Women's Surrey Cross Country League, Division 2, Match 1, Lightwater
Slam Dunk
Will Cockerell writes:- Would the Belles finally get their metres ticking for 2011-12 at the fourth time of asking? Well, after losing three aces in the days leading up to the race, the TM was starting to feel queasy at twenty to 12 when he had four athletes to offer the race; one short yet again. Yes, he also had a text from Hester to say she was in line for the toilets at the leisure centre, but that hardly made him feel better - those lines can take days to go down! But by quarter to, Hester was at base, and Amy arrived too, innocently enquiring as to the locality of the toilets. She was pointed to a nearby forest as far from the leisure centre as possible. Finally - the Belles were back in business.
'You say you wanna' revolution?' asked John Lennon 43 Octobers ago. Well, this could just be the start of one as this sextet turned in a superb performance as they look to bounce straight back to Division 1. In their junior days, Catherine and Nelleke were New England's no. 1 cross-country runner, and Australia's no. 1 sprinter, and they endured a wicked duel all the way round here, with CB prevailing by 12 ticks. Tilly celebrated her 10th anniversary as a Belle with a vintage turn, and then hared off to a wedding in Hampton - classy chick.
Hester was the day's revelation, as she bounded out of the traps like a startled spaniel, and proceeded to hold her nerve and position to the finish; a euphoric debut indeed; and our third Surrey league debutante followed hot on her heels, as the hero of last Autumn's relays, Amy, showed she is still a runner who commands respect. And finally, not far back in the critical role of 'sweeper', should any of the fab five get into the trouble - or dnf - we had Vicki as their guardian, who like Tilly has now served 10 winters at the Belgrave coalface.
In the team stakes we took the honours by a healthy 92 points over Walton, who boast three very strong runners so mustn't be treated lightly. And it's interesting to note that we closed in our five before Division 1 winners Hercules closed in theirs. Next up the road show heads 130 miles north to see where our squad lie in the national road running stakes.
Women 6.44k. 1 E Alden (Epsom &E) 24:19; 5 C Bryson 25:08; 6 N Quispel 25:20; 7 M Heaton 26:10; 12 H Barsham-Rolfe 26:59; 14 A Linford 27:06; 33 V Goodwin 28:53. 136 finished.
Teams: 1 Belgrave H 44; 2 Walton 136; 3 Striders of Croydon 151; 4 Runnymede 165; 5 Elmbridge 188. 19 teams closed in.
U13. 18 A Harray 14:14.
U15. 25 F Skinner 20:45.
Restored from the club's earlier website, belgraveharriers.com, and published here as originally written.