Men's Surrey CC League Division One, Reigate Priory Park

Bels "ropey" at "Reigers"

With not a lot at stake, a crop of colds, and attractive fixtures elsewhere, we were rather short at the sharp end of this race. Our squad was, however, boosted by a couple of our swim-bike-runners. World Aquathlon Champ. Richard Stannard nearly missed the start as he got himself ready for the race but, skipping across the front of the line-up as the gun was fired, ended up grinning from ear to ear as he got the best of starts. It was great to see Mike Trees in action as well. One time World Duathlon Champ., Mike recently had a nasty accident in Japan when training on his bike; a car stopped dead in front of him while he was travelling at speed and the driver's door was flung open in his path. Broken ribs resulted in a chest infection but he's gradually recovering and had a gentle, and we suspect slightly painful, tour of Reigate's Priory Park.

Thames' Huw Lobb gunned it from the start and with their next man, McMullen, occupying second spot had a great start in their efforts to keep Herne Hill at bay. But the Black and Red tide was sweeping in behind them to carry the day and the result is that there are now only 27 points between them with one fixture to go.

For the Bels only Alex Bodin can be said to have had a good run, most others occupying places somewhat lower than we might have expected. With newly promoted Hercules Wimbledon AC suddenly finding the wind in their sails and improving three places from match two, we found ourselves shunted into fifth. Overall we hold onto third place in the League but shouldn't be too complacent about keeping this position as the Ranelagh Talbot has scented Belgrave blood.

It was a pleasure to see Evan Langmuir enjoying yet another race. At barely eleven and placing 4th in the under 13 category he has a great running career ahead of him if he can keep at it.

These results are provisional.

1 H Lobb (Thames H&H) 26:55; 2 J McMullen (Thames H&H) 27:52; 3 K Quinn (Herne Hill H) 27:59; ... 20 R Stannard 29:15; 24 A Bodin U20 29:38; 34 J Fairbourn 30:13; 36 K Hegvold M45 30:21; 45 W Cockerell 30:47; 61 M Byansi 31:30; 73 M Trees M45 32:05; 86 S Zealey M40 32:49; 89 T Weeks 32:59; 91 W Lynch 33:02; 92 R Norville 33:02; 99 A Sentance 33:49; 130 M Humphrey 36:09; 143 L Rehn M45 37:37; 147 P Cross M50 38:41.

Teams: 1 Herne Hill H 131; 2 Thames H&H 194; 3 Hercules Wimb. 307; 4 Ranelagh H 485; 5 Belgrave H 501; 6 South London H 545; 7 Guildford &G 567; 8 Reigate Priory 571; 9 Wimbledon W 794.

Overall: 1 Thames H&H 551; 2 Herne Hill H 578; 3 Belgrave H 1019; 4 Ranelagh H 1122; 5 Hercules Wimb. 1370; 6 Reigate Priory 1698; 7 South London H 1757; 8 Guildford &G 1872; 9 Wimbledon W 2318.

Under 13 Boys. 1 J Amoruso (Guildford &G) 16:32; 4 E Langmuir 17:52.

Restored from the club's earlier website, belgraveharriers.com, and published here as originally written.