2XU Surrey Cross Country League Division 1, Match 1, Wimbledon Common

A poignant moment - and a familiar script

It was a poignant moment before the start when the 170 plus runners stood silently in memory of Patricia Mead who has very often recorded them all home in Belgrave hosted matches - and doubly so when the silence was ended by spontaneous applause. But soon the charge was on and one could see straight away that the race was following it's normal script with Belgrave offering an individual win, although unable to capitalise on it, while Thames and Herne Hill Harriers slugged it out to their tenth man.

After one lap Paskar was 30 metres clear of Priory's Paul Rodgers although the gap swiftly reduced to 20 metres as the Belgrave man set off in the direction of Wimbledon High Street instead of turning for a second lap. No harm done though, as frantic calls had him back en route, and he increased his lead by the end to nigh on half a minute. There's no doubt that Paskar is as fit as a butcher's dog right now!

The Cockerpillar had a poor start but fought well to get through and the Nordic Wonder belied his 45+ years to place 24th. Running injured to a greater or lesser degree were Richard Stannard and Mike Trees - but we're so glad they made the effort - and it was great to see Phil Carstairs renewing his membership, back in action again and closing in the ten.

Here's a thought - if we were to add up the combined ages of each team's runners and divide them into the points scored, we'd have a very good chance of winning! Where's all the young blood?

Senior and U20 Men. 8k. 1 P Owor (Belgrave) 26:46; 2 P Rodgers (Reigate P) 27:14; 3 J Morwood (Herne H U20) 27:36; 11 W Cockerell 28:41; 24 K Hegvold M45 29:47; 39 M Byansi 30:19; 42 B Hurley 30:29; 45 R Stannard 30:42; 60 D Mason 31:22; 83 R Norville 32:54; 85 M Trees M45 33:09; 104 P Carstairs M50 33:56; 108 S Zealey M40 34:22; 109 T O'Neill M55 34:27; 115 E Smith 34:51; 116 A Luce M45 34:54; 119 W Ireson 35:03; 124 T Thorn 35:21; 129 F Ward M50 35:32; 164 H Corbett M50 40:21; 170 finished.

Teams:

1 Herne Hill H (3, 5, 6, 12, 16, 17, 20, 26, 28, 32) 165
2 Thames H&H (7, 8, 9, 10, 14, 19, 21, 22, 29, 31) 170
3 Hercules Wimbledon AC ( 4, 18, 30, 34, 37, 45, 46, 58, 72, 73) 417
4 Belgrave H (1, 11, 24, 36, 39, 41, 52, 69, 70, 80) 423
5 South London H (15, 35, 42, 43, 44, 47, 49, 51, 61, 66) 453
6 The Stragglers (23, 35, 33, 48, 54, 55, 62, 63, 67, 68) 498
7 Epsom & Ewell H (38, 40, 53, 57, 59, 60, 78, 79, 82, 84) 630
8 Dorking & Mole Valley AC (13, 27, 50, 64, 71, 76, 81, 83, 86, 89) 640
9 Reigate Priory AC ( 2, 56, 65, 74, 75, 77, 85, 87, 88, 90) 699

Under 17/Under 15/Under 13. 4k. 1 M Temane (Herne H U15) 14:35; 2 T Holden (South London U15) 15:04; 3 J Maurice (Herne H U17) 15:11; 15 T Trees (U15) 16:54; 28 C O'Connell (U15) 18:20; 29 Y Tesfaye (U15) 18:36; 41 N Afework (U15) 25:29; 43 finished.

Under 17/Under 15 Teams:

1 Herne Hill H 28; 2 Hercules Wimbledon AC 39; 3 South London H 95; 4 Belgrave H 101; 5 Epsom & Ewell H 112.

Restored from the club's earlier website, belgraveharriers.com, and published here as originally written.