Belles win National and South of England Road Relays
The Belles have won the National and South of England Road Relays, cementing their place in Belgrave lore.
National Champions
Gold medals for the A team and excellent results from another two complete teams of six made it possibly the best achievement for the women's team in the club’s history.
After an enthralling battle over the six legs against a very strong Leeds team, the A team won by just over half a minute. The Belles B team were eighth ahead of all the other B teams, and the C team were the only one to complete the race, finishing ahead of all the B teams except TVH, just one place ahead.
Apart from a short spell of hail, the predicted showers failed to materialise, but the runners were very glad that Don Anderson had kindly brought the Belgrave marquees as protection from a cold blustery wind. The traditional course had been slightly lengthened to 5.4 km.
A TEAM
Alex Barbour has been in fine form with a recent low 16.20's 5km. She got the team off to an excellent start finishing her leg in third spot very close to the leading pair, and ahead of the Leeds athlete who was in fifth.
Saron Haileselase has been training hard and quickly getting back to the form of previous years. Here she was up against one of the Leeds fastest runners who took the lead. But Saron hung on well with a strong run limiting the deficit to just 13 seconds at the end of her stage.
A year ago Nancie Bowley suffered a broken foot which kept her away for several months. Since returning to competition, her form has been outstanding. Although Leeds had another one of their fastest runners on this stage, Nancie turned the deficit into a three second lead, sprinting past on the final uphill section. Her time proved to be the second fastest of the day.
Mimi Corden-Lloyd had recently returned form injury which meant she hadn't been able to race since a fine 10km pb in Valencia in early January. But her training had been going well, and she could be relied upon to get round the course without mishap. The lead had changed hands again back to Leeds, but by a mere 19 seconds.
By now, Thames Valley in third place were over two minutes behind, so it was looking very much like a two horse race between Leeds and Belgrave.
With another very solid run and fast finish, Ella Fennelly reduced the lead by Leeds to just seven seconds ahead of the Belles at the end of the fourth leg, her time very similar to Saron's. It looked as if the race would go down to the wire.
Who better to take the last leg than Juliet Hodder who has done this several times for the club in road relays. It also suited Juliet to start behind the Leeds athlete as they climbed the long hill to the top of the course. But then, as her team waited anxiously, an announcement came over the loud speaker,
'At the memorial Belgrave have taken the lead.'
Juliet just raced away down the hill then up the finishing straight to break the tape over half a minute clear.
Belgrave had never won any medal in this race, now they were deservedly both UK and English Champions, a terrific achievement.
B TEAM
Not very many years ago, the current B team would have quite easily finished ahead of the Belles A team of that time. The majority can run 5km in the 17's and here most ran in the 19's for the hilly 5.4km course.
Alex Gandee is improving with every race and made a fine start finishing her leg in 17th place in that first frenetic leg with many teams particularly the weaker ones top loading.
Sarah Riceman has been running very well lately after overcoming persistent injuries. She prefers longer races, but ran a very solid leg dropping just a couple of places.
Grace Rowley is an America student studying in London. She has been flying back home regularly to compete for her college team. Her leg was outstanding in just over 19 minutes and she passed no less than nine runners. The team was now up to 10th.
Captain Penny Oliver is deep in London marathon training but happy to support the team. Like Sarah, the course was a little short for her liking, but she produced another solid run. The team were now in 14th place.
The last two runners, Anissa Alloula and Lara Mangan both ran legs in the mid to high 19's, really good times. Anissa brought the team up to 9th, and Lara another place to complete the final stage in 8th place, a terrific result.
C TEAM
The fact that the Belles brought three teams to the race illustrates both; the strength in depth of this team, and also their very positive team spirit. They finished inside the top half of the field a wonderful performance.
Emma Rowland had the difficult job of running the first stage with so many fast runners. She coped well finishing in 35th place.
Emily Barrett knocked off six places in her run which was the fastest of the C team.
Gemma Newport continued the progression passing another three teams so now they were in 26th place. Her time was very similar to Emma's.
Emilie Arnoux did find the hills difficult, but she got round very safely maintaining the Belles position.
Another strong leg from Sam Munday improved the position by another two places and at this stage the gaps were very large and incomplete teams were beginning to drop out. This meant the team moving up to 19th on the final stage. A very good result.
RESULTS.
Belgrave A, 1:52;55, 2. Leeds A, 1:53:31, 3. TVH, 1:55:21, ..... 8. Belgrave B, 2:00:08, 19. Belgrave C, 2:09:12.
Belgrave A. 1. A. Barbour 18:35, 2. S. Haileselase 19:00, 3. N. Bowley 18:18, 4. M. Corden-Lloyd 19:32, 4. E. Fennelly 18:58, 6. J. Hodder 18:30.
Belgrave B. 1. A. Gandee 19:35, 2. S. Riceman 20:38, 3. G. Rowley 19:05, 4. P. Oliver 21:08, 5. A. Alloula 19:54, 6. L. Mangan 19:45.
Belgrave C. 1. E. Rowland 21:31, 2. E. Barrett 20:51, 3. G. Newport 21:35, 4. E. Arnoux 22:20, 5. S. Munday 21:50.
South of England Champions
The Belgrave women's team convincingly won the South of England Road Relays for the very first time. They were supported on the day by two more teams; the B team finishing an excellent 9th, and a C team who generously came despite not quite having enough runners.
Having finished second in this race five times, and similarly in the main Cross-Country Championships, it seemed the team would never win a major Southern Championship race. This team proved otherwise winning by a very long way with a fantastic performance.
It was a great day for the club despite the appalling weather, a biting cold win in the morning which spread to driving rain in the afternoon. Fortunately, Don Anderson had kindly brought the Belgrave marquees.
A TEAM
Many teams start with their strongest runners, especially those with weaker teams. Saron Haileselase ran sensibly moving through the field as the stage progressed and finished in 4th place with a very fast final 800m.
Nadine Donegan took over and ran a very strong second stage bringing the team up closer to the leaders, but still in 4th place. Molly Canham has very carefully build up her fitness over the last year after suffering many injuries in the past. She ran a very solid race, passing two teams and finishing just five seconds behind the leads.
The fourth leg is the second long stage. Abbey Brooke showed her excellent form with an outstanding run. She soon took the lead and extended it to 44 second at the finish, the fastest long stage of the day.
The experienced Kristina Popadich took over on the fifth stage, by now isolated out at the front. Another strong run extended the Belles lead to over a minute.
Juliet Hodder had the task of bringing home the gold medals for the team. Another excellent run, just as fast as last year when the conditions were so much kinder, and the lead over second place Herne Hill was now one minute forty seconds at the end.
B TEAM
The rapidly improving Billie McCosky ran a very good first stage in just under 18 minutes for the B team bringing the team home in 9th place. Team captain Penny Oliver, in the middle of London Marathon training took over on the second long stage with a very solid run.
Grace Rowley is staying in London to study this year and has been travelling back to the USA over the winter racing for her college team. Here she ran a really fast stage in the mid 17's to bring the team up to 8th.
Alex Gandee also ran very well on the fourth long stage taking another place when she finished, now 7th. Sam Munday now thankfully getting back to full fitness, did lose a couple of places but ran a very creditable time on the fifth leg.
New member Anissa Alloula also ran very well on the last stage holding off some very strong runners from other teams. The team finished in 9th place, an excellent result and ahead of many of our local rival's A teams.
C TEAM
With several runners dropping out over the last week, it was very creditable that Gemma Newton, Emma Rowley, Emily Barrett and Sara Ridmy were still prepared to make the long journey to Milton Keynes and run for the club. They were all very much a part of a very successful day for the club. When Sara finished the fourth stage, their team was in 20th place, easily the first C team on the day. Just a shame they didn't have a full team.
RESULTS.
Belgrave Harriers A 2:09:56, 2. Herne Hill Harriers 2:11:35, 3. Brighton Phoenix 2:13:51, ...9. Belgrave Harriers B 2:18:35.
A Team; 1. S. Haileselase 17:18 (4), 2. N. Donegan 30:25 (4), 3. M. Canham 17:51 (2), 4. A. Brooke 29:34 (1), 5. K. Popadich 17:42 (1), 6. J. Hodder 17:06(1).
B Team; 1. B. McCosky 17:57 (9), 2. P. Oliver 34:06 (11), 3. G. Rowley 17:28 (8), 4. A. Gandee 31:29 (7), 5. S. Munday 19:15 (9), 6. A. Alloula 18:20 (9).
C Team; 1. G. Newton 19:09 (14), 2. E. Rowland 34:43 (20), 3. E. Barrett 19:18 (19), 4. S. Ridmy 36:38 (20).