Women's South of the Thames CC Championship, Wimbledon Common

Brilliant Belles Blitz The Field - Paskar Retains His Title

Co-captain Jojo Rhodes reports: A strong team of ladies lined up on a rainy and overcast Winter Solstice day, hopeful of building on the team victory in the South of Thames 5 miles last month. The course sounded straightforward: three equal laps following the paths of Wimbledon Common with the famous climb to the windmill to savour; but the rain and mud made the going tough. As the runners came through the start/finish to complete lap one it was clear the Belles were taking the conditions in their stride and very much in pole position, ably led by Sammi – co-captain and star marathon runner.

Drama at the close of the second lap, – a runaway horse no less! scattering runners to right and left. Fortunately it veered onto another path away from the action with no damage done except for a degree of collective anxiety amongst the nearby spectators. Sam was still running strongly and heading for the top three, followed by the fearsome duo of Mel and Zoe D, focused on the job in hand. Next up was Keri, nursing a sore knee but determinedly battling on. Chasing hard was Zoe S, looking serene over the mud. Hester, another marathon specialist, looked at home and she was closely followed by debutante Abbie.

A great final lap from Sammi meant she was rewarded with a silver medal. Despite a professed dislike of cross-country it was a superb performance. Mel and Zoe D posted 6th and 7th, and rounding the final corner Mel had enough in hand to give a big smile and just three seconds behind yet another assured run from Zoe. So 3 in the top 7, three more needed...

Keri came in 15th gritting her teeth through the pain, and Zoe S, on low weekly mileage, finished 22nd - so much more to come from her anon. Hester performed her duties of sixth scorer with distinction, followed in 31st by Abbie – we look forward to many more Belles outings from her! Some quick mathematics from Charlie showed a resounding team victory, and all the signs are good for the Belles looking ahead to the New Year.

And while all this was going on Paskar Owor was majestic. A bunch of Kentish men surrounded him early on - Dartford, Tonbridge and Kent AC colours all being prominent - but soon it was just Johnny Gilbert and our man knocking six bells out of each other. By the start of the final lap Paskar had gained a dozen metres and appeared supremely confident while Gilbert looked as if he could no longer retaliate; and so it proved. Team medals were blown away when we lost three or four men before the race through heavy colds and a couple more through injury; but it was a successful day as this home promotion went without a hitch and the start/finish crew even managed to spend 30 minutes in The Fox & Grapes before the start.

Merry Christmas Everyone!

Men 1 P Owor (Belgrave) 42:02; 2 J Gilbert (Kent) 42:28; 3 H Pearce (Tonbridge) 43:07; ... 28 W Cockerell M40 46:37; 35 R Maddams 47:10; 67 K Hegvold 1-M50 50:23; 86 M Young 51:52; 88 R Norville 52:09; 90 F Logan 52:16; 103 A Luce M40 53:55; 189 finished.

Teams: (6 to score) 1 Tonbridge AC 97; 2 Kent AC 106; 3 Herne Hill H 128; 4 Hercules Wimbledon AC 181; 5 Aldershot F&D AC 197; ... 7 Belgrave H 305; ... 22 teams closed in.

Women 1 D McDermott (Tonbridge) 50:15; 2 S Amend (Belgrave) 52:23; 3 C Day (Thames H&H) 52:45; ... 6 M Wilkins 53:33; 7 Z Doyle 53:33; 15 K Mackenzie 56:29; 22 Z Smith 59:34; 28 H Barsham-Rolfe 60:29; 31 A Friday 61:32. 68 finished.

Teams: (6 to score) 1 Belgrave H 80; 2 Tonbridge AC 155; 3 Dulwich R 156; 4 Thames H&H 161; 5 South London H 167.

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