Belles seal silver at Southern Relays, fourth at Nationals
Belgrave secured silver at the Southern road relay championships, before placing fourth at the nationals.
It was a very good day for the Belles at Milton Keynes for the South of England 6-Stage Road-Relay. Perhaps the club's strongest ever 'A' team just missed out on those elusive gold medals, beaten by a very strong Reading team by just 41 seconds. The 'B' team were an incredible 6th and the 'C' team 13th. The 'D' team were just two runners short of a full team but also did well.
It was a warm sunny day, with teams enjoying sitting out on the grass waiting for their leg. There was, however, a fairly sharp breeze which made the undulating and twisty course not at all easy. Mind you, in late April conditions have not always been as kind at Milton Keynes. One year the race was cancelled because of icy paths, and another time the wind and rain was so strong it blew over and damaged the Belgrave marquee.
A TEAM
The first 5km stage is always difficult to judge as many tams top load putting their strongest runners first. Mia Waldmann of Reading set off very fast and finished with easily the fasted short stage of the day, but Alex Barbour sensibly stayed in the pack and finished running very well to come home in 6th place.
Martina Connor took over for the first of the two long stages of 8.66km and pulled the team up two places to fourth with another strong run.
On the third short leg, Kristina Popadich overtook three runners with another good run of just over 17;20 and now the Belles were in the lead.
Ella Fennelly set off on the third long stage with a short lead, but had the unenviable task of running against the inform Jess Gibbon, who recently won both the National and Inter-Counties Cross-County Championships. With easily the fastest long stage of the day Gibbon pulled out a lead of over 80 seconds with just two short stages to go.
Ruby Whyte-Wilding and Juliet Hodder had really strong runs, both having the fastest of their stage, and between them managed to reduce the deficit to just 41 second at the end, but the lead proved to be just too much and the team had to settle for silver medals.
Their finishing time would have won the race the previous year, and was over two and a half minutes faster than the Belles team of 2024. They also finished nearly five minutes ahead of third placed team Bedford.
All four of the Belles short stage runners were in the top ten fastest, and the two long stage runners in the top eight fastest of the day.
B TEAM
It was a remarkably strong B team finishing in sixth place ahead of many A teams.
Molly Canham has been building up her fitness slowly and carefully over the winter after several years of injury. She ran very well producing a 5Km pb for the difficult course coming home in 10th place.
Georgia Holden who is in the middle of London Marathon training, set off on the long stage running a time just over 32 minutes and maintaining tenth position.
Nancie Bowley had an outstanding run on the third leg running 17:40, the 11th fastest of the day, pulling the team up to seventh.
Penny Oliver found the rutted and twisty course difficult with her recent ankle injury, but still ran well dropping just one place.
Emily Goff took over on the fifth leg, again running very well bringing the team up to 6th.
The final leg was run by Lara Mangan who has had an excellent winter supporting the team in the majority of the races. Her progress has been exceptional and here she ran over two and a half minutes faster than in the same race a year ago. She brought the team home in 6th place.
C TEAM
Only one other club, Highgate managed to field a C team, but they didn't manage to finish a complete team of six. For our C team to finish in 13th place shows the incredible strength in depth of this women's team.
Alex Gandee took the first stage having successfully overcome a winter of injury. She finished just one place behind Molly in 11th position getting the team off to an excellent start.
Sarah Riceman, another Belle training hard for the London, was on the next long stage, she dropped a few places to 17th, but still had a good run.
It was so good to see Saron Haileselase back in the team, her first race since 2018 and two more children. Off little training, she still showed her class running 18:15 for her leg moving the team up to 14th.
Also Mhairi Hall supporting the team as ever on the fourth long stage dropping just two places with a very solid run.
New member Emma Rowland was on the by now very isolated fifth leg with another good run maintaining 16th place.
Sam Munday has been a little short of training because of work pressure, but her fine last leg brought the team up to 13th place, an excellent result for the C team.
D TEAM
The Belles were the only team to actually start a D team. It was just unfortunate to be just two runners short of a full team. But, all credit to the four that did turn out and be part of such a great occasion.
Lucy Austin has recently joined the club having previously concentrated on hockey. She had never raced before, so her time of just over 19 minutes was a great start for the team com in 19th position.
Laura Goodson took over on the second long leg. Laura has been very unfortunate throughout the winter with injuries and illness. But her she was back running well finishing just outside the top 20.
Bethan Goddard is another who has had a winter of injuries, but it was so good to see her here supported by her mother and father, she came home in 22nd place.
And that was the position the team finished in after Sara Ridmy had completed her long stage very well.
RESULTS
Teams; 1. Reading AC 2:10.27, 2. Belgrave Harriers A 2:11.08, 3. Bedford and County 2;16.01.......6. Belgrave Harriers B 2:18.42, 13. Belgrave Harriers C 2:25.05.
A Team; 1. Alex Barbour 17:14 (6), 2. Martina Connor 30:52 (4), 3. Kristina Popadich 17:23 (1), 4. Ella Fennelly 31:08 (2),
5. Ruby Whyte-Wilding 17:25 (2), 6. Juliet Hodder 17:05 (2).
B Team; 1. Molly Canham 18:05 (10), 2. Georgia Holden 32:12 (10), 3. Nancie Bowley 17:40 (7), 4. Penny Oliver 33:42 (8), 5. Emily Goff 18:50 (6), 6. Lara Mangan 18:12 (6).
C Team; 1. Alex Gandee 18:19 (11), 2. Sarah Riceman 34:39 (17), 3. Saran Haileselase 18:15 (14), 4. Mhairi Hall 35:03 (16), 5. Emma Rowland 18:50 (14), 6. Samantha Munday 19:03 (13).
D Team; 1. Lucy Austin 19:12 (19), 2. Laura Goodson 35;21 (22), 3. Bethan Goddard 20:23 (22), 4. Sara Ridmy 36:44 (22).
Belles shine on national stage
Penny Oliver puts the hammer down at Nationals
Credit: Graham Smith
Two very strong Belles teams took part in the National 6-Stage Road-Relay at Sutton Park on April 12th. The 'A' team repeated their 4th place of the previous year, but this time just an agonising 26 second from a medal. The 'B' team were easily the top second team in the country finishing an incredible 5 minutes ahead of their nearest rivals.
Conditions were good with a warm sunny day and very little wind. However, the course had had to be changed with no long stages for men and women due to traffic being allowed in the far side of the course. This arguably meant a far better race with teams much closer throughout the race. (The two long stages for women were only introduced ten years ago.)
A TEAM
Mimi Corden-Lloyd set off on the first stage, a wise experienced head on what can be a very difficult leg, with many especially weaker teams setting off with their strongest runners. In fact six of the fastest times of the day were set on this stage. Mimi kept her head running very sensibly coming home in 16 place with runners lined up ahead of her.
Emily Bradley had been the Belles top finisher in the National Cross-Country Championships and had run very well all winter. She was the first of the team to run well under 18 minutes bringing the team up to 9th at the end of the second stage.
Penny Oliver had an excellent run on leg three. She had found the twists and turns of the Milton Keynes course difficult two weeks previously after recovering from an ankle injury, but here pulled out all the stops to produce her best ever time on the course, knocking off two additional places.
Sophie Hicks is in splendid form running pretty close to 16 minutes for 5km a the recent Podium event. Her time was the quickest on stage four and of the Belgrave runners. She took another three places and now the Belles up to 4th place.
Triathlete Lucy Peters has improved all season, knocking huge chunks off her pb's, and deserved her place in the 'A' team. She ran very well with a time in the mid eighteens maintaining the team's 4th place.
It was down to the experienced Kristina Popadich to bring the team home. Kristina gave it everything, closing a little on the third place Herne Hill, but in the end the gap just proved a little too much and team had to settle for 4th place.
All six team members had run their very best with three under 18 minutes on this very tough undulating course. Very few Belles have managed that in the past. It was just disappointing to finish so close to a bronze and just a minute away from silver. However, with this team their time is bound to come.
B TEAM
It wasn't too long ago in 2017, that the Belles 'A' team finished in 17th place with several running 19 and 20 minutes for their stages. Now we have a 'B' team finishing in 15th, and we very nearly had a 'C' team!
Molly Canham, Saron Haileselase and Lara Mangan all ran under 19 minutes. Georgia Holden, Alex Gandee and Laura Goodson just over. Molly came home in 25th place, Saron moved them up to 20th, Alex to 16th, and then Georgia another place where they remained for the final two isolated legs.
53 teams form all over the country started the race with 43 completing all six stages, the Belles 'B' team finishing ahead of the vast majority.
RESULTS.
AFD 1:46.01, 2. Leeds 1:47.10, 3. Herne Hill 1:47.47, 4. Belgrave 'A' 1:48.13,..... 15. Belgrave 'B' 1:55.17.
A TEAM; 1. M. Coden-Lloyd 18:11 (16), 2. E. Bradley 17:45 (9), 3. P. Oliver 18:33 (70, 4. S. Hicks 17:30 (40, 5. L. Peters 18:38 (4), 6. K. Popadich 17:36 (4).
B TEAM; 1. M. Canham 18:51 (25), 2. S. Haileselase 18:53 (20), 3. A. Gandee 19:20 (16), 4. G. Holden 19:01 (15), 5. L. Goodson 20:13 (15), 6. L. Mangan 18:59 (15).