Written by Liz Richardson   

The opening races of the new season took place at Wimbledon Common in warm sunny conditions on 13 th October 2018. Our ladies enjoyed a dry and undulating course over 6.9 kilometres, a little longer than the usual distance for the first race.

Despite some long-term injuries affecting several of the ladies team, it was pleasing to have a squad of 5 on the start line. A close battle between our veteran team members saw Liz Richardson, continuing her return to former fitness, lead the team home in 75 th place (34:08). Following closely behind was Nicky Atkins in 78 th place (34:36). A little further back Nicki Murphy raced well after recovering from breaking her foot a few months ago to finish with a time of 36 minutes 10 for 104 th place.

A close battle between our senior ladies saw another exciting finish - with Jo Murphy, returning to< racing after starting her family, finishing in 38:29 (140 th place) just ahead of Harriet Lester in 38:37 (143 rd place). In a seemingly ever-growing field of 239 Division 2 athletes, the team finished in 16 th place out of 22 teams and look forward to improving their position in the league over the season.