Belles take silver at SEAA road relays, Bels qualify for Nationals
The Belgrave Harriers women finished second at the South of England 4-stage road relays, while the men finished 22nd and qualified for the National Road Relays in October.
Words by Charlie Dickinson and Alex Janiaud
The Belles fielded four teams for the very first time at the South of England 4-Stage Road-Relay at Aldershot. They all did incredibly well finishing 2nd, 8th, 18th and 32nd out of over 60 teams, which istestimony to the overall strength of this team.
Although it was grey and overcast in the morning, the sun appeared in the afternoon for the women's race and luckily for the Belles, the rain held off until the men's race. The 6km two lap course has been used for many years and is testing with two hills on each lap, but it is one of the best courses for spectators watching the runners as they sweep down into the bowl of the arena to the finish.
A TEAM
It was such an exciting race to watch with the Belles snatching silver medals on the last leg. Alex Barbour was a late call up to the A team with Sophie Hicks opting for the B team after feeling a little off colour. Alex gave the team an excellent start in what is always a frenetic first stage. She came home in 13th place, but with a line of runners just ahead of her.
Abbey Brooke set off at a furious pace and had overtaken five runners before she had run the first kilometer. At the end of the first lap she was up to 5th place, and although she tired a little on the second lap, she brought the team home in 4th position after the first two legs. By this time the Aldershot A and B teams were a long way in front, but Stragglers in third place were in sight.
Emily Bradley has had a terrific year with pb's on the road and track after a very strong winter. She soon moved up to third, but was overtaken by Georgie Grgec of Herne Hill who ran easily the fastest leg of the day in one of her final races before moving back to New Zealand. Emily still ran very close to 21 minutes, an excellent leg finishing with Aldershot B and Herne Hill not too far ahead.
Juliet Hodder set off on the final stage with three teams ahead, Aldershot A in the lead and out of sight, but bronze and silver medals a possibility. Juliet had confessed to not being at her fittest before the race, but there seemed little evidence of that as she soon overtook the Herne Hill runner moving into third by the end of the first lap. The Aldershot B team runner was visibly slowing, and as the athletes came into view at the far side of the arena, it was Juliet in second, the position she maintained until the finish.
A terrific performance by all four of the team.
A. Barbour 21:17 (13), 2. A. Brooke 21:33 (4), 3. E. Bradley 21:02 (4), 4. J. Hodder 21:05 (2).
B TEAM
Sophie Hicks kindly volunteered to help the B team after feeling unwell all week aiming for a time of 22 minutes instead of running flat out for the A team. She did this perfectly running at 3:40 per km finishing her leg in 22nd place. Many teams put their strongest runners first, so times are a better indicator than positions on the first stage.
Having raced consistently and well all summer gaining pb's on the track and road, Alex Gandee came to the race in very good form. She gained eight places on a very strong leg with the team now in 14th after two stages.
It was so good to see Felicity Harrison back racing for the team after nearly a year of illness and injury. It will take her a few more races to get back to her excellent form of a year ago, but here she ran very strongly knocking off another four places in a run which should give her a great deal of confidence.
By this time the gaps were very large, but Ruby Whyte-Wilding ran a terrific leg moving the team up the 8th place, a position the A team had finished in the previous year, and apart from Aldershot, well ahead of all the other B teams in the South. She is now looking forward to running in the Cardiff Half in a couple of weeks time and on this showing should do very well.
S. Hicks 21:57 (22), 2. A. Gandee 22:24 (14), 3. F. Harrison 22:35 (10), 4. R. Whyte-Wilding 21:29 (8).
C TEAM
Saron Haileselase is gradually getting back to her best form after a gap of a few years and having two more children. Her run was the fastest in the C team finishing just behind Sophie Hicks in 23rd place.
After a fine PB over 5km in the Under Lights the previous week, Ella-May Hards ran another good leg despite finding the course quite tough, as did Penny Oliver who must have had tired legs after two half marathons in the previous two weeks. At the end of the third leg the team was in 21st position.
Charlotte Griffiths had previously run on this course as a junior ten years ago. She is a fine addition to the team and her strong run brought the team up to finish 18th with only Aldershot's C ahead.
S. Haileselase 22:02 (23), 2. E-M. Hards 23:25 (27), 3. P. Oliver 23:50 (21), 4. C. Griffiths 22:18 (18).
D TEAM
Ines Beernaert is studying in France and came over specially to run in the race. She did start off rather too fast, but hung on well to finish just a second over her target of 23 minutes. Her team were in 35th place when she handed over.
Emily Goff just recently came off a very good track season with a big pb over 1500m. The Aldershot hills unsurprisingly took their toll after a summer of track training, but Emily managed to maintain the teams position.
After having to ease off her training last year to give herself time for studying for her masters, Samantha Munday is now getting back to her best form. At this stage, the gaps were very large, but Sam knocked off four places to bring the team up to 32nd.
Sara Ridmy had a very isolated final leg for the D team but ran well and finished the team off in 32nd place. A huge result for the club to complete four teams near the top half of all the entrants, well ahead of host club Aldershot's D team.
Beernaert 23:01 (35), 2. E. Goff 24:07 (36), 3. S. Munday 23:33 (32), 4. S. Ridmy 24:58 (32).
RESULTS
AFD A 1:23.30, 2. Belgrave A 1:24.57, 3. AFD B 1:25.22, 4. Herne Hill 1:25.25, ...8. Belgrave B 1:28.26, 18. Belgrave C 1:31.36, 32. Belgrave D 1:35.39.