Belles win the Rosenheim League

Words by Henry Hart

On an unsettled evening of overcast skies after a day of blistering sun, the finest athletics clubs in Surrey descended on Kingston’s Weir Archer Athletics Track to do battle for the final time in the Rosenheim League.

Dating back to 1964, and operating outside the formal NAL-SAL axis of heirarchical athletics, the Rosenheim League attracts a vast host of athletes from national champions to beginners. Taking place on Wednesday nights, athletes ply their craft unrestricted by scoring places or weekend plans.

The Belles won the league for a second time in a row, and for the third time in four years, thereby extending their domination of the Surrey Athletics and XC scene.

Meanwhile, the Bels put in a herculean team performance to finish runners up for the second year in a row, this time to an incredibly strong Woking AC team.

In the 400m hurdles, club veteran Mike Burslem battled to a solid third place finish in 66.93 while distance runner and new recruit Billie McClosky ran a smart race to finish fourth in 80.82.

The 800m saw Juliet Hodder run a 63” first lap on the way to a 2:15.94, missing the win by just 0.90 in a thrilling race. 1500/5000 specialist Juliet also doubled back to fill in on the sprint relay team later in the night, showing remarkable team spirit to step up for two off-distance events. Bel Angus Lamb ran a smart race in even splits to smash the 2-minute barrier for the first time and take the win.

Joshua Ritchie and Sharon Hood ran solid races in the 100m in 12.52 and 13.57 respectively. Joshua, hailing from a background in rugby, has only recently started sprinting and this looks to be his Power of 10 debut over the distance – a briliiant performance which bodes well for the future. Sharon will take home a shiny new PB and will look to continue her streak of breaking new ground, a task at which she has yet to fail, according to her Power of 10.

Gabriel Bastiste Halliday had a brilliant evening jumping 1.75m in the High Jump to finish third, depsite having to leave early to do the Long Jump where he jumped a brilliant 5.06m in his off-event. This promising junior is one to watch and is an MVP of the season for Belgrave.

Also putting in a magnificent shift for the evening was Maryam Mfor. She jumped a PB of 1.45m followed by a third place finish in the Shot Put with a stellar 9.52m. Even if all that wasn’t enough, she also magnificently opened the 4x200 for the Belles.

Ally Stanley showed his class once again by delivering a second place finish in the discus, ahead of former Latvian champion Kaspars Kazemaks. He followed this up with a solid third place in the shotput. Our two time Icosathlon World Champion has had a tough start to the year suffering from the inevitable injuries that come from being such a relentless competitor, but he is now clearly getting back to his best.

Junior star Neva Jansen threw a brilliant 36.89m in the discus, just missing her PB of 37.07 from last season. The Belles’ rising star is a constant fixture at NAL and Rosenheim matches.

Newcomer Hissah Al Faisal performed brilliantly in the long jump. Another junior competing with remarkable competence in the senior ranks, Hissah boasts a packed Power of 10 profile across a wide range of events. Whichever discipline she chooses to specialise in going forward, the Belles will be grateful of her prowess. One to watch.

Rachel Donnison dominated the 400m field, coming home over 2 seconds ahead of Kingston while 800 specialist Daniel Ghajar put in a solid performance to run 57.33. Rachel is a foundational brick of the Belgrave team and continues to be a reliable points scorer for team, while by contrast junior athlete Daniel is a bright hope for the future and will look to break the 2 minute barrier later this season.

In the 1500m, Molly Canham torched the field from the gun, putting half a minute into her closest competitor. After a few years focussing on cross country, she looks to be honing her speed on the track and will doubtless cut down into the low 4:20s in a race with more competition. The men’s race saw Larry Ryan and Herne Hill hitter Daniel Shaw follow a suicidal 60” pace set by the Woking athlete (who would fade hard to 4:10). Larry just lost out on the win, but will be pleased to finish within 2 seconds of 3:51 man Daniel.

Hurdles specialist Holly Aldridge put in a cracking shift to come home in second in the 200m in a new PB of 27.11. She goes again in the 400m hurdles this weekend, hopefully continuing her habit of smashing lifetime bests this season. On the men’s side, a fatigued Pierre Walker, likewise a stalwart of the Belgrave athletics scene, put in a brilliant performance to run a season’s best of 23.06 in a race won by GB sprinter Brook Cronin in 21.07.

Continuing the theme of Belgrave dominating the distance events, Abbey Brooke and Ben Coughlan put the competition out of sight with ease in the 3000m, running 9:49 and 8:46 respectively. Other clubs will count themselves lucky that the Rosenheim doesn’t give out bonus points for utter domination.

The final event of the evening was the 4x200 relay. Kicking off with the Belles, Maryam Mfor had a great start to put the team in a strong position, followed by Sharon Hood, Juliet Hodder and Emma Pidden anchoring the team to a strong third place finish. The Bels comprised Mike Burslem, Sam Folkes, Rory Chang and Pierre Walker, matching the Belles in third place. These strong performances by athletes, most of whom were doubling back from their main events of the day, were crucial in securing the first and second place overall finishes achieved by the Belle and Bel teams respectively.

Full results are available on the Rosenheim website: https://www.rosenheimleague.co.uk/final