Belgrave Women's Road and Country review of the season, 2012-2013

By Will Cockerell

After the numerous excitement and varied glories of 2011-12, we came into this term with high expectations, and little did we know that the season would be underpinned by one of the greatest signings in our history.

We started off with an enjoyable day at the Surrey relays where Genia, Alison, Rieko and Catherine propelled us to do a tidy 5th; but then a week later: fireworks! On a glorious Indian summer's day we completed no fewer than three teams at the SEAA 6 stage road relay and our A team came away with the most thrilling of bronze medals as Runa Bostad, sister of Anne Hegvold, took us onto the podium inside the last 100 yards, with an almighty kick from around a quarter of a mile out. Only Aldershot had the better of us, with their B team 13 seconds away in silver. It was also the day that we unleashed the best kept secret in town on the UK club athletics sisterhood, in the form of Letitia 'Tish' Jones. Tish is well-known on the trail-running and adventure racing scene but was little heard of in the hard and fast world of club athletics. As the season progressed, most everyone that mattered knew enough to watch and learn.

Next up, we bounced from a bronze to a gold as we won a dramatic race at the SEAA cross-country relay. A gnarly trio of SA, Fee and Anne saw us home in a tense battle with London Heathside. Bouquets to Anne for stepping in at the last moment when it appeared we'd be a sandwich short of a picnic.

The following week saw a gung-ho quartet (make that five with Zoe's bump) take the long journey to Clumber Park, nr. Worksop for the relocated National 4 stage road relay. A tough nut to crack, but we made a good fist of it with our best return since 2005 and 4th best in our history - 17th. With the races coming thick and fast it was then a welcome return to the top flight of the Surrey League, where an excellent squad of ten rocketed straight in at number 2 in the charts. Tish easily took the win on debut (behind a guest), and the only wrinkle was that Thames grabbed a dangerous 51 point lead on us at the top.

We narrowly missed constructing a trio for a debut romp at the National cross-country relay - next year hopefully - and so were back in action at the South of the Thames 5m team race. More individual gold for Tish, while Jojo carded a splendid 6th to flag up her potential. Back to the Surrey League, and in an epic race at Nonsuch Park we were delighted to take the spoils. Tish outkicked Ruth Clifton and we packed beautifully to edge out a startling effort from W4, while Thames had to settle for 3rd. We were back in league contention.

We saw out a momentous 2012 with a repeat dose of bronze at the harsh environs of the South of the Thames Champs. A whopping six are needed to score, over 12k. But we managed it, despite losing two of our biggest guns in the days leading-up. But how heart-warming to see engine-roomers like Hester and Laura waltzing off into the sunset with hardware.

Round three of the Surrey League saw another incredibly hard-fought race as a mere 4 points separated the Belles, Herne Hill and Thames, with Dulwich out in front. We were 'only' 38 points off the top now, but we decided with several races clashing with the last fixture that we'd let the athletes choose the competition which best suited their needs on the day. Even if we'd cracked the whip, the league would still have remained just out of reach. This though meant we welcomed new faces into the squad, and ended up a laudable third in the league.

We had 14 strong ladies champing at the bit for the Southern Cross where we won a momentous bronze last year, and hoped for even better here. It was to our great chagrin that the race was cancelled due to the white stuff at vastly premature notice, and only three of the girls could make the rescheduled event, a week before the National. Still, we called up three super-subs, and placed a hard-fought 6th.

It was a long slog up to Sunderland for the National, and the race was a beast - freezing cold, deep mud and recent heavy snowfall. None of which bothered Tish who placed a momentous 17th. The rest fought so hard, and 6th place is easily the best in our history, and there's much potential to kick on from there. Onto the roads! Well, road, as the Southern 6 stage also got cancelled due to snow and ice - what a winter. But it meant the race became part of the National where we weren't quite at our merry best, but still ended up a mere 12 seconds off Southern bronze. 13th in 'the big one' was a tad short of expectation, such are our lofty ideals, but hardly shabby.

We are delighted to report however, that we are national champions at both the Half and full marathon. At Reading we boasted Tish, Sam and the welcome return of an old fave in Juliette Clark. Jules scored for us the last time we medalled in the National Half champs back in 2002, and here she was anchoring us home 11 years later. At the London Marathon our classic golden trio of last year: Sam, Fee and Lou were back for more, but this time all carrying niggles. Heroines they are, this only spurred them on, and 2012's cumulative 8:38:26 became 8:38:36 in 2013. Incredible consistency, and our title of 'Queens of the Marathon' carries over for another year.

So there it is, plenty of near misses, thrill, spills and what ifs, but four more entries to the club honours board, and every chance of more to come in 2013-14. Thanks and congrats to all who played their part. For in-depth detail and results is available in the relevant section on the website, but meanwhile:

Here is a summary of the season's results (with 2011-12's result in brackets.)

Surrey road relay:

5th (4th [n/s])

Southern 4 stage relay:

3rd (DNS)

SEAA XC relay:

Champions (2nd [n/s])

Surrey League 1:

2nd (1st Div 2)

National 4 stage relay:

17th (25th)

South of the Thames 5m:

6th (DNS)

Surrey League 2:

1st (1st Div 2)

South of the Thames Champs:

3rd (3rd)

Surrey League 3:

2nd (2nd Div 2)

SEAA cross-country champs:

6th (3rd)

Surrey League 4:

7th - overall 3rd in Div 1 (3rd - Division 2 winners)

National cross-country champs:

6th (16th)

Reading Half Marathon & EA Champs:

Champions (-)

SEAA 6 stage relay:

4th (12th)

National 6 stage relay:

13th (11th)

London Marathon:

Champions (Champions)

Belles 2012-13 appearances (2011-12 appearances in brackets)

Fee Maycock

13 (10)

Tish Jones

12 (-)

Samantha Amend

9 (7)

Jojo Rhodes

8 (-)

Laura D'Albey

7 (-)

Vicki Goodwin

6 (9)

Hester Barsham-Rolfe

5 (6)

Louise Blizzard

4 (2)

Alison Heydenrych

4 (-)

Anne Hegvold

3 (5)

Maisie-Rose Byrne

3 (-)

Genia Marek

3 (-)

Zoe Smith

3 (-)

Rose O'Brien

3 (-)

Rieko Trees

2 (5)

Mary Grace Spalton

2 (3)

Catherine Bryson

2 (3)

Helen White

2 (-)

Petra Kasperova

2 (-)

Holly Gathercole

2 (-)

Samantha McClary

1 (-)

Tilly Heaton

1 (9)

Maureen Noel

1 (5)

Francoise De Smet

1 (1)

Juliette Clark

1 (-)

Runa Bostad

1 (-)

Sally Underhill

1 (-)

Liz Lucas

1 (-)

28 athletes (up from 22); Total runs 103 (up from 87)

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