We wanted to go up in style and despite having a small select team – go up in style we did. Although for earlier fixtures we had almost enough runners for two teams on this occasion we had only 12 runners. However, although the numbers may have been a bit low, the quality was undoubtedly there. Amply demonstrated by the fact that we had seven runners home in the first eleven – not surprisingly scoring that Reigate our chief rivals could not live with.

On another cold, crisp day the course round Esher Common was an interesting mix of testing hills and narrow pathways. The first home was John Gilbert,(1), second, though, making a surprise appearance ,Jermaine Mays (yes, X- Country loving Jermaine) ,(3) Jim Savage and then in fourth, Chris Greenwood. Although delighted to see Jermaine turning out, there was no doubt some of us were surprised to see him at the start. Rumour had it that he had thought the race was only 5k and on a flat course. Ken reported that Jermaine would just be doing a tempo run. This may have been the case, but of course Jermaine’s tempo runs are at a pace much quicker than your average runner could ever hope to manage. For the early part of the race Jermaine kept pace with John but when John put in his famous surges up the hills, it seemed as though Jermaine decided to run within himself. Afterwards he was heard to remark ‘ who sprints up hills’ the answer to his question was one we all knew, as we have witnessed, and been duly impressed by the way John does this.

Behind John and Jermaine, Chris Greenwood and Jim Savage ran most of the race together -Chris looked to have got away towards the end of the race only for his calf to start to give him a reaction that suggested he might be wise to back off. Consequently Jim cruised through to take third place. After Chris in fourth there were two Reigate runners, but then in seventh came the ever reliable Steve McGrory having a very solid run. For much of the race fellow countryman , Andrew Dunwoody, was hard on his heels. However, Andrew’s reserves were running dry towards the end of the race and he was passed by a several people on the last lap. Nevertheless ,it was a good run in his comeback. One of those who passed Andrew was Rich Munn who had to start slowly but worked his way impressively through the field to close in ninth (9). After Rich ,there was a bit of a gap to the close contest that had developed between Georg Quinn and Callum Fraser. George just won out , demonstrating what a bit of consistent training can do. Tenth scorer in (37) and sealing the award for top veteran for the series was Luke Armitage. So congratulations to Luke for heading the vets rankings and for being a good clubman and turning out for every race. Just behind Luke was youngster, Robbie Fraser in a race that augurs well for the rest of his season. Our final man home was Bernie Hutchinson showing that he is getting back on track just outside a hundred in (102).

The race and the series was really a story of achievement. Essentially we made it a clean sweep of things on Saturday. League winner’s , individual series winner, Chris Greenwood, then as mentioned, Luke Armitage, Vets winner, and under 20 winner for the series, George Quinn. (although obviously compliments go to George, it has to be said that it was a bit unfortunate that Su-Min Lee wasn’t able to turn out. He’d been leading under 20’s section but a family matter had unexpectedly meant he had to miss out on this race.) To conclude it was also good news that Said Gabo took the award for top under 15 in the league. Whilst the fields were small this shouldn’t detract from the fact that Said put in some good performances. He was joined in this race by his younger brother, Jemal, who also looks as though he has the makings of a good runner.

Finally, commiserations to Stuart Beaney. After his fine form of late he’d been looking forward to being part of the club’s triumph with another good run. Unfortunately a painful foot injury put paid to him being able to run. Let’s hope with a bit of rest and treatment he’s soon back on course.
So it has been successive promotions with the opposition nowhere near us. And whilst the runners who have contributed to this success should rightly be proud of the achievement, there can be no room for complacency. Division 1 will be tough and competitive. We know that Herne Hill in particular have strength in depth. For now, though, it is perhaps permissible to savour the moment of promotion and the league victory.

Andy G.