2XU Men's Surrey Cross Country League Division 1 Match 1, Wimbledon Common
New Captain and a P&O cruise
With still a few minutes to race time an excellent eighteen man turn-out was massed at the Belgrave flag where Richard Ward and Paskar Owor were acclaimed as Captain and Vice-Captain. Both were delighted with their new roles and when the field of nearly 200 were sent on their way, Wardy celebrated in typical manner by setting a swift pace across the Common and down through the woods that Herne Hill’s Chris Busaileh later described as, “$*!@$*! insane. We must have been inside four-twenty for the first mile.” A price had to be paid for this recklessness of course and two thirds of the way around the first lap, Wardy tells us in his own words that he, “blew up,” and the majority of the lead pack took the chance to recover a little. All this was right up Paskar’s street, however, as he was far from troubled, completing the first lap before the second man was in sight and cruising on to complete the race just about half a minute clear of the field.
In fact our new Captain didn't really blow up but held on well for fourth with the Hill’s Busaileh and Morwood ahead of him, the crest of red & black tide that flooded in, swamping the top twenty placings. They had their whole team in for what we feel sure is a record low score of 99 while normal rivals Thames had only three men through the funnel.
Our own team was also doing well, with the Cockerpillar just out of the top twenty and followed by new man Martin Holm, owner of a sub-32 10k this year and a very recent 2:35 marathon. Unfortunately Tim Weeks had to come out at half-way with a calf problem but our normal suspects completed the scoring ten and a quick tot up showed that we had placed third; not bad at all.
Less than 100 points covered fourth to eighth teams, so the battle to stay in the top division will be a tough one, but Dorking & Mole Valley face an uphill struggle.
Spirited finishes came from our two young men in the one lap race. Tommy Trees was third Under 15 home and seventh in the overall race while Malik Nehaili was seventh in the Under 13 event with his Mum reporting that he was “thrilled” with the experience.
Senior Men/U20 Men's 8k: 1 P Owor (Bel) 26:09; 2 C Busaileh (HHH) 26:42; 3 J Morwood (HHH) 26:50; 4 R Ward 26:58; 22 W Cockerell 27:52; 27 M Holm 28:23; 34 L Eguia 28:46; 40 D Mason 29:06; 58 K Hegvold M50 29:54; 63 M Byansi 30:10; 111 W Lynch M40 32:05; 114 A Luce M40 32:09; 122 G Adams M40 32:34; 128 C Dickinson M60 32:57; 136 G Simons M45 33:33; 138 M Foord 33:39; 143 P Carstairs M50 34:14; 171 P Marsh M60 37:02; 175 A Lang 38:25; T Weeks dnf; 181 finished.
Teams: 1 Herne Hill H 99; 2 Thames H&H 249; 3 Belgrave H 397; 4 Ranelagh H 472; 5 The Stragglers 515; 6 South London H 537; 7 Clapham Chasers 561; 8 Hercules Wimbledon 570; 9 Dorking & MV 695.
U15B 4k: 1 T Holden (SLH) 13:49; 3 T Trees 14:58.
U13B 4k: 1 P Burgess 15:35; 7 M Nehaili 16:44.
Restored from the club's earlier website, belgraveharriers.com, and published here as originally written.