Women's Surrey Cross Country League, Division 1, Match 1, Lightwater
Lurgy, M25 and a Dreadful Baton Exchange Can't Fell Belles
Will Cockerell writes:-
[Indy and his father have boarded the airship]
Indiana Jones: 'Well, we made it!'
Professor Henry Jones: [looking out from behind his newspaper] 'When we are airborne, with Germany behind us, then I will share that sentiment!'
Well, we shared Indy's view three days before this season opener as a superb squad was assembled... but we'd have done well to be more cautious, as we then lost eight strong runners - five to illness, two to niggles, one on a break... Hang on, we were suddenly running out of ideas!
But not to worry. Fee has never missed a Surrey League in over two years with us, Tish was ever-game, and Zoe D has quickly become one of our 'bankers'. Add to that Jojo and new kid 'KeriMac', and we still had the quintessential quintet. Our sweepers were no slouches in Rose, Hester and Jodie.
To the start and no Jodie. It was noted that the gun came at 11:58 and 19 seconds. I do dislike it when starters do this. Runners are an idiosyncratic bunch and pre-race rituals are often planned to the second. Several runners were caught on the hop, and poor Jodie arrived plum on 12, but the field was two minutes away. The M25 had not been kind to her, but off she chased like a trooper. After the small 1k loop she was already catching runners, and now for the excruciating hilarity of our match manager Chas attempting to pass over her number. But the gap between paw and outstretched number was half a yard, and there it remained for 40 yards. One had visions of this wretched scene continuing for 400 yards, or even 4000. Jodie Favell slows down for nobody. Charlie dug deep and found a turn of speed he hadn't called upon in years and the exchange was finally complete.
There was nearly as much excitement up at the front as three tremendous runners in Cathy Ansell, T.A.J. and Bleasdale J, got acquainted. However, on the long descent toward the middle of the race, Jules decided to step it up, and showed that her training is moving in the right direction after a quiet year; this her first race since a 33:53 in Dublin six months ago. A gap of 25 seconds opened quite quickly, but Tish kept plugging away and kept things to under a minute by the close, whilst opening a 51 second gap on Ansell and 1:46 to fourth, Fi Clark, who won this fixture four times between 2008-2011.
A little further back was the splendid sight of Zoe and Fee having a ding-dong-battle-royale some half-dozen spots higher than expected. Fee is finding a real sharpness in her legs, as she focuses a little more on speed in her training. Best of luck in Frankfurt on Sunday. As for Zoe, three Belles outings and all zingers, what a find.
Right, who to settle the account? The ever-reliable co-skipper of course who turned an ankle just before the start, and toiled for much of the race, before finding hidden reserves and blasting through the field in the last 2k. And just ahead of her, another outstanding new find in Keri Mackenzie. It's the second Scot we've picked up this summer, and if Rowena runs with Keri's determination and talent, our message to both will be, "you'll do!"
Rose whackily led out the field for the first 250 which was fun to observe, while HBR kept it as solid as ever, and Jodie placed over 100 bodies behind her in the combined race. This all adds up to a fine opening league win; the first time we've done that since 2006 when the Iron Lady, Ms. Wellington, led us home. The margin over 2nd and 3rd is 49 and 52. A buffer yes, but "We made it?!" Not yet, Indy, not yet.
Eleven year-old Yasmin Marghini came up against some tough opposition in the under 13 race but did well to place 10th in a field that was 63 strong. Look for her to be among the first three in time to come.
1 J Bleasdale (Thames H&H) 21:04; 2 T Jones (Belgrave H) 22:00; 3 C Ansell (HHH) 22:51; 11 F Maycock 24:43; 12 Z Doyle 24:44; 18 K Mackenzie 25:39; 21 J Rhodes 25:49; 64 R O'Brien 28:20; 70 H Barsham-Rolfe 28:43; 128 J Favell 32:22. 163 runners.
Teams: 1 Belgrave H 64; 2 Dulwich R 113; 3 Herne Hill H 116; 4 Clapham C 126; 5 Thames H&H 151 ... 26 Belgrave B 608. 39 teams.
Under 17 Women & Under 15 Girls. 1 S Millard (HHH U15) 14:59; ... 57 M Skinner U15 21:20; 59 F Skinner U17 21:39.
Under 13 Girls. 1 E O'Shaughnessy (HHH) 12:10; ... 10 Y Marghini 13:28; 59 I Breslin 18:57; 61 P Pereira 17:11.
Restored from the club's earlier website, belgraveharriers.com, and published here as originally written.