence 5k, Edinburgh, 2 September 2009.

Men. 1 D Mulhare 15:07.

Black Park parkrun 5k, 29 August 2009.

Men. 1 R Ward 16:33.

Wimbledon Common parkrun 5k, 29 August 2009.

Men. 1 E O'Connell (Serp) 17:01; 8 S Ryan 18:12; 99 P Cross M50 25:40.

Bushy Park parkrun 5k, 29 August 2009.

Women. 1 L Springthorpe (Horsham BS) 19:31; C Eastham 23:10.

Serpentine Last Friday 5k, Hyde Park, 28 August 2009.

Men. 1 H Raidi 15:55; 17 M Humphrey 17:54.

Birchwood 10k, 23 August 2009.

Men.  1 M Miles 30:00.

Roundshaw Downs, South Croydon, parkrun 5k, 22 August 2009.

Men. 1 R Ward 17:08.

Banstead Woods, parkrun 5k, 22 August 2009.

Men. 1 C Phelan (SLH) 17:30; 17 G Adams M40 19:27.

Bushy Park, parkrun 5k, 22 August 2009.

Women. 1 L Tamsett (unatt) 16:25; 216 C Eastham W35 23:13.

Wimbledon Common, parkrun 5k, 22 August 2009.

Men. 1 A Vandenburg (Herc Wimb) 16:47; 11 R Norville 18:15.

London Pride 10k, Victoria Park, Hackney, 16 August 2009.

Women. 1 J Roberts (Col H) 37:09; 4 S Murphy 39:28.

Roundshaw Downs, South Croydon, parkrun 5k, 15 August 2009.

Men. 1 R Ward 17:21.

Wimbledon Common, parkrun 5k, 15 August 2009.

Men. 1 L White (Herc Wimb) 16:17; 94 D Anderson M50 25:22.

Newark Half Marathon, 9 August 2009.

Men. 1 H Raidi 1:09:23.

Swansea Bay 5k, 4 August 2009.

Men. 1 S Jones 15:24.

Crystal Palace Canter 5k, 4 August 2009.

Men. 1 P Owor 16:05.

Reebok Sale 10 miles, 2 August 2009.

Men. 1 E Cherop (Birchfield) 47:35; 2 M Miles 47:40.

Roundshaw Downs, South Croydon, parkrun 5k, 1 August 2009.

Men. 1 R Ward 16:58.

Heaton Park, Trafford, parkrun 5k, 1 August 2009.

Men. 1 P Freary M40 17:35.

Wedding Day 7k, Bushy Park, 31 July 2009.

Men. 1 D McNeil (Australia) 20:27; 7 W Cockerell 23:06.

Brooks Serpentine Last Friday 5k, Hyde Park, 31 July 2009.

Men. 1 H Raidi 15:56.

Women. 1 B Haywood (Linc) 17:40; 2 H Smethurst W40 19:51.

Julie Button 10k, Elmbridge, 26 July 2009.

Men. 1 H Raidi 31:42; 6 M Byansi 33:14; 9 J Kimaiyo 33:44.

Roundshaw Downs, South Croydon, parkrun 5k, 25 July 2009.

Men. 1 R Ward 17:06.

Heaton Park, Trafford, parkrun 5k, 25 July 2009.

Men. 1 D Brocklehurst (Trafford) 16:26; 2 P Freary M40 17:58.

Bushy Park parkrun 5k, 18 July 2009.

Men. 1 J Goulis (Stragglers) 16:10; 2 W Cockerell 16:37.

Wimbledon Common parkrun 5k, 18 July 2009.

Men. 1 C Smith (Thames Valley) 16:00; 84 D Anderson M50 25:01.

Standard Chartered 5k, City of London, 16 July 2009.

Men. 1 P Wicks 14:29.

Women. 10 T Heaton 19:33.

1 S Mokoka (RSA) 29:20; 9 M Miles 30:14.

Norwich Lord Mayor's 5k, Norwich, 11 July 2009.

1 M Geele (Newham &EB) 14:25; 5 S Jones 15:02; 7 M Pollard 15:15.

JP Morgan Chase Challenge, Battersea Park, 8 July 2009.

Men. 1 M Miles 16:25.

Gold Coast Half Marathon, Queensland, Australia, 5 July 2009.

Men. 1 D Marwa (Tanzania) 1:02:09; 3 M Dent 1:02:16; 7 E McRae 1:05:40.

Nonsuch Park 4 x 1.86 miles Relay, 2 July 2009.

Men. 1 Epsom & Ewell H 39:46; 2 The Stragglers 41:49; 3 Sutton & Dist. 41:59; 5 Belgrave H 42:37 (phrey 9:54, M facey 11:25, G Adams 11:07, J Webb 10:11); running in a Stragglers team M Everett 12:13.

Fastest W Clark (Epsom) 9:15.

Dysart Dash 10k, Petersham, 28 June 2009.

Men. 1 S Major (Thames H&H) 32:36; 3 J Kimaiyo 33:08; 5 W Cockerell 33:17; 25 M Webb M40 36:32.

Teams: 1 Thames H&H 10, 2 Belgrave 33.

Richmond Park parkrun 5k, 27 June 2009.

Men. 1 R Ward 16:48.

Wimbledon Common parkrun 5k, 27 June 2009.

Men. 1 A Robinson (Thames H&H) 17:11; 8 P Chapman 18:46.

Sherunsheruns Bluewater 10k, Greenhithe, 14 June 2009.

Men. 1 J Ndayisenga (Birchfield) 30:55; 6 J Kimaiyo 33:34; 8 M Byansi 34:43.

Clapham Common 5k, 14 June 2009.

Men. 1 M Humphrey 17:34.

Wimbledon Common parkrun 5k, 13 June 2009.

Men. 1 A Mercer (unatt) 16:42; 8 P Chapman 18:43.

Banstead Woods parkrun 5k, 13 June 2009.

Men. 1 J Simpson (South London) 15:56; 2 R Ward 17:20.

Richmond Park parkrun 5k, 13 June 2009.

Men. 1 J Blake (West 4) 17:57; 9 T O'Neill M55 18:56.

Self Transendence 10k, Battersea Park, 13 June 2009.

Men. 1 C Cooke (unatt) 34:09; 2 K Hegvold M45 34:41; 19 D Mason 36:49.

Swansea 5k, 9 June 2009.

Men. 1 S Jones 14:47.

Eton Dorney Windsor Half Marathon, 7 June 2009.

Men. 1 M Miles 1:07:31.

Halifax Town Centre 5k, Halifax, 31 May 2009.

Men. 1 M Miles 15:02.

Bushy Park parkrun 5k, 30 May 2009.

Men. 1 G Bridgman (St. Mary's) 16:11; 2 W Cockerell 16:15.

Bedfont Lakes parkrun 5k, 30 May 2009.

Men. 1 R Ward 16:43.

BUPA London 10k, 25 May 2009.

Men. 1 M Farah (Newham &EB) 27:50; 4 P Wicks 28:55; 9 M Miles 29:41; 171 E Smith 40:33; 746 P Cross M50 46:10.

Women. 1 K Smith (NZ) 31:38; 15 Z Vail 38:18.

Wokingham Half Marathon, 24 May 2009.

Men. 1 D Webb (Leeds) 1:04:50; 8 J Kimaiyo 1:12:05.

Plymouth Half Marathon, 24 May 2009.

Men. 1 J Ndayisenga (Birchfield) 1:05:35; 3 T Watson 1:10:01.

Ropley 10k, 24 May 2009.

Women. 1 E Fogg 40:26.

Banstead Woods parkrun 5k, 23 May 2009.

Men. 1 J Simpson 15:58; 2 R Ward 16:14.

Bushy Park parkrun 5k, 23 May 2009.

Men. 1 J Trapmore 15:42; 3 W Cockerell 16:38.

SSFA 5k, Cardiff, 20 May 2009.

Men. 1 C Moss (Cardiff) 14:53; 2 S Davies 14:55.

Hornsey YMCA 10k, 17 May 2009.

Men. 1 G Stewart (London H) 33:54; 3 M Byansi 34:59.

Women. 1 S Swinhoe (London H) 37:50; 3 Z Vail 38:50.

BUPA Great Manchester 10k, 17 May 2009.

Men. 1 H Gebreselassie (Ethiopia) 27:39; 43 S Jones 30:58; 46 M Miles 31:11; 64 D Anderson 33:01.

Shell Chester Half Marathon, 17 May 2009.

Women. 1 N Bird (Ellesmere) 1:22:41; L Cooper 1:36:43.

Wimbledon Common parkrun 5k, 16 May 2009.

Men. 1 C Blackburn (unatt) 16:27; 116 D Anderson M50 26:03.

Haigh Hall 4 miles Series, Wigan, 13 May 2009.

Men. 1 N Leigh (Altrincham) 20:45; 6 P Freary M40 22:01.

Bristol 10k, 10 May 2009.

Men. 1 P Wicks 28:54.

Richmond Half Marathon, 10 May 2009.

Men. 1 P Tucker (Blackheath &B) 1:09:54; 878 C Henn M75 2:29:00.

Salford 5k, 10 May 2009.

Men. 1 J Brown (Salford) 15:54; 3 P Freary M40 16:57.

Wimbledon Common parkrun 5k, 9 May 2009.

Men. 1 R Dessaix-Chin 15:12 (record).

BUPA Great Edinburgh 10k, 3 May 2009.

Men. 1 M Kogo (Kenya) 28:12; 10 R Dessaix-Chin 30:48.

Concorde 10k, Cranford, 3 May 2009.

Men. 1 M Boucher (Aldershot F&D) 34:52; 2 M Humphrey 35:46.

Regents Park Summer 10k Series, 2 May 2009.

Men. 1 H Raidi 32:54.

Banstead Woods parkrun 5k, 2 May 2009.

Men. 1 R Ward 16:45.

Richmond Park parkrun 5k, 2 May 2009.

Men. 1 D Augustus (Scarborough) 15:59; 7 T O'Neill M55 18:53.

Bushy Park parkrun 5k, 2 May 2009.

Women. 1 L Wynn (Serpentine) 18:42; J Moore W50 26:35.

Flora London Marathon, 26 Apr 2009.

Men. 1 S Wanjiru (Kenya) 2:05:10; 14 M Dent 2:15:24; 65 W Cockerell 2:31:25; 165 K Hegvold M45 2:39:18; 167 M Byansi 2:39:23; 225 T Ellacott 2:42:17; 299 K Gadd 2:45:04; 1293 P Marsh M55 3:06:13; 2198 N Stevenson 3:17:03; 3194 T Weeks 3:26:40; 5183 P Cross M50 3:41:20; 5296 D Woodgate 3:42:08; 8019 E Asiedu 3:57:21; 14681, E Taylor 4:33:39; 20103 S Clayton 5:10:25.

Women. 1 I Mikitenko (Germany) 2:22:11; 102 T Heaton 3:08:54; 140 S Murphy 3:11:50; 399 L Cooper 3:26:11; 430 V Goodwin 3:27:22. Team: 3 Belgrave 9:46:55.

Korschenbroich 10k, Germany, 26 April 2009.

Men. 1 V Schafar (Ukraine) 29:32.0; 12 S Jones 30:53.6.

Richmond Park parkrun 5k, 25 April 2009.

Men. 1 D Augustus (Scarborough) 16:15; 3 T O'Neill M55 18:57.

Bushy Park parkrun 5k, 25 April 2009.

Men. 1 R Ward 16:01.

Boston Invitation 1 mile, Boston, MA USA, 19 April 2009.

Men. 1 mile: 8 J Blackledge 4:17.

Newham Classic 10k, Stratford, 19 April 2009.

Men. 1 F Neuschwander (Germany) 30:14; 4 M Byansi 33:52.

Turin Marathon, Italy, 19 April 2009.

Men. 65 A Sentance 2:49:06.

ERRA National 12-Stage Road Relay, Sutton Coldfield, 18 April 2009

Kings of the road - 2009

Above: Standing - Mark Pollard (stage 8), Simon Jones (5), James Kelly (1), Neil Speaight, Vice-Captain (10), Nick Goolab (6), Marty Dent (11), Russell Dessaix-Chin (7), kneeling - Steve Davies (2), Mark Miles (3), Stephen Sharp, Captain (4), Phil Wicks (9), Daniel Mulhare (12). Photo by Alan Mead.

Every once in a while, for the National 12-Stage Road Relay, a magic line-up is achieved and, like an extraordinary conjunction of the planets, we can use it to foretell of astonishing happenings: a really fast team time, maybe a club best by a couple of minutes, surely a clear win: and let’s let our imagination really run away with us – can a team ever go near Bristol’s legendary 4:00:37.   

April 18th, 2009, saw such an alignment of heavenly bodies for the Bels and after three successive sets of bronze medals and a place on the podium after every race since 2001, a win in a club best time was achieved.  We had hoped to go a little faster, but although the whole team raced perfectly for an outstanding win, fast individual times didn’t come for everyone but our “sensible” targets were all in the bag: gold medals, a club best time and our ‘B’ team in front of Leeds City’s and Aldershot’s B squads. A bonus was the magnificent fastest of the day by Phil Wicks.

To get a ‘B’ team home in a highly commendable 23rd was a great triumph.  Only a little over a decade ago we would have been well satisfied with such a placing by our ‘A’ squad. And to help us enjoy the occasion, many old friends and team members made the Sutton Park pilgrimage: David Anderson raced again in the ‘Bs’, Tim Watson was similarly back in the fold and raring to go and an unfit Paul Freary (hampered by a neck injury) was in a supporting role.

A major accident on the northern section of the M6 meant that the start was delayed by 45 minutes but in typical Sutton Park conditions – blustery but bright and spring-like – the race began.

 Stage 1

Beagles’ team manager Bob Smith took great delight in telling our own TM, “your man’s in 58th,” as he returned from watching the field sweep round the mini-loop before tackling the hill; but first-stager James Kelly knew exactly what he was doing and soon he was working his way forward.  Tasked with a spot in the mid-20’s, Jim ran quarter of a minute faster than last year, in spite of the stage times being generally down on normal, and he swept through the take-over area in 18th, 46 seconds down on leader Adam Bowden of Harrow. Best placed of the favourites were the Beagles in 9th, just headed by Southern runners-up Aldershot, while Scottish Champions Shettlestone showed that they hadn’t travelled south just for fun by coming in 5th.

James is enjoying his running more than ever and in spite of being ‘born in the USA’ his Brit half seems to be gaining the ascendancy and we are delighted to hear that he may be considering putting down a few ‘old country’ roots.

Ten times Japanese National Triathlon Champion (not to mention one time British Ironman record holder and World 10km Masters Champion) Mike Trees “set off conservatively,” for the ‘Bs’, “and went backwards”!  We suspect that Mike’s idea of conservative is a little different from the view of others. Our super vet’s next outing will be on the streets of London where he hopes to get under 2 hrs. 30 mins.

1 Harrow 26:29; 2 Cardiff 26:36; 3 Trafford 26:40; 4 Altrincham 26:41; 5 Shettlestone 26:41; 6 Aldershot F&D 26:42; … 18 Belgrave ‘A’ 27:15; 48 Belgrave ‘B’ 28:59.

Fastest: A Bowden (Harrow) 26:29; 2 M Johnson (Cardiff) 26:36; 3 A Holliday (Trafford) 26:40; 4 D Norman (Altrincham) 26:41; 5 T Mengisteab (Shettlestone) 26:41; 6 A Harris (Aldershot F&D) 26:42; … 18 J Kelly (Belgrave) 27:15; 48 M Trees M45 (Belgrave ‘B’) 28:59.

 Stage 2

Amidst the ‘cut and thrust’ of the first short stage there were the normal huge ‘risers’ and ‘fallers’.  Near the front Shaftesbury came up 11 to 3rd, Winchester up 16 to 10th while Blackheath’s Mike Skinner was the biggest jumper of all – up 22 to 13th. Chris McKay of Newham & Essex Beagles pulled the East Londoners’ team to the front, to the surprise of their outgoing runner Steve Hepples who was caught unawares and lost a few seconds. Ex-Belgravian Chris Moss maintained Cardiff’s second place while the man he coaches, Belgravian Steve Davies, gained seven places to 11th.  Two legs gone and we were one second up on our target of a new club best.

The ‘Bs’ were on the move too, also up seven places thanks to Andrew Connick in his first outing for the Bels.

1 Newham &EB (+8) 40:57; 2 Cardiff (0) 41:11; 3 Shaftesbury B (+11) 41:15; 4 Altrincham (0) 41:16; 5 Shettlestone (0) 41:18; 6 Harrow (-5) 41:22; … 11 Belgrave ‘A’ (+7) 41:56; 41 Belgrave ‘B’ (+7) 44:46.

Fastest: M Skinner (Blackheath) 14:04; =2 N Gamester (Shaftesbury B) & C McKay (Newham &EB) 14:06; 4 M Draper (Bedford &C) 14:13; 5 T Payne (Winchester) 14:14; 6 M Pierson (Holmfirth) 14:17; 11 S Davies (Belgrave) 14:41; =32 A Connick (Belgrave ‘B’) 15:47.

 Stage 3

The ‘shake-out’ began as ‘front loaded’ teams began to fall away.  Bedford had languished in 42nd after stage one but were now into 4th thanks to Neilson Hall. Birchfield’s colours were brought into the fray by Simon Tonui while Aldershot were into 3rd on the back of Ben Lindsay.  But there was a bullet on its way to a target.  Mark Miles had taken up the Belgrave chase one minute and one second after the leader had set out and before long the information came in that he was up into 8th … 6th … 5th … and with a mile to go was now homing in on Steve Hepples’ Beagles vest. He hit the front on the climb to the finish and the Bels were ahead. It was a great run and in his fifth run over the Sutton Park long stage he has never ever gone outside the 25:45 to 25:51 range.  What consistency. Mark is enjoying a spell of fantastic form and has high hopes of a spot on the British team for the World Half Marathon Championship in Birmingham. Only Notts AC were now spoiling a Southern clubs party in the top half dozen.

And while all this was going on ahead the ever reliable Richard Stannard was ensuring that the B team were tracking Aldershot’s B men as both clubs inched their second teams up the list. Just to remind you what a talented man Richard is: he‘s been British triathlon champion, twice world Aquathlon champion, twice world Biathle (run, swim, run) champion and was manager and coach to the Irish Triathlon team at the Beijing Olympics.

1 Belgrave (+10) 1:07:45; 2 Newham &EB (-1) 1:07:46; 3 Aldershot F&D (+4) 1:08:33; 4 Bedford &C (+19) 1:08:34; 5 Notts (+4) 1:08:35; 6 Shaftesbury B (-3) 1:08:55; … 40 Belgrave ‘B’ (+1) 28:34.

Fastest: 1 M Miles (Belgrave) 25:49; 2 N Hall (Bedford &C) 25:54; 3 S Tonui (Birchfield) 26:12; 4 J Wills (Bristol &W) 26:22; 5 M Williams (Tipton) 26:37; 36 R Stannard (Belgrave ‘B’) 28:34.

 Stage 4

No changes at all in the front three: Stephen Sharp enjoyed his last run as Captain by stretching out our 1 second advantage to just over half a minute – but then was mortified to find that his official time was given as 14:58 opposed to that given by our Team Manager’s watch - 14:42. Rob Cole of NEB seemed to suffer a similar fate and later it was found that both clubs’ next stage runners were to receive times 16 seconds faster than they should have been. Lapping had just occurred and seems to have been the cause of the problem. The best that we can do is record here the times we believe they should have received.  Was Sharpy on his way to an incredible 14th National gold medal?  It seemed likely.

What a treat to have Royal Marine Tim Watson back in the team – albeit the B squad for now. Since he last donned a Belgrave vest Tim has seen duty in distant lands far from conducive to running through the streets.  But he’s working his way back now and although slightly disappointed at first not to go under 15, his 15:04 looked better and better as the day wore on. We gained seven spots as he moved into the front half of the field and the top ten times for the stage included two Belgravians.

1 Belgrave (0) 1:22:27; 2 Newham &EB (0) 1:22:58 (1:23:14?); 3 Aldershot F&D (0) 1:23:19; 4 Notts (+1) 1:23:36; 5 Bedford &C (-1) 1:23:47; 6 Shaftesbury B (0) 1:24:00; … 33 Belgrave ‘B’ (+7) 1:28:24.

Fastest: 1 J Taylor 13:57; 2 S Sharp (Belgrave) 14:42; 3 B Moreau (Aldershot F&D) 14:46; 4 R Peters (Bristol &W) 14:59; 5 B Norris (Notts) 15:01; 6 T Watson (Belgrave ‘B’) 15:04.

 Stage 5

Just when we felt we might start to move away from the field we had the sight of Simon Jones carrying our colours out into the lead with World Cross rep Keith Gerrard (Newham &EB) setting out half a minute behind.  It seemed fairly inevitable that our man would get caught – and he did – but far from losing his place, Simon fell in alongside, dropped behind a little, caught up again, and the two of them worked their way around the lap in this fashion until with a last throw of the dice, the Belgravian raised his pace and got away by just two seconds.  A great run by Simon and surely worth a better time than 26:43, eight seconds down on his 2008 effort.  Of course the official time was 26:27 which sounded much better to his ears!

Notts AC slipped into third place, Bedford into 4th, and just outside the top half dozen Tipton were inching forward and Shettleston were holding up brilliantly but it was a subdued Leeds City AC that continued to hover around 9th and 10th, unable to make a big advance.

Will Cockerell ran what he described as, “a typical ‘B’ run.”  Disappointed yet again to miss out on ‘A’ team status and having to accept the reserve’s role, it’s hard to get the same enthusiasm for a ‘B’ run.  But ever a loyal servant to the team, Will did us proud and we were up into 31st. Our Club Secretary and ever-present team member will be doing battle in the Flora London Marathon in eight days time.

1 Belgrave (0) 1:49:10; 2 Newham &EB (0) 1:49:12; 3 Notts (+1) 1:50:09; 4 Bedford &C (+1) 1:50:48; 5 Birchfield (+3) 1:51:01; 6 Bristol &W (+6) 1:51:02; 31 Belgrave ‘B’ (+2) 1:57:12.

Fastest: 1 K Gerrard (Newham &EB) 26:16 (25:58?); 2 K Heywood (Bristol &W) 26:29; 3 B Raeside (Notts) 26:33; 4 P Hinch (Tipton) 26:36; 5 J Lennox (Shettlestone) 26:38; 6 S Jones (Belgrave) 26:43 (26:27?); =26 W Cockerell (Belgrave ‘B’) 28:48.

 Stage 6

Yet again we had two men in the top ten times for the stage as Nick Goolab extended a two second advantage over a persistent Beagles outfit to 21 seconds and Hassan Raidi moved the Bs up among serious ‘A’ team opposition in 26th.  We were now heading for a 4:05 overall clocking and it was beginning to look as if the blustery weather was going to take away our chance of a club best.  Yet again there was no change among the top three but there were feathers flying just outside the frame as Tewelde moved Scottish Champions Shettlestone into 4th.

1 Belgrave (0) 2:03:55; 2 Newham &EB (0) 2:04:16; 3 Notts (0) 2:05:22; 4 Shettlestone (+4) 2:05:55; 5 Birchfield (0) 2:06:15; 6 Bedford &C (-2) 2:06:18; … 26 Belgrave ‘B’ (+5) 2:12:21.

Fastest: 1 G Cornish (Sale HM) 14:43; 2 R Sparke (Woodford GwEL) 14:43; 3 N Goolab (Belgrave) 14:45; 4 T Tewelde (Shettlestone) 14:46; 5 J Wilkinson (Leeds City) 14:49; 6 O Laws (Newham &EB) 15:04; 7 H Raidi (Belgrave ‘B’) 15:09.

 Stage 7

Up until now Mark Miles’ stage three effort remained as the day’s fastest but up stepped Tipton’s Phil Nicholls to run 25:39 and take the Whippets to 4th, just 24 seconds down on Notts and the chance now of a tilt at the medals.  For the Bels a significant gap over the Beagles opened up for the first time as Russell Dessaix-Chin maintained the pressure and took three quarters of a minute out of Kairn Stone.  A bronze medallist in this race in 2007 and yet another making a foray onto the streets of London in a few days, Mal Byansi raised the ‘Bs’ yet another notch: top 25 now and with Herne Hill, Harrow, Salford and Blackheath just up the road.

1 Belgrave (0) 2:30:16; 2 Newham &EB (0) 2:31:23; 3 Notts (0) 2:31:50; 4 Tipton (+3) 2:32:14; 5 Birchfield (0) 2:32:24; 6 Bedford &C (0) 2:32:35; … 25 Belgrave ‘B’ (+1) 2:41:20.

Fastest: 1 P Nicholls (Tipton) 25:39; 2 Z Kihara (Birchfield) 26:09; 3 M Janes (Bedford &C) 26:17; 4 R Dessaix-Chin (Belgrave) 26:21; 5 G Raven (Sale HM) 26:23; 6 I Boneham (Notts) 26:28; 27 M Byansi (Belgrave ‘B’) 28:59.

 Stage 8

Following up a powerful run at Milton Keynes with another one here at Sutton Park, Mark Pollard pushed the Belgrave lead out to a minute and 24, running second fastest on the stage.  Just a second quicker the Tipton man jumped over Notts AC – had the top three been sorted?

Shaun Moralee ran 14:56 last year to earn his bronze but has fallen on hard times since with a run of injuries. Hopefully, now, all that is behind him and his 15:09 on very little background was excellent. The ‘Baby Bs’ were now 24th and for the third time two Belgravians featured in the top ten for a stage.

1 Belgrave (0) 2:45:01; 2 Newham &EB (0) 2:46:25; 3 Tipton (+1) 2:46:58; 4 Notts (-1) 2:47:13; 5 Bedford &C (+1) 2:48:06; 6 Birchfield (-1) 2:48:23; … 24 Belgrave ‘B’ (+1) 2:56:29.

Fastest: 1 J Millington (Tipton) 14:44; 2 Mark Pollard (Belgrave) 14:45; 3 C Birchall (Leeds C) 15:01; =4 M Deason (Shettleston) & S Farah (Newham &EB) 15:02; 6 K Quinn (Aldershot F&D) 15:03; 7 S Moralee (Belgrave ‘B’) 15:09.

 Stage 9

Many will have been aware that Phil Wicks is into a ‘purple patch’ since his 62:51 half marathon at Reading but his run here was to send further shockwaves around the running fraternity. He’s not had the best of luck on the Sutton Park long stage up to now so an improvement on his 2006 run of 26:35 was pretty much on the cards – perhaps by a minute? In fact Phil made light of the stiff breeze – said he didn’t notice it – and tore the previous best of the day to shreds with a 25:13 run. Only Paul Evans in his pomp has gone better for Belgrave with 24:58. Moumin Geele chased hard for the Beagles but our man added the best part of a minute to our lead and although we’d been slowly drifting away from our club record target it was suddenly achievable again – we were just 17 seconds down.

The first two places now seemed sorted, barring accidents, but there was much excitement in the race for bronze medals as a mere 25 seconds covered Tipton, Bedford and Shettlestone after three and a quarter hours of racing.

Lander Eguia made a valiant effort and kept our second team in the top 25

1 Belgrave (0) 3:10:14; 2 Newham &EB (0) 3:12:27; 3 Tipton (+1) 3:14:11; 4 Bedford &C (+1) 3:14:21; 5 Shettlestone (+2) 3:14:36; 6 Notts (-1) 3:15:24; … 25 Belgrave ‘B’ (-1) 3:26:43.

Fastest: 1 P Wicks (Belgrave) 25:13; 2 M Geele (Newham &EB) 26:02; 3 T Woldemichael (Shettlestone) 26:05; 4 A Jones (Salford) 26:08; 5 D Deed (Bedford &C) 26:15; 6 A Buckley (Leeds C) 26:51.

 Stage 10

In spite of a slight worry with a calf problem two weeks before the race, Neil Speaight was almost spot on his predicted time and fastest of the stage. Our club record hopes were still alive and the lead stretched again to approaching three minutes. The Beagles were themselves nearly two minutes clear in second but Tipton couldn’t seem to get clear away from a chasing pack that was currently led by our southern rivals Bedford & County.

A man runs a couple of times a week for a few months – and turns on a 15:36 to gain two places for the B team.  It can only be Dave Anderson, a busy chap and living in Manchester now.  What a talent! Still only 31, there could be another decade of relay runs ahead of him if he could find the time and inclination to run regularly at a slightly lower level than was once his norm.

1 Belgrave (0) 3:24:47; 2 Newham &EB (0) 3:27:34; 3 Tipton (0) 3:29:14; 4 Bedford &C (0) 3:29:42; 5 Shettlestone (0) 3:30:00; 6 Birchfield (+1) 3:30:32; … 23 Belgrave ‘B’ (+2) 3:42:19.

Fastest: 1 N Speaight 14:33; 2 N Stirk (Tipton) 15:03; 3 A Blundell 15:04; 4 S Major (Newham &EB) 15:07; 5 H Webb (Bristol &W) 15:08; 6 A Elliott (Sale HM) 15:10; 13 D Anderson (Belgrave ‘B’) 15:36.

 Stage 11

Surely this would now be a killer blow as Marty Dent took his place on the start line. He assured us that he would be 30 seconds faster than the last time he toured Sutton Park when he clocked 26:19; and he was better than his word as our lead now went over four minutes and Marty ran 25:42 – our third best long stage ever behind Evans and Wicks. With such a speedy pre-London blowout, a fast time is on the cards should everything go right next week.

Shettlestone had leapfrogged Bedford into 4th and now seemed to be the only threat to upsetting the established order of the first three, unchanged now in four stages.

Ben Hurley had eagerly grasped the opportunity to run in his first National event – and still we held on for a top 25 placing for the Bs.

1 Belgrave (0) 3:50:29; 2 Newham &EB (0) 3:54:31; 3 Tipton (0) 3:56:27; 4 Shettlestone (+1) 3:56:48; 5 Bedford &C (-1) 3:57:59; 6 Birchfield (0) 3:58:20; … 23 Belgrave ‘B’ (0) 4:13:09.

Fastest: 1 M Dent (Belgrave) 25:42; 2 A Hagos (Shettlestone) 26:48; 3 K Skinner (Newham &EB) 26:57; 4 B Maher (Swansea) 27:08; 5 S Deakin (Leeds C) 27:09; 6 S Marriott (Tipton) 27:13; 35 B Hurley (Belgrave ‘B’) 30:50.

 Stage 12

Dan Mulhare had been patiently waiting in the wings all day for his chance to excel, quietly at his studies in the sunshine at one time while all around there was talk of “gaps” and “leads”. Our club record schedule had held good for nearly four hours now: we were just four seconds in arrears and he needed to run 14:21 to set a new mark.

As we have noticed before, there is no hanging back from our man when his racing shoes are on and having turned once to shout encouragement to Marty who was giving everything up the final slope, he then concentrated on his own effort and tore away when given the “go”.  As we have also noticed before, Dan does everything that is asked of him and 14 minutes and 14 seconds later he crossed the line in a sea of confusion as he ran into the mass of runners being sent off together to conclude the race.  4 hours, 4 minutes and 43 seconds – we’d done it and it was a pity that the melee at the finish obscured the view of a fine win.

The voyage of the Beagles concluded just over five minutes later and although the gaps were large for the first two teams, there was huge excitement as the battle for third place raged. The Shettlestone runner had made a mammoth effort to catch Tipton whose own man was doing all he could to hold the Scots at bay.  There was just a second in it as the Midlanders held on to cross the line in third place.

Among the mass starters was our own Mark Humphrey – always proud to wear his Belgrave vest at a major event – and when the computer spewed out the final result sheet it was congratulations too for our Bs.  Mark hadn’t lost us a single position and we were inside 4 hours 30 minutes for 23rd place.

Let’s also thank Robert Norville who happily came up on the day to act as a short stage B reserve.  Robert eventually got himself a run for a Kent AC team that were short on numbers and went around his unfavoured long stage in 32:41.

A great day!

1 Belgrave (0) 4:04:43; 2 Newham &EB (0) 4:09:54; 3 Tipton (0) 4:11:48; 4 Shettlestone (0) 4:11:49; 5 Birchfield (+1) 4:13:05; 6 Bedford &C (-1) 4:13:39; … 23 Belgrave ‘B’ 4:29:28; … 27 Leeds C ‘B’ 4:30:44; … 29 Aldershot F&D ‘B’ 4:32:08; 68 teams started and 62 teams finished.

Fastest: 1 D Mulhare (Belgrave) 14:14; 2 M Cryer (Woodford GwEL) 14:34; 3 S Mitchell (Bristol &W) 14:39; 4 J Ndayesenga (Birchfield) 14:45; =5 D Bilton (Leeds C) & M Mashford (Aldershot F&D) 14:48.

Fastest of all short stages: 1 J Taylor (Morpeth 13:57; 2 M Skinner (Blackheath) 14:04; =3 N Gamester (Shaftesbury B) & C McKay (Newham &EB) 14:06; 5 M Draper (Bedford &C) 14:13; =6 D Mulhare (Belgrave) & T Payne (Winchester &D) 14:14; 10 N Speaight (Belgrave) 14:33.

Fastest of all long stages: 1 P Wicks (Belgrave) 25:13; 2 P Nicholls (Tipton) 25:39; 3 M Dent (Belgrave) 25:42; 4 M Miles (Belgrave) 25:49; 5 N Hall (Bedford &C) 25:54; 6 M Geele 26:02.

Bushy Park parkrun 5k, 18 April 2009.

Men. 1 J Hutchins (Basingstoke) 15:28; 2 R Ward 15:32.

Basingstoke parkrun 5k, 11 April 2009.

Men. 1 R Stannard 16:34.

Wimbledon Common parkrun 5k, 11 April 2009.

Men. 1 J Fairs (Serpentine) 16:45; 49 D Anderson M50 22:54.

Women. 1 S McKay (unatt) 21:57; M Evans U17 24:36.

Salford 10k, 10 April 2009.

Men. 1 I Grime (Newham &EB) 31:13; 13 T Watson 32:23.

SEAA 12-Stage Road Relay, Milton Keynes, 5 April 2009.

Bels take the honours at SEAA 12-Stage

Left: Phil Wicks, the new MK long stage
record holder (photo by Steve Wicks)

Below right: fastest short stage of the day
came from Dan Mulhare (photo by Leo Coy)

It being the last day of the financial year, the Bels took the opportunity to top up their bullion reserves, taking home twelve gold medals and the two fastest stage medals.  Phil Wicks relieved legendary Highgate Harrier Keith Cullen of his long stage record, the B team qualified for the National event in two weeks time (they even won the spot team prize) and in winning the title for the seventh time in eight years the A team ran the second fastest overall time for the Milton Keynes hosted event. A successful day?  Yes indeed; and it was a happy throng of Belgrave spectators and runners queuing four deep for tea and cakes at the tent afterwards.

Can we continue the winning habit at the National race in two weeks time? We certainly have a chance but Leeds City AC are on a hat-trick and will be very intent on achieving it. Several Midlands teams led by a resurgent Tipton Harriers will be eager to beat us … and from the South we cannot discount any of our rivals who will all surely be stronger in Sutton Park.

It was back to the old full length course at Milton Keynes and Captain Sharp gave us the start we wanted, heading a small pack in third place behind a superb 23:39 by Windsor’s Ben Whitby. The B team needed to place in the top 25 by the end of the day if they wanted an outing at the National – and Knut Hegvold was right on the money, starting us off in … 25th.

It was first time into the A team for James Fairbourn on stage 2, pulled into the dozen when Hassan Raidi suffered a twisted ankle during the week. He wasn’t happy with his time but it was a pressure situation being shot at by fast rising teams and he gave way to only three while overtaking Winchester.  Will Cockerell, deep into marathon training, celebrated his 199th race for Belgrave by holding on to fifth, losing out to City of Norwich who reached their zenith one place ahead of him while Basildon fell away.  Windsor were now a minute and 36 up but were unlikely to be able to hold on for many more stages, while expected rivals Aldershot were a minute and a quarter ahead of us. Weakened (but never to be disregarded) Beagles and Bedford teams were in 7th and 9th half a minute in our wake. Pete Willis and Richard Stannard had each gained places for the Bs who were now 21st.

Aldershot went ahead on stage four but evergreen Mike Trees climbed a spot to fourth for the Bels. He was aiming at a 17 minute timing but had to give way a little on that target as he clocked a still very impressive 17:28. Shaftesbury Barnet climbed five places to third but the biggest riser was our own Hassan Raidi who had changed his mind about running the night before after trying his ankle out by winning the Regents Park 10k; he had accepted a slot in the Bs who were now 15th.

Big hitters

Now for the first of our big hitters in the middle order.  Simon Jones soon pulled back Shaftesbury, whittled down the gap to Windsor, and coming back from the lakes moved the Bels into the lead, his 24:13 taking him into our top half dozen on the all-time list; great running and a boost after a couple of runs where he’d been looking for something special and hadn’t found it.  A big rise too came for Bedford, without many of their stars but moving now into third.

A couple of days illness had followed Nick Goolab’s dnf at the World Cross Country Championships the previous week but he eased round the short lap in just over 17 minutes, increasing the lead over Aldershot who were now apparently well established in second – but Bedford had a trick up their sleeve on the next stage with Darren Deed who ran sixth fastest of the day to temporarily push AFD into third.  And while Deed was hauling his club up the ranks, our own James Kelly was serenely cruising round and holding things rock solid at the front with second fastest time for the stage.  Mal Byansi turned in a very useful leg for the Bs, building on the efforts of Landa Eguia and Matt Whiting, and now lurking in 17th.

What a pleasure it was to see Mark Pollard in full flow on stage eight.  A full minute faster than anyone else on his leg our advantage was suddenly over two minutes and destined to stretch to an unbeatable margin on the next stage as Phil Wicks took over. Later claiming that he felt terrible and couldn’t believe how fast he’d run, Phil ran faster than anyone has ever run before on the Milton Keynes long leg, taking eight seconds off the record – a fabulous effort considering that he still felt the previous week’s 62:51 half marathon in his legs. There was no way that Aldershot were going to be caught for second now, thanks to a second best on the stage by Paul Rogers and with Andy Vernon still to come; but it was a bit more exciting for third where Woodford Green were just seven seconds down on Bedford.

Protecting a niggling calf problem Neil Speaight nevertheless improved our lead while the Bs were still holding things together in 20th thanks to Robert Norville, Ben Hurley and Dave Mason.  Now, what could AFD’s Andy Vernon do on the last 8k leg of the day?  Well, he certainly went for it, but it is doubtful that he ever saw more than a fleeting distant glimpse of our colours.  Russell Dessaix-Chin was feeling under the weather and subsequently came down with a cold – so under these circumstances his 23:55 to equal Justin Chaston’s 4th best Belgrave time was truly outstanding.  As for Vernon, there was no worry that he’d make substantial inroads into our lead, but what was his individual time, would it eclipse Phil’s new record?  In fact, no; he was under the old mark but still four seconds adrift.  Moumin Geele had also run a scorcher for the subdued Beagles but he couldn’t do more than cement fourth behind Woodford – and the final podium team positions had been set.

All wrapped up for the Bels then but Dan Mulhare is not one to take things easy and was intent on securing a place in our National team.  Was there ever any doubt?  Anyway, he certainly made his point, ripping out a 16:27 timing that was fastest of the day.

It was time to relax and savour the moment – for some!  Andrew Sentence was still out on the course for the Bs and he was followed by Mark Humphrey, once again entrusted with getting our second team home in a National qualifying position.  No runner passed him, nor did he pass any.  It was a lonely run but great was the support from the Belgrave faithful as he passed our tent on his way to the line – in 21st. Once again we will line up two squads in Sutton Park.

Many thanks to Don Anderson for driving the minibus and assisting with tent dismantling, Simon Jones and James Kelly for going beyond their running duties and collecting and delivering athletes, Pat Mead for catering and photographic work, Steve Wicks and Leo Coy for their photographs, and of course to all our loyal supporters who so enjoy these occasions.

1 Belgrave H 4:09:53; 2 Aldershot, Farnham & Dist. AC 4:13:47; 3 Woodford Green w Essex Ladies AC 4:17:28; Newham & Essex Beagles 4:17:52; 5 Bedford & County AC 4:20:35; 6 Herne Hill H 4:24:54; …21 Belgrave H ‘B’ 4:36:45; 46 teams started, 42 teams finished.

Belgrave ‘A’. S Sharp 24:45 (3); J Fairbourn (5) 18:07; W Cockerell (5) 25:43; M Trees M45 (4) 17:28; S Jones (1) 24:13; N Goolab U20 (1) 17:01; J Kelly (1) 25:13; M Pollard (1) 16:48; P Wicks (1) 23:08; N Speaight (1) 17:05; R Dessaix-Chin (1) 23:55; D Mulhare (1) 16:27.

Belgrave ‘B’. K Hegvold M45( 25) 26:47; P Willis (22) 18:09; R Stannard (21) 26:33; H Raidi (15) 17:18; L Eguia (17) 27:24; M Whiting (18) 19:06; M Byansi (17) 26:32; 8 R Norville (18) 20:02; B Hurley (19) 27:49; D Mason (20) 20:11; A Sentence (21) 27:44; M Humphrey (21) 19:10.

Belgrave ‘C’. P Marsh M55 (45) 31:35; C Smith (44) 20:37; W Lynch (43) 29:10; E Smith (44) 21:39; R Harding M40 (45) 33:58; C Dickinson M60 (44) 21:22.

Fastest short stages (5,506m): 1 D Mulhare (Belgrave) 16:27; 2 M Goose (City of Norwich) 16:31; 3 S Hepples (Newham &EB) 16:34; … 5 M Pollard 16:48; 9 N Goolab 17:01; 10 N Speaight 17:05.

Fastest long stages (7,978m): 1 P Wicks (Belgrave) 23:08 (record); 2 A Vernon (Aldershot F&D) 23:12; 3 M Geele (Newham &EB) 23:31; … 5 R Dessaix-Chin 23:55; 8 S Jones 24:13.

Great Ireland 10k, Dublin, 5 April 2009.

Men. 1 R Silva (Portugal) 28:45; 7 M Miles 29:36.

Chris Hoy Half Marathon, Edinburgh, 5 April 2009.

Men. 1 R Turner (Harm) 1:11:59; 2 J Charles 1:12:56.

Centurion GP 5 miles, Solihull, 5 April 2009.

Men. 1 N Holmes (Northbrook) 27:25; 2 J Wolf 27:36.

Kingston Breakfast Run 16 miles, 5 April 2009.

Women. 1 N Young (Bristol &W) 1:47:10; 2 E Fogg 1:47:41.

Paddock Wood Half Marathon, 5 April 2009.

Men. 1 W Levett (Tonbridge) 1:08:43; 1298 D McMillan M60 2:01:22.

Regent's Park 10k, 4 April 2009.

Men. 1 H Raidi (Belgrave) 32:43.

Wimbledon Common parkrun 5k, 4 April 2009.

Men. 1 A Vandenberg (Hercules W) 16:48; 2 S Ryan 17:43.

Reading Half Marathon, 29 March 2009.

Men. 1 K Kimutai (Kenya) 1:02:46; 2 P Wicks 1:02:51; 11 S Jones 1:07:27; 27 M Trees M45 1:11:40; 46 K Hegvold M45 1:13:26; 455 N Stevenson 1:28:16.

Women. 1 J Kirui (Kenya) 1:12:49; 21 S Murphy 1:22:52; V Knight 1:40:38.

Wilmslow Half Marathon inc. ERRA Champs., 29 March 2009.

Men. 1 M Miles 1:04:11.

B&Q Eastleigh 10k, 29 March 2009.

Men. 1 R Dessaix-Chin 30:18 (30:17 chip); 19 J Charles 32:29; 29 J Fairbourn 33:00.

Cranleigh 21 miles (21m, 246y), 29 March 2009.

Men. 1 W Clark (Epsom & Ewell 2:01:34; 2 W Cockerell 2:02:30; 72 P Chapman 2:34:05.

Veterans AC 5.8 miles CC, Wimbledon Common, 28 March 2009.

Men. 1 A Harran (Herne Hill) 35:25; 19 H Corbett M50 42:50; 33 A Lane M70 56:57; 34 L Mann M65 68:32.

Victoria Park Open 5 miles, 28 March 2009.

Men. 1 B Tickner (Wells City) 24:12; 5 H Raidi 25:36.

Brooks Serpentine Last Friday 5k, Hyde Park, 27 March 2009.

Men. 1 H Raidi 15:54.

37th IAAF World CC Champs, Amman, Jordan, 28 March 2009.

U20 Men. 1 A Abshero (Ethiopia) 23:26; dnf N Goolab.

Banstead Woods parkrun 5k, 28 March 2009.

Men. 1 R Ward 17:17.

Wimbledon Common parkrun 5k, 28 March 2009.

Men. 1 L White (Hercules Wimb) 16:24; 4 S Ryan 18:02.

Richmond Park parkrun 5k, 28 March 2009.

Men. 1 P Killingley (Ranelagh) 16:21; 25 T O'Neill M55 19:25.

Bushy Park parkrun 5k, 28 March 2009.

Women. 1 C Moss (Bedford &C) 19:49; 41 J Moore W50 26:54.

Wimbledon Audi 10k, 22 March 2009.

Men. 1 H Raidi 32:08; 6 M Byansi 34:20.

Lisbon Half Marathon, Portugal, 22 March 2009.

Women. (reported 150m over length) 1 K Goucher 1:08:30; 20 H Smethurst W40 1:27:50.

Atlantic College 10k, Llantwit Major inc. Welsh Champs., 22 March 2009.

Men. 1 J Willis (Bristol &W) 30:24; 2 S Jones 30:26.

Bushy Park parkrun 5k, 21 March 2009.

Men. 1 R Dessaix-Chin 14:57; 5 M Trees M45 15:52.

Women. 1 J Bleasedale (Thames H&H) 17:16; 7 R Trees 20:39.

Brighton & Hove parkrun 5k, 21 March 2009.

Men. 1 J Guilmant (Phoenix) 15:22; 3 R Ward 15:43.

Bath Half Marathon, 15 March 2009.

Men. 1 S Tonui (Kenya) 1:03:09; 776 L Rehn M40 1:34:43.

Women. 1 J Kurui (Kenya) 1:14:08; R Dickinson 1:59:13.

Asics Fleet Half Marathon, 15 March 2009.

Men. 1 M Blunden (RAF) 1:10:47; 7 T Watson 1:13:24.

Hastings Half Marathon, 15 March 2009.

Men. 1 K Kimutai (Kenya) 1:02:50; 9 H Raidi 1:10:10; 354 P Cross M55 1:35:05; 2112, D McMillan M60 2:03:21.

Trafford 10k,  15 March 2009.

Men. 1 M Miles 29:25.

Bushy Park parkrun 5k,  14 March 2009.

Men. 1 M Trees M45 16:02.

Richmond Park parkrun 5k,  14 March 2009.

Men. 1 T Grose (Victoria Pk) 17:54; 6 T O'Neill M55 19:08.

Basingstoke parkrun 5k,  14 March 2009.

Men. 1 R Ward 16:27.

Banstead Woods parkrun 5k,  14 March 2009.

Men. 1 P Ball (South London) 16:25; 2 R Stannard 17:00.

Wimbledon Common parkrun 5k,  14 March 2009.

Men. 1 C Blackburn (unatt) 16:30; 9 S Ryan 18:23.

Teddy Hall 4 x 3.6 miles Relay, 11 March 2009.

Men. 2nd fastest J Kelly 17:42.

Fradley 10k, 8 March 2009.

Men. 1 M Miles 30:07.

Nike Milton Keynes Half Marathon, 8 March 2009.

Men. 1 P Sly 1:08:01; 7 W Cockerell 1:11:49.

Bushy Park parkrun 5k, 7 March 2009.

Men. 1 J Ashton (Bracknell) 16:27; 4 M Trees M45 16:45.

CAU Inter-Counties Championship inc. McCain Cross Challenge & World Cross Trial, Wollaton Pk, Nottingham, 7 March 2009.

Men. 1 A Vernon (Hants) 37:23; 7 P Wicks (Surrey) 38:02; 15 R Dessaix-Chin 38:52; 64 J Kelly (Surrey) 40:20; 247 P Willis (Berks) 45:13.

U20 Men. 1 N Goolab (Middlesex/Belgrave) 25:40.

Women. 1 S Twell (Hants) 28:15; 72 S Murphy (Surrey) 31:52.

London Heathside 5 miles, 1 March 2009.

Men. 1 F Neuschwander (unatt) 25:08; 2 H Raidi 25:48.

Eastbourne Half Marathon, 1 March 2009.

Men. 1 G Gray (Seaford) 15:48; 83 P Cross M50 1:34:49; 449 D McMillan M60 1:55:53.

Ed Prickett 4 x 2.05 miles Relays, Nottingham, 28 February 2009.

Men. J Fairbourn 10:38.

Veterans AC 5.8 miles CC, Wimbledon Common, 28 February 2009.

Men. 1 V Maughan (Herne H) 33:06; 8 M Nouch M50 40:09; 16 A Lane M70 51:31; 17 L Mann M65 ntt.

Women's Surrey Cross Country League, Race 4, Lloyd Park, 28 February 2009.

Women. 1 J Bleasdale (Thames H&H) 21:04; 2 L Hassell (Thames H&H) 21:11; 3 N Harvey (South London H) 21:26; ... 5 S Murphy 22:08; 17 A Hegvold W40 23:59; 25 T Heaton 24:27; 39 V Goodwin 25:21; 50 J Beecroft 26:00.

Teams: 1 South London H 93; 2 Thames H&H 124; 3 Belgrave H 136; 4 Ranelagh H144.

Final league positions: 1 South London H 335; 2 Belgrave H 463; 3 Ranelagh H 497.

Under 17 Women. 1 M Renfer (Kingston &P) 18:03; 8 N Anderson 20:10.

Bushy Park 5k Time Trial, 28 February 2009.

Men. 1 N Dougal (Thames Valley H) 15:32; 2 W Cockerell 16:04.

Serpentine Last Friday 5k, Hyde Park, 27 February 2009.

Men. 1 S Dawes (Guernsey) 15:48; 10 M Whiting 17:07; 51 L Rehn M45 19:52.

Sussex Beacon Half Marathon, Brighton, 22 February 2009.

Men. 1 J Baker (Chichester) 1:10:19; 171 N Stevenson 1:27:01; 348 P Cross M50 1:32:25; 1824 D McMillan M60 1:51:30.

Scottish National CC Champs., Falkirk, 21 February 2009.

Men. 1 A Hay (Central) 37:14; 8 M Pollard (Inverclyde/Belgrave H) 38:07.

ECCA National Cross Country Champs., Parliament Hill, 21 February 2009.

How conditions for the National Cross can vary.  We've faced snowy blizzards, freezing temperatures and rain - but 2009 saw the mildest, spring-like weather we can remember for such an event. Not to say that the "going" was easy though; the run up Kite Hill and other stretches were as slippery as an ice rink as the top couple of inches of ground turned to a sea of liquid mud under the feet of "thousands". The big question of the day was, "What do you reckon - 12mm or 15mm spikes?"

Back in December Nick Goolab just didn't do himself justice in the European Championship, racing when he was ill and should have been home in bed.  Since then he's got right back on track, winning an under-20 international in Portugal against tough opposition and subsequently looking forward to racing the "National". 

Nick sensibly laid off the pace a little as the field hared up the first hill but before long he was working his way forward until halfway round the first lap he was tucked into the leading group of half-a-dozen. Southend's Ben Hunter, second in the SEAA Champs, was pushing the pace along but Nick looked very comfortable alongside Mitch Goose of City of Norwich with Ronnie Sparke (SEAA winner) from Woodford, Winchester's Phil Bernsten (SEAA 4th) and James Wilkinson of Leeds tagging along at the back. Around Kite Hill and setting out again Nick moved to the front of the bunch, still looking very relaxed.  Slowly the group began to split. Going into the loop around South Meadow it was Goose now taking the initiative with Nick on his shoulder and then a gap to the rest ... but minutes later when they next hove into view Nick was on his own and Goose was nowhere to be seen.

The gap to Hunter grew and grew as the Belgrave man turned up the pressure, and loping down the hill to the finish he was a full 150 metres clear. Wearing the broadest of smiles down the finish straight he was able to savour the moment, waving and slapping hands with spectators eager to cheer him in.  A fabulous win - and we have the feeling it won't be his last. In fact he'll be eligible for this very championship in 2010.

All credit to Mitch Goose.  It seems he was attacked by calf cramp and had to stop to recover.  Back into the race but having lost many places, he worked himself through to 6th spot to lead his team to victory.      

Junior Men. 1 N Goolab (Belgrave H) 34:09; 2 B Hunter (Southend) 34:27; 3 R Sparke (Woodford GwEL) 34:38; 4 P Bernsten (Winchester &D) 34:47; 5 J Wilkinson (Leeds C) 34:50; 6 M Goose (C of Norwich) 35:32; ... 173 finished.

Next up for the Bels was the Senior Women's race over 8 kilometres. Unfortunately we were without Catherine Bryson, sadly suffering from an Achilles tendon problem in the middle of possibly her best winter ever.  But Sarah Murphy, who knows all about such injuries, was on hand to lead our quartette and give us a good start scoring 41st.  Tilly Heaton, Anne Hegvold and Jennifer Beecroft were also in action and together they claimed a very creditable 21st team place from a field of 63.

Senior Women. 1 H Dean (Hallamshire H) 29:34; 2 S Tunstall (Kendall) 29:46; 3 S Samuels (Sale) 30:00; 4 J Potter (Charnwood) 30:07; 5 L Deadman (Havering M) 30:27; 6 M Sikes (Oxford U) 30:35; ... 41 S Murphy 33:16; 121 M Heaton 36:10; 143 A Hegvold W40 36:42; 355 J Beecroft 42:41; ... 546 finished.

Teams: 1 Charnwood 49; 2 Bristol & West 115; 3 Hallamshire H 142; 4 Havering Mayesbrook 220; 5 Woodford GwEL 223; 6 Bingley H 254; ... 21 Belgrave H 660; ... 63 teams closed in.

And so to the men. There had been a time when we felt we might be able to challenge for medals - and failing that the possibility of lifting the nine to score trophy (where the medal winning teams are ruled out).  But we lost a few engine-room men in the last days before the race. Richard Stannard had been targeting the National but badly twisted his ankle two days beforehand - and then one of our master blasters, Simon Jones, was so delayed on his return from racing in Ireland on Thursday that he failed to get home in time to set out for the National.  Nevertheless, we had thirteen men lined up in the starting pen, and still hoped that we might squeeze into the top ten.

Mal Byansi (6172 in picture) set out like a scalded cat and headed Phil Wicks and Russell Dessaix-Chin on the initial climb, but things sorted themselves out by the time they reached the top where pre-race favourite Frank Tickner (Wells City) had claimed a few metres over Steve Vernon (Stockport), Andy Vernon (Aldershot) and our own Phil.

Silver medallist last year, Phil had had a troubled couple of weeks one way and another and even on race day, thanks to car parking problems, had struggled to get to the venue in plenty of time, but he soon settled into the top ten.  Russell on the other hand was having a nightmare.  A sure bet for a top 15 place and the possibility of a run in the World Cross for Australia in a few weeks if he excelled, Russ was in big trouble.  His spikes were pushing painfully into his feet with every step and half-way round the first lap he ripped off his shoes and ran the next 9 kilometres with only his bare toes to grip the morass. Not surprisingly he slipped and slithered as scores overtook him and he drifted back through previously unthinkable positions.

James Kelly is no lover of the mud but he plugged away well, dreaming of the road and track events to come.  The Cockerpillar was as solid as ever and considering that Mal had taken weeks out of training with the flu - he was having a great run.  But then poor Pete Willis was struggling big time, running well over 100 places lower than we might have expected.

All was going pretty well up front though.  Over the second lap Steve Vernon had gained a 10 metre advantage and Phil was slowly gaining on the leaders.  The Beagles' Keith Gerrard had been closing him down but as the race drew to a conclusion, Gerrard began to sag and then Moumin Geele fell away from the front and into Phil's range.  Our man was into 4th while Tickner again took over at the front. And so it remained to the finish.  A great run from Phil Wicks to place in the top four in two consecutive years; and just like Nick Goolab - his "National" story is far from over.

So, 13th team at six to score and 11th at nine. It could so easily have been considerably better - maybe 500 points better, but hey! How many years were we in the 50's, 60's ... even placing 105th on one occasion.  Thirteenth on an "iffy" day ain't so bad!

Well done to the Beagles who took the team title for the first time since 1901 - when Alf Shrubb was individual winner.  Commiserations to Bedford & County who came so close ... and to Leeds City who after three years at the top, slipped to third.

Senior Men. 1 F Tickner (Wells City H) 38:02; 2 S Vernon (Stockport) 38:10; 3 A Vernon (Aldershot F&D) 38:29; 4 P Wicks (Belgrave H) 38:41; 5 M Geele (Newham &EB) 38:44; 6 B Whitby (Windsor SE&H) 39:05; ... 72 J Kelly 42:07; 151 W Cockerell 44:21; 186 R Dessaix-Chin 44:58; 201 M Byansi 45:18; 324 P Willis 47:20; 331 K Hegvold M45 47:27; 342 L Eguia 47:37; 438 T Fordyce 48:54; 564 M Humphrey 50:46; 754 A Luce 53:28; 831 T Hadfield 54:40; 1356 D Anderson M50 1:06:26; ... 1455 finished.

Teams: Six to score - 1 Newham &EB 214; 2 Bedford &C 224; 3 Leeds City 303; 4 Aldershot F&D 359; 5 Notts AC 407; 6 Tipton H 456; ... 13 Belgrave H 938; ... 112 teams closed in.

Nine to score - 1 Newham & Essex Beagles; 537; 2 Leeds City AC 619; 3 Bedford & County AC 650; 4 Notts AC 1097; 5 Tipton H 1330; 6 Aldershot F&D AC 146; ... 11 Belgrave H 2049; ... 46 teams closed in.

Polar Bear 5 miles, Indianapolis, IN USA, 21 February 2009.

Men. 2 D Gauson 24:43.

Brighton & Hove 5k Time Trial, 21 February 2009.

Men. 1 R Ward 16:01.

20th Armagh International 5k, 19 February 2009.

Men. 1 D Nightingale (USA) 13:54; 12 S Sharp 14:24; 18 S Jones 14:28; 25 J Kelly 14:36.

Bramley 20 miles, 15 February 2009.

Men. 1 J McFarlane (Thames H&H) 1:47:06; 178 P Marsh M55 2:21:51; 811 D Davies M65 3:36:56.

Women. 1 S Harrison (Leamington) 1:57:22; 11 E Fogg 2:16:27; H Smethurst 5-W40 2:21:50.

26.2 Valentines 10k, Chessington, 15 February 2009.

Men. 1 N Hodges (Dorking &MV) 32:34; 14 M Webb 4-M40 35:55.

Tunbridge Wells Half Marathon, 15 February 2009.

Men. 1 F Neuschwander (?) 1:08:48; 2 H Raidi 1:10:28; 151 P Cross M50 1:32:54.

Cardiff Blackweir Park 5k Time Trial, 14 February 2009.

Men. 1 S Jones 14:57.

Banstead Woods 5k Time Trial, 14 February 2009.

Men. 1 R Ward 16:50.

Ashford 10k, 8 February 2009.

Men. 1 J Guilmant (Phoenix) 31:08; 65 P Cross M50 41:23.

Bookham 10k plus, 8 February 2009.

Men. 1 A Ward (Dorking MV) 46:07; 2 T Weeks 46:47.

"Sweatshop" Men's Surrey Cross Country League Race 4, Hamlands nr Kingston, 7 February 2009.

It was the last league match of the season and there was nothing to play for as far as the Bels were concerned.  So it was good to see a dozen men out - including Bruce Barton; his vest hasn't seen action for a couple of years and not cross country action for longer still - but he still scored! Several wore long spikes to counter the expected icy conditions and ran foul of the hard stretches of tarmac along the towpath.  Not that Pete Willis had that trouble - he'd left his spikes at home and had to make do in the muddier spots with flat shoes.

Herne Hill Harriers were all over the field like a rash and as a result wrapped up the league. In the individual competition it was another win for Stuart Major - his fourth all told with his first coming ten years ago.  It was close though, with his clubmate James McMullen being just one point adrift. 

1 B Whitby (Herne Hill) 26:40; 2 N Hall (Bedford gst) 26:46; 3 M Janes (Bedford gst) 27:05; 6 R Dessaix-Chin 28:01; 23 W Cockerell 29:13; 28 T Ellacott 29:25; 37 K Hegvold M45 30:07; 60 P Willis 31:30; 66 M Humphrey 31:47; 95 T Weeks 33:29; 97 B Barton M40 33:31; 100 R Norville 33:42; 103 A Luce M40 33:47; 114 P Chapman 34:25; 159 P Cross M50 39:46; 168 finished.

Teams: 1 Herne Hill H 114; 2 Thames H&H 205; 3 Reigate Priory AC 389; 4 Hercules Wimbledon AC 413; 5 Dorking &MV AC 482; 6 Belgrave H 499; 7 Ranelagh H 651; 8 The Stragglers 661; 9 South London H 681.

Final league result: 1 Herne Hill H 565; 2 Thames H&H 761; 3 Hercules Wimbledon AC 1699; 4 Belgrave H 2047; 5 Ranelagh H 2051; 6 Reigate Priory AC 2080; 7 South London H 2139; 8 Dorking &MV AC 2509; 9 The Stragglers 2529.

Individual winner: Stuart Major (Thames H&H)
Individual veteran: Iain Lockett (Herne Hill H)
Individual U20: Alex Robinson (Hercules Wimbledon AC)

Richmond Pk 5k Time Trial, 7 February 2009.

Men. 1 R Ward 16:59; 7 T O'Neill M50 19:29.

Cross Internacional Juniores, Lisbon, 1 February 2009.

Men. 1 N Goolab 24:36 - won by 22 seconds.

Alsager 5 miles, 1 February 2009.

Men. 1 P Wicks 23:25; 8 S Sharp 24:28; 12 M Pollard 24:59; 42 J Fairbourn 26:55.

Watford Half Marathon, 1 February 2009.

Men. 1 H Effaichmi (?) 1:08:18; 11 S Jones 1:13:19.

Blackmore Vale Half Marathon, Bishops Caundle, Dorset, 1 February 2009.

Men. 1 D Hall (Votwo) 1:13:58; 96 P Cross M50 1:33:06.

Southern Inter-Counties, Shuttleworth, 31 January 2009.

Women. 1 L Deadman (Essex) 21:06; 3 C Bryson (Surrey/Belgrave) 21:38; 9 S Murphy (Surrey/Belgrave) 22:46.

Brighton & Hove 5k Time Trial, 31 January 2009.

Men. 1 G Thompson (Crawley) 15:48; 2 R Ward 15:49.

Bushy Park 5k Time Trial, 31 January 2009.

Men. 1 M Trees M45 16:09.

Women. R Trees 22:30.

Last Friday 5k, Hyse Park, 30 January 2009.

Men. 1 K Quinn (Aldershot F&D) 15:17; 58 P Marsh M55 20:21.

Women. 1 R Elliott (Aldershot F&D) 18:28; 3 H Smethurst W40 19:36.

Lakeside Canal Run 7.35 miles, Frimley Green, 25 January 2009.

Men. 1 T Lambert (Winchester) 43:16; 29 P Cross M50 52:37.

Scottish 4k CC Champs, Bellahouston Park, Glasgow, 25 January 2009.

Men. 1 T Tewelde (Shettlestone) 12:33; 8 D Mulhare 12:57; 20 A Connick 13:49.

Epsom Oddballs Perch 6.25 miles, Epsom Downs, 25 January 2009.

Men. 1 V Van Woerkon (Epsom O) 37:31; 2 M Webb M40 37:55; 119 R Mann M40 47:41; 589 L Mann M65 1:27:50.

Above left: Catherine Bryson approaches the hill in 8th place. (photo by Alan Mead) Right: Soon after the start of the Men's 15km Race (photo by Steve Wicks)

SEAA Cross Country Champs., Hillingdon House Farm, Uxbridge 24 January 2009

We were unable to field a full women's team but Catherine Bryson gave our supporters plenty to cheer about, always involved in the action towards the front of the 8km race and eventually placing 8th.

Only four other Belgravians have ever won the Southern Cross Country Championships - Bert Footer in 1933, Tom Carter in 1946, Len Herbert in 1947 and Gerry North in 1967 - but none of them have ever won it twice like Phil Wicks in 2007 and now again in 2009; and who is to say that he will not do it again.

It was a mud bath!  Eight earlier races had churned up the going until it had the consistency of porridge and then around 700 senior men took to the fields of Hillingdon House Farm to contest the 15km event.

Phil led for virtually the entire race. Bedford's Neilson Hall kept him company for the first lap but then Phil was away and up to 60m clear on laps two and three until Windsor's Benedict Whitby made terrific inroads over the latter part of the race, cutting the margin to a mere 5 seconds by the end.

It was always going to be an unpredictable race with the heavy going and waterlogged sections.  Some took to it better than others.  James Kelly admitted that he just couldn't seem to get his legs going in the mud and Mark Pollard was unable to get near his superb 7th place of 2008 - but Simon Jones, in spite of swearing that he hates cross country, held up well for 28th. As might have been predicted, the ever-present Will Cockerell and Pete Willis filled out the team, although veteran Mike Trees held an impetuous forward position early on before sinking back through the field.

The Bels were disappointed not to win a set of medals but had underestimated Winchester & District AC who leapfrogged over favourites Newham & Essex Beagles and Bedford & County to win, leaving the Bels fourth team for the second year in succession. But there was consolation in being second at 12 to score and retaining the Odling-Smee Trophy as first Surrey club to get nine men home. It was also great to have no less than fifteen men in action in this gruelling event - there were times a decade ago when we could get nobody to turn out for the "Southern".

Men's 15km. 1 P Wicks (Belgrave H) 51:08; 2 B Whitby (Windsor SE&H) 51:13; 3 N Hall (Bedford &C) 52:00; ... 28 S Jones 55:15; 40 M Pollard 56:01; 41 J Kelly 56:09; 80 W Cockerell 58:01; 84 P Willis 58:25; 99 M Byansi 59:19; 106 J Fairbourn 59:38; 115 M Trees M45 1:00:03; 124 L Eguia 1:00:14; 126 K Hegvold M45 1:00:27; 231 M Humphrey 1:05:05; 237 T Weeks 1:05:17; 338 R Norville 1:09:37; 455 T Hadfield 1:15:15; ... 672 finished.

Teams 6 to score: 1 Winchester & Dist 162; 2 Newham & Essex Beagles 201; 3 Bedford & County 210; 4 Belgrave H 274; 5 Kent 339; 6 Harrow 361; 7 Aldershot F&D 390; 8 Herne Hill H 393; 9 Thames H&H 505; 10 Woodford Gn EL 518; ... 52 teams closed in.

Teams 12 to score: 1 Bedford & County 990; 2 Belgrave H1075; 3 Winchester & Dist 1482; ... 13 teams closed in.

Oddling-Smee Cup for first Surrey club to finish twelve men - Belgrave Harriers.

Women's 8km. 1 K Sparke (Woodford Gn EL) 31:50; 2 F Fullerton (Havering M) 32:14; 3 N Sykes (Bedford &C) 32:20; ... 8 C Bryson 33:14; 89 M Heaton 38:23; 218 J Beecroft 45:19; ... 311 finished.

Banstead Woods 5k Time Trial, 24 January 2009.

Men. 1 R Ward 16:33.

Les Witton Dartford 10 miles, 18 January 2009.

Men. 1 P Tucker (Blackheath) 53:37; 152 P Cross M50 1:11:47.

Durham Cathedral Cross Country Relays, 18 January 2009.

Men. S Moralee 9:00 (4th fastest).

Shell Four Villages Half Marathon, Helsby, 18 January 2009.

Men. 1 N Renault (Long Eaton) 1:07:47; 5 P Freary M40 1:13:44.

Bushy Park 5k Time Trial, 17 January 2009.

Men. 1 M Trees M40 16:20; 2 W Cockerell 16:39; 9 B Barton M40 18:11.

Women. 67 R Trees 21:22.

Banstead Woods 5k Time Trial, 17 January 2009.

Men. 1 R Ward 16:34.

Blackweir Park, Cardiff 5k Time Trial, 17 January 2009.

Men. 1 S Jones 15:46.

Veterans AC Champs., Wimbledon Common, 17 January 2009.

Men. 1 V Maughan (Herne H) 33:40; 47 L Mann M65 68:24.

KPMG Bermuda International Mile, Hamilton, Bermuda, 16 January 2009.

Men. 1 N Speaight 4:19.

Lions Club 10k, Woodcote, 11 January 2009.

Men. 1 M Maxwell (RAF) 35:26; 49 P Cross M50 44:30.

Nazioarteko Krosa Cross Internacional 10.8k, Elgóibar, Spain, 11 January 2009.

Men's 12k: 1 A Abshero (Ethiopia) 31:18; 11 P Wicks 33:03.

"Sweatshop" Men's Surrey Cross Country League Race 3, Farthing Downs, Coulsdon, 10 January 2009.

A week or more with the temperature barely, if at all, creeping above zero, had left Farthing Downs with every bush and every blade of grass stiff with frost. Crystal encrusted trees at the top of the Downs were wreathed in a freezing mist through which a wan sun emerged for a second or two to smile down wryly on the assembled Belgrave team, before deciding that it wasn't worth the effort and hiding once more behind the hoary haze.

It was cold - minus four - and officials already frozen from a tour of duty that had begun two and a half hours earlier, stamped their feet and prepared for the men's race.

The Bels, well out of the reckoning anyway, were struggling. Some were racing elsewhere, some unfit after injury and others wiped out by the 'flu'.  We had a bare ten men - and that after lending Don Anderson a vest and pressing him into action; he'd only turned up to support!  League leaders "Hare & Hounds" were also struggling to raise ten men while the slope near the start seemed to be swarming with Herne Hill men buzzing in their striped vests like a swarm of determined hornets disturbed from hibernation.

Major and McMullen pushed hard for Thames on the first circuit but Ben Whitby was only biding his time and he came away for a clear Herne Hill individual victory.  Will Cockerell led home our team in 17th - only the second time he has been first Belgravian home in 41 league outings! Most of our squad had turned up "just in case they were needed" and were certainly not expecting to score, but we must single out Ben Hurley who ran very well to press an unfit Tom Ellacott.

The powerful Herne Hill squad claimed what will probably be a decisive top spot in the league while the Bels placed a lowly 7th which dropped them to 6th overall.

Unhappily we must report that supporter Maureen Pritchard fell and broke her wrist so send her commiserations and every wish for a speedy recovery.

1 B Whitby (Herne Hill) 27:56; 2 S Major (Thames H&H) 28:17; 3 J McMullen (Thames H&H) 28:25; ... 17 W Cockerell 29:20; 40 K Hegvold M45 30:53; 55 K Gadd 31:34; 58 T Ellacott 31:40; 59 B Hurley 31:42; 104 R Norville 34:41; 106 A Luce M40 34:43; 147 P Cross M50 40:23; 151 M Humphrey 43:09; 152 D Anderson M50 43:12.

Teams: 1 Herne Hill H 138; 2 Thames H&H 250; 3 Reigate Priory 385; 4 Hercules Wimbledon 391; 5 Ranelagh H 431; 6 South London H 508; 7 Belgrave H 646; 8 Dorking & Mole V 663; 9 The Stragglers 683.

Overall: 1 Herne Hill H 451; 2 Thames H&H 556; 3 Hercules Wimbledon 1286; 4 Ranelagh H 1400; 5 South London H 1458; 6 Belgrave H 1548; 7 Reigate Priory 1691; 8 The Stragglers 1868; 9 Dorking & Mole V 2027.

Women's Surrey Cross Country League Race 3, Farthing Downs, Coulsdon, 10 January 2009.

What a joy to record that Catherine Bryson, far from being taken out of the new year sequence of races by her twisted ankle the previous week, bounced back for a fine individual win.  She stretched away from South London's international Natalie Harvey over the latter stages of the race and we now look forward to seeing what she can do in the "Southern".

Sarah Murphy never seems to have a bad run and again she claimed a forward placing, 5th, with Zoë Vail also well up in 11th.  Anne Hegvold fought for every point, overtaking South London's Pippa Major at the approach to the funnel, and Tilly Heaton closed in the Belgrave "five" in 30.  But South London on their home territory were not going to give away an inch of their league lead if they could help it - and ran out winners again. 

1 C Bryson (Belgrave H) 22:30; 2 N Harvey South London H) 22:38; 3 G Bruinvels (South London H) 22:54; ... 5 S Murphy 23:48; 11 Z Vail 25:22; 26 A Hegvold W45 25:58; 30 M Heaton 26:04; 48 V Goodwin 27:10; 67 H Smethurst W40 28:13; 97 C Eastham 29:46; 130 J Beecroft 32:09.

Teams: 1 South London H 68; 2 Belgrave H 73; 3 Ranelagh H 91; 4 Dorking & Mole V 157; 5 Herne Hill H 157; 6 Reigate Priory 160; 7 Wimbledon Windmilers 181; 8 Woking 214; 9 West4 H 217; 10 The Stragglers 226; 23 Belgrave H 'B' 522; 37 teams closed in.

Overall: 1 South London H 242; 2 Belgrave H 327; 3 Ranelagh H 353; 4 Herne Hill H 414; 5 Reigate Priory 506; 6 Woking 561.

Middlesex County Cross Country Champs, Trent Park, Enfield, 10 January 2009.

Men's 12k: 1 S Sharp 38:13.

Berkshire County Cross Country Champs, Henwick Worthy Sports Ground, Thatcham, 10 January 2009.

Men. 1 N White (Windsor SE&H) 27:15; 3 P Willis (2nd in Champs) 27:40.

BUPA Great Edinburgh Cross Country, Holyrood Park, 10 January 2009.

Men's 4k: 1 A Baddely (Harrow) 12:17; 12 N Goolab U20 12:59; 16 M Pollard 13:08.

Men's 8.9k. 1 A Dinkesa (Ethiopia) 26:51; 22 R Dessaix-Chin 28:48.

Banstead Woods 5k Time Trial, 10 January 2009.

Men. 1 R Ward 16:54; 4 M Kazimierski 18:40.

Richmond Park 5k Time Trial, 10 January 2009.

Men. 1 T O'Neill M50 18:33.

Northern Vets CC Champs., Smithills, 4 January 2009.

Men's 10k. 1 P Freary 33:04.

Tadworth 10 miles, Epsom Downs, 4 January 2009.

Men. 1 H Ahmed (Hercules Wimb) 55:43; 115 P Cross M50 1:13:50; 587 D Davies M65 1:47:47.

Mornington Chasers 10k, Regents Park, 4 January 2009.

Men. 1 M Muldoon (Serpentine) 34:33; 38 N Stevenson 41:08.

Surrey County Cross Country Champs., Lloyd Park, 3 January 2009.

"Of my three wins that was the most satisfying," said Phil, who seems to be moving towards top form with perfect timing.  "I deliberately went out hard as I was treating it as a training run - everything is going really well and I felt comfortable all the way.  He's certainly earned the respect of the local runners and is gathering many of them as his fans. Herne Hill's Andy Lea-Gerrard later told our Team Manager: "You must thank Phil for me. There I was at the back of the field when he came past, lapping me, but had the time to tap me on the shoulder and give me encouragement."

The going was frozen hard but fast at Lloyd Park.  A slight change in the starting area meant that there was a potential bottleneck after 50 metres but there were no problems - and let's face it, Phil was already clear by that point!  After one lap he was a minute up on our own James Kelly who was doing battle with a couple of Thames men and by the finish Phil's margin was two and a quarter minutes.

James, Cambridge University Hare & Hounds Captain this winter, is in great form himself, throwing off the challenge of John McFarlane on the second circuit and moving away well to claim the silver medal.

Herne Hill Harriers were looking for yet another win to take them to a streak of eight consecutive county victories (which we believe would have equalled Boxhill Racers' record) but came up against a Thames team that is stronger, in Surrey terms, than ever before.  There were six "red & black" vests through the funnel before any other club could complete a team but it was Thames Hare & Hounds who took the title with their strong packing in the top ten.  It was the first time that our rivals from "across the Common" had won the Surrey title.

But fortunes improved for Belgrave as well, even though we only had the bare minimum of six men in action.  Our one-two gave a huge boost and was followed by Will Cockerell and Mike Trees, at each other for the whole race, before finishing in 14th and 15th.  Tom Fordyce, back this winter after a year of illness, and Mark Humphrey ran exceptionally well with the weight of our team prospects on their shoulders - and for the first time since 1996 (when we won) a set of medals was ours.

Earlier the Belles had also lined up with just the necessary four bodies on the start line, but luck went against them when Catherine Bryson, possibly an individual medal hope, badly turned an ankle towards the end of the first lap and had to limp to the first aid post - extremely bad luck.

But Sarah Murphy was going well, occupying 6th place, and as the race went on her strength told as she overtook some redoubtable runners to come home in 4th - out of the medals maybe, but delighted to have claimed a couple of important scalps. 

Men 12k. 1 P Wicks (Belgrave) 39:19; 2 J Kelly (Belgrave) 41:32; 3 J McFarlane (TH&H) 42:09; 14 W Cockerell 43:51; 15 M Trees 43:59; 41 T Fordyce 48:06; 52 M Humphrey 49:36.

Teams: 1 Thames &H 75; 2 Herne Hill H 86; 3 Belgrave 125; 4 Clapham Chasers 259; 5 South London H 275; 6 Reigate Priory AC 289; 10 teams closed in.

Women 8k: 1 L Partridge (Aldershot F&DAC) 31:02; 2 J Heslop (Clapham Chasers) 31:19; 3 E Adams (Aldershot F&D AC) 31:53; 4 S Murphy 32:44; 22 M Heaton 36:01; 60 C Eastham 42:01.

Teams: 1 Aldershot F&DAC 24; 2 Clapham Chasers 62; 3 Herne Hill H 74; 12 teams closed in.

U13 Boys 3.25k. 1 J Rowe (Windsor SE&H) 15:13; 36 E Langmuir 17:21.

Banstead Woods 5k Time Trial, 3 January 2009.

Men. 1 R Ward 16:46.

Portobello Prom 4 miles, Edinburgh, 1 January 2009.

Men. 1 R Houston (?) 19:22; 2 D Gauson 19:36.

Serpentine R New Year's Day 10k, 1 January 2009.

Men. 1 S Farah (Newham &EB) 31:59; 22 M Byansi 37:27.