"Sweatshop" Surrey CC League Division One, Race 3, Newlands Corner nr Guildford

Fourth on the Surrey Hills - but there's magic in the air

Newlands Corner is wonderful place for a picnic - in June - but it's no place for a tea-party in mid-winter with the light failing and the wind and rain sweeping across the Surrey Hills from the Weald! The chalky soil was so slippery that even the team manager had to decide what length spikes he was going to wear as he handed out soggy numbers.

Having received the call to run for England in an Under-23 international vs. Germany in three weeks time, Phil Wicks was in determined mood and looking forward to squaring up to the victor in the previous week's Surrey County Championships. Sure enough, with only 400 metres of the race gone, three men had already gained a 30 metre break - John McFarlane of Thames, Alistair Moses of Reigate and our own Phil.

After 14 minutes of running the three were still locked together with Surrey Champion McFarlane making the running and Phil tucked in close behind. Three minutes later, in the woods, it was equally tight but now the Belgrave man had inched ahead and was beginning to force the pace. Slowly he opened a gap and when the steep slippery climb was tackled for the second time he pressed on to increase his advantage - and it was all over. It was Phil's second league win of the series and he clearly heads the individual competition and the race for our own Cross Country Plate - but the final match falls on the very weekend that he'll be in Germany.

A bout of winter colds had knocked Kevin Nash's training for six since his "Hog's Back" win but a promise to turn up to cheer the lads on turned into an offer to "jog round" - and before you could say "Nasher" we had an unexpected 8th scoring place. He was well pleased - as was veteran Mike Trees who spends as much time jetting to and from Japan as he does in England. Mike narrowly had the beating of The Skipper (wearing a hopelessly short set of spikes) and suddenly, with news of others returning to training or featuring highly in other races, one feels the winter has been put behind us and the AAA 10km, the "National," the half marathon and the Relays are beginning to figure in our conversations again.

A special welcome to two newcomers in the cross country squad: eighteen year-old James Fairbourn eased into the scoring ten - and one who didn't score but donned a Belgrave shirt for the pleasure of running across the Surrey turf was International Race Walker Darrell Stone.

Once again Tom Barry and Joseph Taylor-Holland made their presence felt in the younger age-groups. Tom placed 3rd in the U17 category while Joseph again had a powerful finish to overtake rivals as the funnel was reached.

Senior Men's 8 km. 1 P Wicks 25:42; 2 A Moses (Reigate Priory) 25:55; 3 J McFarlane (Thames H&H) 26:05; 8 K Nash 27:05; 20 M Trees M40 28:07; 21 W Cockerell 28:11; 41 T Weeks 29:27; 44 W Lynch 29:33; 45 E Lyne 29:37; 57 L Greatorex 30:24; 59 D Stone n/s 30:27; 78 J Fairbourn U20 31:52; 87 T O'Neill M50 32:53; 114 M Taylor M40 36:35; 119 L Rehn M40 38:17; 123 P Beaumont M40 39:26; 130 finished.

Teams: 1 Herne Hill H 170; 2 Thames H&H 250; 3 South London H 348; 4 Belgrave H 372; 5 Reigate Priory 439; 6 Guildford & Godalming AC 482; Kingston & Poly H 562; 8 Walton AC 618.

League positions: 1 Herne Hill H 533; 2 Thames H&H 687; 3 Belgrave H 1008; 4 South London H 1103; 5 Guildford &G 1418; 6 Reigate Priory AC 1484; 7 Kingston & Poly H 1656; 8 Walton AC 1831.

U17M 1 P Humphrey (South London H) 15:53; 2 D Altnorff (South London H) 16:08; 3 T Barry (Belgrave) 16:17.

U13B 1 J Puttock (Guildford & Godalming AC) 17:28; 2 S Honey (South London H) 17:55; 5 J Taylor-Holland (Belgrave H) 19:47.

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