Belgrave 5k Yacht Handicap, Wimbledon
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?
1
Rosie Powell
SW
23:03
2:15
20:48
2
2
Alex Marek
SM
23:57
5:50
18:07
5
3
Mick Lesley
M50
24:02
0:25
23:37
13
4
John Kimaiyo
SM
24:18
8:00
16:18
1
5
Ben Hurley
SM
24:19
7:30
16:49
3
6
Lieven Huang
SM
24:21
7:30
16:51
4
7
Warren Lynch
M40
24:24
4:40
19:44
11
8
Bruce Barton
M45
24:25
6:00
18:25
8
9
Will Cockerell
SM
24:26
7:45
16:41
2
10
Zoe Vail
SW
24:27
5:40
18:47
1
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
| Watch | Allowance | Actual time | Men | Women | |||
|
1 |
Rosie Powell |
SW |
23:03 |
2:15 |
20:48 |
2 |
|
|
2 |
Alex Marek |
SM |
23:57 |
5:50 |
18:07 |
5 |
|
|
3 |
Mick Lesley |
M50 |
24:02 |
0:25 |
23:37 |
13 |
|
|
4 |
John Kimaiyo |
SM |
24:18 |
8:00 |
16:18 |
1 |
|
|
5 |
Ben Hurley |
SM |
24:19 |
7:30 |
16:49 |
3 |
|
|
6 |
Lieven Huang |
SM |
24:21 |
7:30 |
16:51 |
4 |
|
|
7 |
Warren Lynch |
M40 |
24:24 |
4:40 |
19:44 |
11 |
|
|
8 |
Bruce Barton |
M45 |
24:25 |
6:00 |
18:25 |
8 |
|
|
9 |
Will Cockerell |
SM |
24:26 |
7:45 |
16:41 |
2 |
|
|
10 |
Zoe Vail |
SW |
24:27 |
5:40 |
18:47 |
1 |
|
|
11 |
Paul Chapman | SM | 24:36 | 6:25 | 18:09 | =6 | |
|
12 |
Terry O'Neill | M55 | 24:38 | 5:30 | 19:08 | 9 | |
|
13 |
Ed Smith | SM | 24:39 | 5:10 | 19:29 | 10 | |
|
14 |
Harry Corbett | M50 | 24:48 | 2:25 | 22:23 | 12 | |
|
15 |
Mark Humphrey | SM | 24:59 | 6:50 | 18:09 | =6 | |
|
16 |
Sarah Guest | SW | 25:56 | 1:50 | 24:06 | 4 | |
|
17 |
Jenny Beecroft | SW | 25:34 | 2:25 | 23:09 | 3 | |
|
18 |
Gerry Collins | M70 | 26:12 | 0:00 | 26:12 | 14 |
Restored from the club's earlier website, belgraveharriers.com, and published here as originally written.