Women's ECCA English CC Champs., Parliament Hill

Assault on Top 10 a No, but not a Never

Will Cockerell writes:- Whereas all our Christmases came at once at the Southern, with a dream team and a freak mathematical parlay giving us that epic bronze, we had to get our heads down and grind out respectability here. Out of 22 entered runners we had every hope of fielding at least a dozen starters here and a top 8 place, but our injury list is still pushing on for double figures, several key personnel were away, and Smurph made the long journey down from Cheshire, but alas she couldn't fool nature and was unable to shake off the remnants of flu.

However, it was still seven eager Belles on hand to enjoy the Heath at it most glorious - and benign - and a huge field of 650. Ten years on from the 'Apocalypse Now' that was Bristol and Anne Hegvold's epic 32nd, where she was our only finisher, she was back anchoring us here, with a clinical run.

Tilly was on hand to play yet another perfect piece of middle-order steadiness, running most of the first 10 minutes with Anne, before slowly drifting up through the pack. It was great to welcome MGS back into the fold - a difficult chick to pin down since making her club debut in the pressure cauldron that was Milton Keynes last year. But what a welcome she gave us, cresting the beastly initial climb inside the top 50. A tad frisky perhaps, but this ultra-marathoner wasn't going to buckle too badly over a trifling 8k, and kept a resounding run from Fee in sight. Fee was hotter here than at the Southern, and after a cautious start was bearing down on the top 100 by the end, to sign her off her magnificent debut XC season for the Belles with a flourish.

With expert back-up from Hester, Rieko and Maureen, we had found our level, sweet 16th. Yes, we craved more a fortnight ago but just look at the calibre who couldn't help us here: Amend, Blizzard, Bryson, Cole, Dagne, Murphy, Quispel, Smith - at least four of those have donned the England vest, and we have high hopes that we shall be benefitting from many of them when we hit the roads of Milton Keynes, Sutton Park and of course the London Marathon in the weeks to come. A text later from Mary Grace summed up the mood of this happy tribe: "Super experience! Definite 2013 mgx".

Good running came from Alice Harray, still eleven years old but nevertheless beating over one third of the Under 13 Girls' field.

Women. 1 G Steel (Charnwood) 27:06; 2 S Twell (Aldershot) 27:09; 3 S Samuels (Sale) 27:09; 118 F Maycock 32:57; 129 MG Spalton 33:11; 157 M Heaton 33:58; 187 A Hegvold 34:41; 302 H Barsham-Rolfe 37:11; 365 R Trees 38:37; 388 M Noel 39:03. 650 finished.

Teams: 1 Hallamshire 156; 2 Bristol &W 159; 3 Shaftesbury Barnet 181; ...16 Belgrave H 591; 73 teams closed in.

U13 Girls. 1 S Sinha (Cambridge H) 11:40; 212 A Harray 14:13; 368 finished.

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