Surrey Road Relays, Wimbledon Park

The season starts with a win

Well, it was a fraught old day as we took on a large share of the organisation of this event and also fielded six teams. But somehow we got through it – even if half our men’s C team did all have to go off together to get a run after a mix-up on stage 2. We have a few ideas for improved organisation next time – but while we were conscious of the glitches here and there, a whole batch of emails from those representing the 19 clubs that entered and the 82 teams that ran outlined the enjoyment they’d gained from the event. Gordon Biscoe organised the officials, members of Hercules Wimbledon AC marshalled the course and Alan Mead took the entries and produced the results – so thanks to them for keeping this event in the calendar.

It was a gorgeous autumn day, writes Catherine Eastham, and the Belles ensured that it wasn’t only going to be the men who carried the club’s colours around the ups and downs of Wimbledon. Catherine Bryson, is showing continuously improving form and she took on the battle of the first stage with plenty of men around her providing ample support and competition. Catherine brought the Belles home in second place, just pipped by Ranelagh’s Cilla Pettersson, and clocked the third fastest time of the day behind Pettersson and Epsom’s Emily Nelson. She now owns our second fastest time over this relay course, just behind Angela Walker’s now defunct 2003 course record of 16.44.

Sarah Gailey knocked more than 2 minutes off her previous best with a powerful run that surprised even herself and brought the Belles home in the lead. Following her great form on the track this summer, it looks like it will be a good winter for Sarah too.

Syreeta Stracey took on leg 3 and although she dropped a few places due to a lack of fitness, her time was surprisingly good for someone who hasn’t trained or raced for a few years and we’re sure it won’t take Syreeta long to be back amongst the action! Tilly Heaton took on leg 4 despite not being at 100% fitness. Having just been diagnosed with anaemia, Tilly is hoping that a swift course of iron will soon help her get back to her old competitive self. A brave effort brought Tilly and the team back in a respectable 5th place, with Ranelagh the champions yet again.

The Belles weren’t a scoring team as Catherine Bryson does not have a Surrey qualification, but despite coming 5th, the Belles clocked their fastest team time over this course, at 73:27, almost a minute quicker than 2002’s previous best effort.

For the men, David Anderson led off for the Bs, checking on his fitness as he works himself back to good form. Approaching the finish some way down on Thames’ John McFarlane, he sped round the oval to hand over with a two second lead, setting the fastest time of the day. We take it he was happy enough as he slid open the window of the results hut to grin and ask whether he’d done enough to claim a “six-stage place!” Not too far behind was 'A' runner Padraic Buckley, giving our Surrey team a grand start, and he in turn was chased hard by Alex Bodin for the 'C's. Charlie Dickinson gave the M50s a good shot at medals by placing 18th overall and second in the age group behind an already dominant South London Harriers.

The non-scoring 'B' team took a lead of nearly a minute on the second leg as Simon Jones ran what was meant to be the first of two even paced consecutive stages. His next run was due to be for the 'C' team but as they failed to connect, his training session had to be adapted to include a further circuit without a race number. Mark Humphrey was disappointed with his run for the Surrey six but nevertheless, the team moved up to 4th spot.

Two veterans took charge of stage three – Knut Hegvold for the 'A's took us up to second and leaders in the Championship stakes – while two minutes up the road the only team ahead was our non-scoring outfit in the charge of Peter Fallenius. Should these two ever team up with others (and there are guys around just approaching or past 40) they could form the nucleus of a devastating veteran team.

In great marathon form, McFarlane took to the road again for his second stint in a Thames team (this time their 'B's) and he jumped up a couple of places to split the claret and gold vests. Will Cockerell felt his blast on the way through but was moving well enough himself and we headed the race for gold medals even though in third place with our own 'B's, in the form now of Jason Webb, still enjoying a one minute advantage over the field. With the completion of stage four the veteran races came to an end: Terry O’Neill was on a charge, just failing to move our M50s from bronze to silver.

For the penultimate stage in the senior men’s race young James Fairbourn found himself in the unenviable position of taking off in the lead with Hassan Raidi gunning for him. In one of the best runs of his short career James held up well but inevitably Hassan reeled him in and as they entered the track for the final takeover the 'A's went ahead and order was established. Richard Ward had been regaled with stories of how Herne Hill’s Dave Taylor had run down our leaders on the final lap in the past – but there was no such drama on this occasion and our sixth man did not have to extend himself to make sure of the win. Almost a minute behind, McFarlane was on his third outing – setting the third out of the five fastest times of the day – to bring the Thames non-scorers in ahead of our own.

Senior Men. 1 Belgrave (1st Surrey) 1:30:19; 2 Thames H&H (n/s) 1:31:15; 3 Belgrave 'B' (n/s) 1:32:02; 4 Ranelagh H (2nd Surrey) 1:33:26; 5 Hercules Wimbledon (3rd Surrey) 1:34:13; 6 South London (4th Surrey) 1:34:24.

A - P Buckley (6) 14:52, M Humphrey (4) 15:27; K Hegvold M40 (2) 15:36; W Cockerell (3) 15:14; H Raidi (1) 14:30; R Ward (1) 14:40.

B - David Anderson (1) 14:05; S Jones (1) 14:31; P Fallenius M40 (1) 15:16; J Webb (1) 15:52; J Fairbourn U20 (2) 16:05; W Lynch (3) 16:13.

C - A Bodin U20 (7) 14:54.

Fastest: David Anderson 14:05; J McFarlane (Thames H&H) 14:07; J McFarlane (Thames H&H) 14:19; J Hamblen (Walton) 14:23; J McFarlane (Thames H&H) 14:24.

M40. 1 South London (1st Surrey) 1:03:00; 2 South London 'B' 1:06:25; 3 Ranelagh (2nd Surrey) 1:06:47; 4 Thames H&H (n/s) 1:07:06; 5 Herne Hill (3rd Surrey) 1:08:36; 9 Belgrave 1:15:45.

S Zealey (8) 16:52; L Rehn (8) 19:09; H Corbett (10) 18:57; D McMillan M50 (9) 20:47.

Fastest: V Maughn (Herne Hill) 15:20; R Marriott (South London) 15:22; C Phelan (South Lonson) 15:36.

M50. 1 South London 1:08:06; 2 Reigate Priory 1:09:05; 3 Belgrave 1:09:08.

C Dickinson (2) 16:19; M Nouch (3) 17:52; Don Anderson (3) 17:57; T O'Neill (3) 17:00.

Fastest: B Attwell (South London) 15:52; C Dickinson (Belgrave) 16:19; K Archer (Reigate Priory) 16:31.

Senior Women. 1 Ranelagh H 1:10:44; 2 Wimbledon Windmilers 1:11:43; 3 Herne Hill 1:12:12; 5 Belgrave 1:13:27.

C Bryson (2) 16:55; S Gailey (1) 17:48; S Stracey (4) 19:44; M Heaton (5) 19:00.

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