Emily Bradley wins Surrey Champs; Bels take gold

With a very hard fought run over the tough Denbies course, Emily Bradley became the first women ever to have won the Surrey Championship running for Belgrave. 

Older members will remember Pam Davies winning the race seven times in the 1960's, but she was then running for Selsonia AC before that club was wound up; she then joined Belgrave. Pam also won the National four times. 

The Surrey Hills were bathed in beautiful sunshine on a freezing cold day with a biting North East wind. The undulating course through the vines had a mixture of hard frozen paths and muddy stretches where the ice had melted which made the going very difficult. 

After taking the lead, Emily said, "I was running terrified the whole of the last lap knowing that past champion Georgie Bruinvels was right behind me." But Emily hung on to win by over ten seconds beating a very strong field. The Belles were grateful for the support by the many Belgrave men warming up around the course.  

Alex Gandee ran very well too illustrating her steady improvement over the season finishing in 13th. And Sara Ridmy supported the team as she has done all season finishing 62nd.  Unfortunately, the flu bug hit the other Belles which meant they didn't have enough runners for a team.   

The Belgrave men had a very strong turnout and won the team gold for the second year running. The Bels have had a good record in this race recently, also winning silver in 2023 and 2024. They were led home in 8th place by Gavin Eccles, just ahead of Henry Hart, then Sam Sommerville, Ollie Garrod and Conall McNally all in the top twenty. Angus Lamb closed for the scoring six in 25th. 

Another seven Bels supported the team on a bitterly cold but very successful day for the club. 

RESULTS.

 WOMEN. 1. E. Bradley 31:57, 2. G. Bruinvels (AFD) 32:08, 3. E. Warren (G&G) 32:08, 13. A. Gandee 35:00, 62. S. Ridmy 43:59.

MEN. 8. G. Eccles 41:38, 11. H. Hart 42:20, 13. S. Sommerville 42:40, 14. O. Garrod 43:08, 18. C. McNally 43:34, 25. A. Lamb 44:41, 35. R. Christie 45:19, 40. W. Gardner 45:40, 46. R. Kelly 46:20, 52. D. Wolff 46:45, 53. M. Edgar 46:50, 67. C. McGoldrick 48:25, 128. N. Elvidge 53:11. 230 ran. 

TEAMS. 1. Belgrave 89, 2. G & G 113, 3. Holland Sports 197.