Men and women sweep Surrey League titles on Wimbledon Common
Belgrave's men's and women's teams both claimed Surrey League cross country titles with dominant wins on Wimbledon Common.
It completed only the second double in the competition's history – Thames Hare & Hounds in 2010 being the first.
The win extends the Belles' streak to three consecutive titles and puts Belgrave top of the all-time combined titles list, leapfrogging THH.
Bels
Photo: George Parker
A wise man once said, “I wish there was a way to know you're in the good old days before you've actually left them.”
But for all of us there on Wimbledon Common on Saturday, and in The Dog & Fox in the afternoon, and The Plough into the small hours, we knew.
Twenty-four years of hurt came to an end as the Bels romped home to a big match win to secure the Surrey League championship.
So much had gone into ending the drought in this league, getting closer and closer to the win since the pandemic, but in the end it was emphatic: all ten scorers within 29 meant a 511-point winning margin in the final league table - the biggest since 1998/99.
Full results and report to follow.
Belles win third title in a row
Photo: Jerry Sun
Words by Charlie Dickinson
A terrific run by co-captain Emily Bradley, winning her third race of an outstanding season, helped to cement the league title for the Belles by 113 points over a very strong Herne Hill Harriers team. The Belles B team had an even more resounding victory, beating the same club by 424 points. Their total score of 513 points over the four matches would have placed them 3rd A team out of the 15 teams in the first division.
Emily took the lead just before going into the second lap and powered away to win by 26 seconds, adding this win to the London and Surrey Championship titles. She also finished 2nd senior woman over the four matches.
Sophie Hicks looked extremely relaxed in second place announcing before the race that she was "going for a bit of a workout!" Sophie raced brilliantly in January representing New Zealand in the World Cross-Country Championships in Florida.
Next to finish in ninth place came Saron Haileselase, with her best race of the winter. Saron has battled through injury and illness, has three young children to look after and a husband who works long hours. However, she is an exceptional talent and back in 2018 won this race on the same course. Here she produced her trademark blistering finish to overtake several runners.
Then just outside the top ten came Juliet Hodder and Alex Gandee in 11th and 12th to complete the scoring five. Juliet was quite ill before Christmas but has worked on her fitness and now getting close to her best. Alex has improved all winter and produced her best ever cross-country performance. Juliet finished fourth individual overall after another fine season.
Juliet's sister Isabel Hodder moved to London in the autumn to work at Guys and St Thomas' hospital. She has been a fine addition to the team and led the B team scorers, finishing just one place behind Alex. Billie McClosky has also strengthened the team since moving to London from New York. This was her best race so far in 16th. Kristina Popadich again proved a really reliable team member finishing in 21st place ahead of Eilidh Hide who is training hard for the London Marathon and again ran a season's best. Emma Gordon completed the B team in 26th, a very encouraging run after a winter of illness and injury.
The Belles train kept finishing; Grace Knapp, Karen Xiang and Lara Mangan in the low thirties, then Laura Goodson ahead of Felicity Harrison who just edged Emily Lowery with a sprint finish. Next came co-captain Penny Oliver, being cautious on this course after injury and the London drawing nearer, Sarah Riceman, new member Emma Etheredge and it was so good to see Olivia Lucas back racing again. The C team would have finished sixth A team on the day.
Then came Gemma Newton and Emma Rowland, still managing to finish in he seventies, and Emily Bowden finishing in the low 80's. Finally just outside the top 100 finished Sara Ridmy, supporting the team as always and well within the top half of the 231 runners who completed the race.
But the final word must go to the Belgrave members who volunteered to marshal and officiate and to Sheila White and our friends at Hercules Wimbledon who jointly hosted the match.
Alam Mead and Mhairi Hall timing. Marshals; John Hall, Paskar Owor, Ben Hurley, Maureen Noel, James Fox, John Mather, John Gladwin, and especially Don Anderson and Mick Lesley who met at 8.00am to mark out the course as well as marshalling duties.
After standing in the mud for three and a half hours, several marshals stayed behind for over an hour to pack up the tent, table, chairs, groundsheets and pick up litter and abandoned clothes. Without those people there would be no Surrey League, and probably no club.