"Sweatshop" Surrey Cross Country League Race 2, Wimbledon Common

Better ... and a glimpse back to 1998

There used to be a time when a team could win a Surrey League race with a score of somewhere around 250 and anything less than 200 was exceptional. Nowadays, with Herne Hill Harriers and Thames Hare & Hounds locked in a deadly embrace, trying to annihilate each other in our local league, they monopolise the top thirty places and on this occasion both scored less than 140. It was Thames that just had the advantage, as they did in match one, but there are only seven points between them.

This was a much better performance by the Bels. We just had the measure of "HW", placing 3rd on the day and moving up to 4th overall (from seventh!) - and that was without the assistance of Australian race winner Russell Dessaix-Chin who still has two weeks to go before his two months residence is completed and he is eligible to score for us. Russell made his intentions obvious from the start. He was clear of the chasing pack after 100 metres and had stretched his lead to about a minute by the end. Next week he heads up to Gateshead for a real test in the McCain's UK Cross Challenge.

Six-stage Relay hero Neil Speaight made a very welcome appearance to place 4th, scoring 3rd, and it was great to receive James Fairbourn, Tom Ellacott and Mike Trees back into the "ten" after they have been sidelined for some time. It was Kevin Gadd's first outing for the Bels.; his 42nd place after coming off "nights" was a good start and having sampled the après-race lemon drizzle cake vows he'll be back.

The last time we ran on this Hercules Wimbledon course was November 1998 and some of the names from those days stir the memory. Larry Matthews (Thames) was the winner with Stuart Major (South London) 3rd. Stu' still excels in 2008 - placing 6th. Scoring Belgravians included Clive Gilby, Rob McHarg, Lee Hurst, Ray Foley, Paul Coughlan, our under-20 Captain Kevin Quinn ... and Will Cockerell, our only survivor from that race a decade ago. Will was 75th then and after ten years of occupying a slot mostly in the teens and twenties, was a good 17th this time in spite of suffering from a cold. In those far off days, Thames and Belgrave were fighting for supremacy, Aldershot still contested the Surrey League, Borough of Hounslow AC and Boxhill Runners flourished, and Hercules Wimbledon were just about to spend some time in the lower reaches of the league.

Men. 1 R Dessaix-Chin (Belgrave n/s) 26:01; 2 J McMullen (Thames H&H) 26:57; 3 P Sly (Thames H&H) 27:05; 4 N Speaight 27:14; 18 W Cockerell 28:27; 40 T Ellacott 29:15; 42 K Gadd 29:21; 47 J Fairbourn 29:39; 50 T Weeks 29:49; 52 M Trees M45 29:52; 58 K Hegvold M45 30:16; 71 M Byansi 30:49; 109 J Webb 32:22; 110 R Norville 32:23; 129 M Humphrey 33:31; 130 T O'Neill M50 33:32; 152 M Taylor M45 35:19; 160 P Marsh M50 36:13; 171 P Cross M50 37:21.

Teams: 1 Thames H&H 132; 2 Herne Hill H 137; 3 Belgrave H 393; 4 Hercules Wimbledon AC 398; 5 South London H 541; 6 Ranelagh H 588; 7 Reigate Priory AC 588; 8 Dorking & Mole Valley AC 641; 9 Stragglers 677.

After two matches: 1 Thames H&H 306; 2 Herne Hill H 313; 3 Hercules Wimbledon AC 895; 4 Belgrave H 902; 5 South London H 950; 6 Ranelagh H 969; 7 Stragglers 1185; 8 Reigate Priory AC 1306; 9 Dorking & Mole Valley AC 1364.

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