South of the Thames CC Championship, Wimbledon Common

Kelly's the man on a frozen Wimbledon Common

Paskar Owor (38) and James Kelly (34) head the field after the first 4k lap. Photo by Alan Mead.

Freezing but sunny conditions saw Belgrave retain one of the oldest titles in our sport - but it was a fairly close run thing.

After the first 4k lap Paskar Owor and James Kelly were pushing along at the front with Kent's John Gilbert, guesting Orlando Edwards (Shaftesbury Barnet) and Dean Lacy (Cambridge Harriers) in tow. Paskar threw down a challenge on lap two that disposed of all opposition - except James - but as the hill to the Windmill was crested for a second time it was James who was able to maintain his pace the best and he slipped ahead while Paskar suffered. A 10 metre lead became 25 by the end of the lap and the final circuit saw James come home ahead of his club mate by a full half minute and more.

It was a third consecutive weekend of racing in the vicinity for James who had placed 4th in the Oxford vs. Cambridge Varsity race on the Common and 2nd in the Surrey League in Richmond Park. But these were the conditions that suited him best he averred afterwards - hard underfoot and cold. He's been putting in high mileage and plans for the Spring include the Virgin London Marathon.

It was great to see James Fairbourn getting to where he wants to be after a couple of years of having his training ruined through illness or injury. Running through the first lap shoulder to shoulder with Will Cockerell, it was "gloves off" for both of them as they prepared for two more laps of man to man stuff. It was an impressive run from James who nevertheless just had to give way to the hard bitten Cockerpillar.

Mal Byansi had earlier attempted the, "I'm not feeling too good, do you really need me for the twelve," routine. Twelve! We needed him for the six! Mal ran and did well for 29th with Richard Stannard, getting fitter, closing in the team.

105 points. Had we done enough? Herne Hill had got ten men home before our half dozen, and Kent too got their six home ahead of ours - but our two forward placings did the trick and the Dewar Shield remains in Belgrave hands. A special final word too for Alex Marek who ran his best ever race to become our seventh man.

Men 12k. 1 J Kelly (Belgrave) 40:51; 2 P Owor (Belgrave) 41:28; 3 D Lacy (Cambridge H) 41:37; 15 W Cockerell 43:32; 16 J Fairbourn 43:46; 29 M Byansi 45:06; 42 R Stannard 46:35; 55 A Marek 47:39; 89 R Norville 51:29; 119 T Kingston 55:08.

Teams: Dewar Shield (6 to score)

1 Belgrave H (1, 2, 15, 16, 29, 42) 105; 2 Kent AC (4, 6, 20, 25, 27, 32) 114; 3 Herne Hill H (11, 17, 18, 21, 23, 30) 120; 4 Brighton & Hove AC (9, 13, 40, 43, 49, 57) 211; 5 Herne Hill H 'B' (34, 35, 37, 39, 50, 51) 246; 6 Epsom & Ewell H (14, 22, 31, 48, 60, 72) 247.

Coleman Cup (12 to score)

1 Herne Hill H 366; 2 Kent AC 579; 3 Epsom & Ewell H 918.

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