Surrey Women's CC League, Division One, Race 2, Lightwater

Belles open up the gap

With the Belles fielding the same team plus extras that won XC1 at Epsom just a few weeks before there was an air of confidence and excitement in the team. Could this be a double win and a clear signal to the competition that the Belles were battling to regain the Surrey League title?

The race started well with Chrissie, Catherine and Sarah all up in the top 15 on the first short lap of the course. Naomi Warner and a couple of the Herne Hill girls had decided to make a quick start of the race, but Chrissie and co., weren't too far behind. By the time the group had come through the start area the second time Naomi had dropped back considerably much to the spectators' surprise. It turned out that both Naomi and Chrissie had taken a wrong turn at the end of lap one and whilst Chrissie managed to get back on track pretty quickly poor Naomi had not been so lucky.

Not one to let a little difficulty put her off Chrissie took advantage of the situation and began to make a clean break. Catherine Bryson was more cautious and there was a steady gap between her and Chrissie which was filled by 3 or 4 rapidly tiring athletes. By the time the 3rd lap was coming to an end and Chrissie headed round the final bend in the lead, Catherine had also had a storming breakthrough and sprinted home to provide the Belles with their first 1-2 since this team manager's been around.

And then came Sarah Murphy following just 30 seconds behind - the Belles 3rd runner - followed by Vicky Clarke, whom we welcomed back to the team after a racing absence of some months. Tilly Heaton closed the Belles team in with all five coming home the top 20. An awesome result.

Whilst our competitors were still trying to finish 3 or 4 athletes, our 6th and 7th runners were coming home in 30th and 34th spots respectively. Erica Fogg was a welcome late addition to the squad and Sarah Gailey continued to show her aptitude for distance running.

Helen Smethurst, suffering from a cold, finished in 45th; Louise Cooper, still suffering from the Snowdonia Marathon, came home some places further back than usual in 83rd; and new non-scoring team member, Marketa Johnson, finished in 90th spot. 140 Division 1 runners finished.

In terms of team results, the Belles had a clear win, scoring just 50 points. Whereas we only had a few points advantage after Match 1, the gap had widened, with Stragglers and Thames both scoring 108 points, and injury-stricken Ranelagh only managing 4th with 134 points.

Overall in the league, this places the Belles a clear first ahead of Thames and Ranelagh.

There is no room for complacency though and the Belles need to ensure that 74 point margin isn't eroded over the next couple of fixtures.

In our own plate competition Chrissie Wellington is currently heading the table with a clean sweep of 40 points so far. Catherine Bryson and Sarah Murphy have both scored a 2nd and 3rd place to give them both 37 points. However, with 4 races still to go in the plate, this could all change.

Megan Evans had some company in the U15 race for once as Krystal Galley (Junior’s daughter) made a welcome appearance for the team. Considering this was her first cross country outing she made good ground, working with Megan over the first lap and then making a break to move ahead, finishing 9th to Megan’s 10th position. Both girls have only moved up to this age group this year and were battling girls a couple of years older and stronger. Only one U17 girl finished ahead of this dynamic pair. If we could just attract a few more then we could turn out a reasonably strong squad in this age group.

Megan and Krystal are
pictured right by Junior Galley.

Senior Women: 1 C Wellington 23:40; 2 C Bryson 23:48; 3 F Clarke (Reigate) 23:51; 11 S Murphy 24:23; 16 V Clarke 25:16; 20 M Heaton 25:40; 30 E Fogg 26:22; 34 S Gailey 26:36; 45 H Smethurst W40 27:25; 83 L Cooper 30:16; 90 n/s M Johnson 30:28; 140 finished.

Teams: 1 Belgrave H 50; =2 Stragglers AC and Thames H&H 108; 4 Ranelagh H 134; 5 Herne Hill H 150; 6 South London H 157; 7 West 4 160; 8 Wimbledon W 162; 10 Belgrave 'B' 237.

Overall: 1 Belgrave H 112; 2 Thames H&H 186; 3 Ranelagh H 201; 4

Under 15: 1 I Brinsden (E&E) 16:12; 2 G Shephard (E&E) 16:15; 3 A Tracy (G&G) 16:36; 9 K Galley 17:26; 10 M Evans 17:29.

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