Surrey Women's CC League, Division One Race 1, Epsom Downs
It's close - but Belles win League opener
Although team managers don't generally like surprises, the ones at Epsom Downs on Saturday weren't just good, they were very good. Having thought the team may be a little low on numbers due to various illnesses and injuries we ended up with a strong squad of eight for the first fixture of the season. Sadly there were no youngsters though, as Megan Evans had been taken ill the night before.
New team member Chrissie Wellington kept her running talent hidden to begin with as she'd never tackled a cross country race before and was doing it to build strength for her triathlon races. Not to worry advised the team manager, it's a 2 lap course, take it easy on the 1st lap and then if you're feeling strong on the 2nd, up the tempo. Hmmm, how foolish did the TM feel when she flew past in 3rd place after the first lap looking very comfortable and then managed to pick off the exceedingly talented Emily Nelson of Epsom & Ewell towards the end of the final lap to finish in 2nd place behind Lucy Hassell. Only after did we discover that she'd recently won the World Triathlon Age Group Champs (for all age groups!). Welcome to the team Chrissie, and we're looking forward to seeing more of you over the cross country.
But it wasn't a one person team effort, and following close behind in 8th place was the ever-present Sarah Murphy. Despite still suffering with knee problems this was another outstanding run from Sarah and she was closely followed by our youngest team member, Catherine Bryson, just outside the top 10, in 11th spot.
Tilly Heaton showed she was returning to her previous form with a top 20 finish (19th) and Erica Fogg closed in the team in 22nd place, having driven up from Southampton that morning. A quick tally of the other teams showed that the Belles had taken a good lead ahead of Thames and Ranelagh, although when the final results were published it proved to be a lot closer than originally perceived, with Ranelagh only 5 points behind.
Although a complete B team wasn't fielded, Sarah Gailey continued her ongoing improvement over the longer distances, and Helen Smethurst bravely tackled the cross country despite only just recovering from a foot injury to finish a solid 41st. Louise Cooper, more at home over longer distances still, managed to close in for the Belles in 54th place. It's going to be tough to maintain our lead in the league, but with a number of reliably strong team members absent but planning to be around in the next few fixtures, it's possible that we could wrest the title back from Ranelagh again.
1 L Hassell (Thames H&H) 18:14; 2 C Wellington (Belgrave) 19:16; 3 E Nelson (Epsom & E) 19:23; 8 S Murphy 19:42; 11 C Bryson 20:13; 19 M Heaton 20:54; 22 E Fogg 21:04; 39 S Gailey 22:02; 41 H Smethurst W40 22:07; 54 L Cooper 22:45.
Teams: 1 Belgrave H 62; 2 Ranelagh H 67; 3 Thames H&H 78; 4 Stragglers 165; 5 Herne Hill H 166; 6 Wimbledon Windmilers 167; 7 South London H 209; 8 Epsom & E 215; ... 19 Belgrave H 'B' 467; 36 teams.
Restored from the club's earlier website, belgraveharriers.com, and published here as originally written.