Surrey Cross-Country League Fixture 3 – Mitcham Common – Saturday 10th January 2026. Words: Mark Tennyson, Photos: James Harvey & Adrien Royer.
Guildford & Godalming’s Senior Women moved into third place in Division 1 of the Surrey League after a very impressive result at Mitcham Common. At fixture 2 at Beckenham last November the G’s ladies moved onto the heels of both Kent AC & Hercules Wimbledon with a third place finish. A repeat of third position – this time with a better points total – catapulted the G’s into third spot, ahead of these two rival clubs.
Senior Women (Team – 3rd)
Suzie Monk led Guildford’s women to an excellent third place finish at the weekend. Suzie in 5th and Evie Warren in 8th were the G’s first two scorers. This was a reverse of last week’s positions for these two, when Evie (3rd) was first home for the team at the Surrey XC Championships with Suzie (4th) in next. That was on a testing two-lap 8km ‘hilly’ course at Denbies Vineyard, Dorking, compared to a ‘flatter’ three-lap 8km course at Mitcham, more to Suzie’s liking.
Inform Ellie Bull (15th) was next in, before Katie Grinyer(19th) made it four home in the top 20 for the G’s. A very strong run from Jilly Raw (w40-5) completed the five required to close the ‘A’ team. This was on the back of Jilly’sfine performance last week at Denbies, finishing 21st overall and only one place from a Surrey team medal.
Lucy Jones (99th) & Isabel Wolfenden (102nd) were next in for the G’s either side of the top 100. Michelle Oldham, Laura Hales (w55-3) and Susanna Harrison (w55-2) closed the ‘B’ with Jackie White in reserve.
After three fixtures the women are third out of the fifteen teams with a comfortable margin of 53 points on fourth placed Kent AC, with only one fixture remaining.
Suzie Monk is 4th in the overall leading individuals, with Isabel Wolfenden (u20-3) and Laura Hales (w55-2) and Susanna Harrison (w55-3) in the age graded tables.
Senior Men (Team – 7th)
It was a tougher day for the G’s Senior Men, who battled hard for a seventh place finish to maintain their mid-table sixth position in the league. This was a very solid performance from the squad as they were missing eight of their runners who had scored in one or both of the previous two fixtures. Tom Foster (16th) once again led the team home, followed by John Sanderson (27th), Ed Brewer (58th), Daniel Wallis (67th), Andrew Welch (68th), Nick Lightfoot (69th), Colin High (82nd), Matt Houchell (84th) on his debut, Jake Bowles (91st) and Callum Job (102nd) completing the ‘A’ team.
It was a welcome return for Daniel Wallis who last season finished within the first three positions for the G’s at the first three fixtures. Andrew Welch placed well for second in the m40 category and it was a fabulous result for Matt Houchell on his Surrey league cross-country debut.
The next ten home contributed to a sixth place finish for the ‘B’ team – Will Ford, Charlie Pickett, Jacob Plummer, Alex Friscia, Louis Bell, Ian Acreman (m50-3), Nick Tearle, Matthew Reeves, Terry Booth (m55-1) and Roger Barr were the ten.
A further fourteen G’s raced with Lee Lintern missing a ‘B’ team slot by just one second. Mark Tennyson (m60-2) was next, then Kit Hawtin, Guy Holcroft (m55-2), Ethan Kendall, Phil Purves, Mo Ansari, Phil Pryke (m55-3), Matt Cartailler, Robin Boon, Phil Curl, Charlie Alger, Andrew Flanagan and Mike Mayers.
Tom Foster is fifth in the overall leading individuals and also second in the m35’s. Tom is now on a streak of twenty-seven consecutive ‘A’ team scores and will make this twenty-eight if he participates at next month’s final fixture. The G’s are currently on their longest ever streak of seven consecutive seasons (eight including the 2020-21 season lost to the covid pandemic) in Division One and Tom has scored in every match.
In the age graded tables the G’s dominate the m55 categorywith four of the top five – Mark Tennyson (m55-1), Terry Booth (m55-2), Guy Holcroft (m55-4) and Phil Pryke (m55-4).
The curtain will close on the 2025-26 league cross-country season on Wimbledon Common on Saturday 7th February 2026.
Before then the G’s will descend on Beckenham Place Park on 24th January 2026 for the South of England (‘The Southern’) cross-country championships.
