Good afternoon Harriers,
While the brilliant Harrier women were finishing runner-up team in the Kent League at Swanley, a splinter squad of five seasoned Harriers found success of a more holistic nature in the mud, wind and rain of the Surrey Hills, at the South of the Thames 5-mile Team race, which unfolded at West Horsley Place, near Leatherhead.
The race started and finished in front of the 15th-century West Horsley Place manor house, which is where the BBC filmed the Ghosts TV series. Going back, King Henry VIII gifted this estate to his cousin, Henry Courtenay, in 1533, and the notoriously gluttonous king was once served a 35-course feast here. The extravagance didn’t do Courtenay much good, as the king had him beheaded two years later.
There were no beheadings on Saturday, although as the 5-mile race began, a strong gust from Storm Bert hammered the charging field head-on, and more than one cap took swift flight back over the crowd, including one belonging to our own Marcus Bird.
A select squad of Robin Barwick, Marcus, George Harris, Colin Ricketts and Duncan Ralph represented the club with honour, sweat and perseverance, and our all-vets line-up held our own against some of the fastest senior men and women in the south east, although I can’t quite locate the team results right now… (whisper it: 24th from 24 men’s teams 😅). Congratulations to winners Belgrave Harriers, whose first-four-to-score finished 1-2-3-7, beating Kent AC into second place. Belgrave also beat Kent AC in the women’s race.
Belgrave’s Mack Downey won in 26:33. First woman was Georgie Bruinvels from Aldershot, Farnham & District (30:20). The first three Harriers were Robin (114th, 36:18, 11th M50), George (147th, 39:33) and Colin (166th, 41:18, 16th M60).
There was a little Christmas craft market in a marquee near the start, which we used as a windbreak before and after the race, and if the SOTT organisers had had the foresight to rank teams by their expenditure at the Silent Pool gin stand, then we would have won.
As it was, Marcus was reunited with his cap after the race and so we returned home happy, muddy and all kit accounted for.
Robin
