South of the Thames Cross Country Championship, Wimbledon Common

Bels have the edge

With the Championship race held over our own course, it was good to win for a fourteenth time in the 120 years that the South of the Thames CC Association has been in existence.

Back in 1888 the race was first held over Wandsworth Common and in the early days it was regarded as a championship for "second-class" clubs. The established outfits of Ranelagh Harriers, Thames Hare & Hounds, South London Harriers and Blackheath Harriers had not been too keen on allowing upstart clubs, some of which were attached to Public Houses, to join them in their races so in 1887 a group of the newer clubs of South London asked for permission from the Southern Counties C.C.A. to stage their own event and the South of the Thames Second-Class Inter Club race was the result.

In time the race became one of very high standard and although the field is not as large now as it was in the 60s and 70s, it was no "second-class" race in 2008 as Russell Dessaix-Chin had John McFarlane, Dean Lacy and Will Levett for company early on. But Russell was running comfortably and by the second lap was away and able to enjoy the race unfolding at his own pace.

The early signs were that Belgrave had the edge over Herne Hill in the team race but after a fast start Malachi Byansi was going back through the field while the Hill's men seemed to be waxing in strength - it was going to be close.

James Kelly is in very good form at the moment but a cold hindered him in his preparation and after wrestling with Lacy and Kent's James Connor, he had to settle for a spot just outside the medals. For Neil Speaight a racing schedule that had seen him running a 4:03 mile in Saudi Arabia two weeks ago now had him tackling 12k of cross country and in spite of wearing a set of long spikes that gave him problems on the stony paths Neil was solid inside the top ten. Pete Willis and Will Cockerell were locked together for the entire race in the teens, both running well, so it was just a case of "would Malachi" be able to hold on?

But Mal's drift backwards had been halted and when the discs were collected by the team manager and the points were tallied up it appeared we had held off our rivals to win the Dewar Shield even though they had got seven men home before our sixth. And what now at 12 to score? Tim Weeks was having big trouble with his ankle and limping badly as he lost around thirty places (although never thinking of pulling out). Two newish runners in Andrew Sentance and Ben Hurley both played their part and with Mark Humphrey closing in the dozen at 79, Herne Hill still had two more men to find; the Coleman Cup was also ours.

Many thanks to the Belgrave marshals and to Don Anderson for laying out the course - and to Gordon Biscoe for masterminding the start/finish areas.

Men. 1 R Dessaix-Chin (Belgrave) 40:43; 2 D Lacy (Cambridge H) 41:29; 3 J Connor (Kent AC) 41:33; 4 J Kelly 41:51; ... 9 N Speaight 42:47; 14 W Cockerell 43:26; 15 P Willis 43:37; 38 M Byansi 45:55; 41 K Hegvold M45 46:15; 54 A Sentance 47:09; 58, B Hurley 47:29; 63 R Stannard 47:49; 77 T Weeks 49:14; 79 M Humphrey 49:24; 118 T Hadfield 52:43; 215 finished.

Teams: 6 to score. 1 Belgrave H (1, 4, 8, 13, 14, 36) 76; 2 Herne Hill H (7, 9, 11, 12, 21, 28) 88; 3 Aldershot F&D AC (10, 18, 27, 33, 37, 41) 166; 4 Thames H&H (6, 15, 16, 48, 49, 96) 230; 5 Kent AC (3, 17, 19, 24, 118, 128) 309; 6 Brighton & Hove (22, 40, 43, 66, 67, 76) 314; ... 15 teams closed in.

12 to score. 1 Belgrave H (76 + 39, 52, 58, 63, 77, 79) 444; 2 Herne Hill H (88 + 29, 47, 70, 72, 80, 100) 486, 3 Epsom & Ewell H 1095.

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