Surrey County AA Road Relays, Wimbledon Park

A double win in the Surrey Relays

Don't we runners love it. The slight chill of the early morning gives way to a pleasantly warm afternoon and we've arrived at that point in the racing calendar when the Surrey Road Relays also give hint to proximity of Autumn and the "winter" season to follow.

This was Will Cockerell's 10th Anniversary of running for the Bels. Our "Surrey" outfit back on 12 September 1998 was reported as, "... a mixture of lads from Middlesex, Kent, New Zealand and Morocco ..." and yet we still didn't quite complete a team. Thankfully we've moved on a bit.

As has been the custom of recent years, the Bels competed strongly in the men's race, pulling off a comfortable win - even though last leg man James Kelly went off course and ran for 20 seconds before deciding that he was in unfamiliar territory and had better return to the designated route. Luckily we were well clear and there was no risk of losing the gold medals but James did have to forfeit the honours for the fastest lap of the day. Had he not added the extra distance he would probably have been faster than his clocking of 2007 - 14:12 - and instead of being just one second faster than last year as a team, we would surely have gained a fairly rare sub-90 clocking.

The opening stage saw five Belgravians in action, all of them veterans, and hero of the day was undoubtedly one of those senior members - Knut Hegvold. Just short of his 47th birthday Knut set up the senior men with an outstanding second place on stage one, only six seconds off the lead. He then spent 30 minutes composing himself before setting out again to anchor the M40s, overtaking two men to bring our veteran team home in first place.

Maybe next year we can make a foray into the M50 category as well - we have the men to do it.

The senior men's B team, admittedly not a bona fide Surrey outfit, also got into the action, just gaining second spot at the end of leg four, and it was good to get a women's team on the road when that possibility at one point seemed unlikely.

Many thanks to all those who continue to help keep this event on the fixture card - our normal Team Manager who acts as Race Secretary and produces the results, our own officials including Gordon Biscoe who pulls together the technical bods, Tom Pollak and members of Hercules Wimbledon AC who mark and marshal the course, and of course our stand in Team Manager Hazel Mead - apparently the "old boy" is in danger of getting the sack.

Runners marked * are not Surrey qualified.

Men. 1 Belgrave H 1:30:28; 2 South London H 1:32:41; 3 Herne Hill H 1:33:15; 7 Belgrave H 'B' 1:36:33; 21 teams finished.

'A' - K Hegvold M45 (2) 14:54, L Greatorex (1) 15:07, R Ward (1) 14:53, T Weeks (1) 15:48, W Cockerell (1) 15:00, J Kelly (1) 14:46.

'B' - M Trees M40 (9) 15:46, P Willis* (4) 15:14, J Webb (7) 15:56, M Byansi (2) 15:44, M Humphrey (6) 16:27, R Norville (7) 17:26.

'C' - D McMillan M60 (24) 21:44.

Fastest: 1 J Simpson (South London) 14:26; 2 J Hamblen (Walton) 14:38; 3 J McMullen (Thames H&H) 14:43; 4 J Kelly; 7 R Ward; 8 K Hegvold 14:54; 13 W Cockerell; 16 L Greatorex; 19 P Willis.

Men Over 40. 1 Belgrave H 1:04:52; 2 The Stragglers 1:05:01; 3 South London H 1:05:37; 7 teams finished

J Galley (2) 16:19; G Adams (3) 16:38, S Zealey (3) 16:44, K Hegvold (1) 15:11.

Fastest: 1 K Hegvold (Belgrave) 15:11; 2 G Nicolaci (The Stragglers) 15:42; 3 R Reeder (The Stragglers) 15:42; 8 J Galley.

Women. 1 South London H 1:10:32; 2 Hercules Wimbledon AC 1:12:34; 3 Ranelagh H 1:14:15; 17 Belgrave H 1:27:15; 20 teams finished.

M Noel* W45 (10) 20:01, C Shanklyn (12) 21:34, J Beecroft (16) 23:36, C Eastham 22:04.

Fastest: 1 G Bruinvels (South London GH) 16:39; 2 M Jenkins (South London H) 17:25; 3 P Rutherford (W Windmilers) 17:28.

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