104th Mob vs Blackheath

It’s hard to pinpoint the exact moment when this year’s mob match against Blackheath became the most important fixture, to date, of the 2024/2025 season.

Was it after the SLH mob in January, when David Wright raised the fact that Ranelagh stood a good chance of scoring a mob match sweep; a feat not duplicated since 2017? Or was it after winning the Orion mob in March, when the ensuing race report brought to light the achievement where from 2014 to 2017, Ranelagh won 15 mob matches in a row, over 3 straight seasons?

Perhaps it was when our Men’s Captain, James Riley, issued his most Churchillian callout yet, to rally the troops as our club stood on the cusp of taking the first steps towards replicating that astonishing run.

Whatever it was, Saturday 22 March saw 9 Ranelights - James Riley, David Lawley, Hadi Khatamizadeh, William Storey, Neil Rae, Marcus Atkins, Alex Ring, Claire Warner & Michael Osborne (plus Narissa Vox supporting) - meet to board the District Line to begin the trek to Norman Park.

In scenes reminiscent of a Quentin Tarantino and a Sergio Leone spaghetti western movie love child, 9 grew to 10 as Sam Roberts boarded the train at Victoria. At Bromley South, 10 became 13 as, Reservoir Dogs style, Ed Smith, Aoife Kilpatrick and Phil Roberts joined the mile walk to Norman Park.

Admittedly 13 does not a mob maketh but in dribs and drabs, the Ranelagh ranks continued to swell - Chris Read, David Wright, Simon Hedger, Trevor Maguire, Simon Beal, Vaughan Ramsay and finally, Peter Howgego - eventually making up the final totals; 20 Ranelagh against Blackheath’s 16.

It would be 13 to score.

We had the numbers, the go-faster stripes and the enthusiasm, but that alone cannot guarantee victory, especially when so much was riding on our winning this one.

In lieu of Mike Peace, Chris Read led the Hobble Gobble; after tips from Trevor and Narissa on how to mimic him (eg: bounce on your toes, talk incessantly about something utterly unrelated, play up to the crowd etc). Whether he succeeded or not, we leave up to you to decide…

After photos were taken and Blackheath chanted their club cry, the athletes were set off.

Gordon Whitson joined Narissa in providing Ranelagh support; the nature of the 2 loop course making it possible to count the runners as they came through. As the runners disappeared into the woods for their final lap, Gordon and Narissa moved to the finish funnel; offering encouragement to the Ranelagh mob along the way.

It was clear it was going to be close; with the race probably decided in the middle section.

First down the grassy straight was Blackheath’s Micah Evans, supremely crossing the line in 45:39. Captain James Riley (46:08) and Vice-Captain David Lawley (46:27) made it a Ranelagh 2 and 3; proving that even without the usual ‘Always-Second’ Jonny Smith, Mr Lawley remained resolutely ‘Ever Third or Fourth’.

The swell of the Blackheath 4, 5 and 6 from Luca Ercolani (47:54), Thomas Desborough (48:14) and Paul Sharpe (49:25) was mitigated a little by Ranelagh’s Sam Roberts (49:39) in 7th, who’d - thankfully - had decided to make the most of the Heathrow shutdown after his flight to Tokyo was postponed and run the mob instead.

Kudos too to our Simon Beal (50:20) whose 9th place finish split the Blackheath threat of Steven Hough (49:57) and Roger Beswick (51:04) in 8th & 10th respectively.

First 10 runners in; 4 for Ranelagh, 6 for Blackheath. With 13 to score, the next few runners would make all the difference.

Then a wave of Blue & Amber (huzzah the go-faster stripes!) slammed down; Ed Smith, Alex Ring, Peter Howgego, Trevor Maguire, Neil Rae and Vaughan Ramsay took the next 6 places, each and every one of them running their hearts out. 10 home for Ranelagh; surely that was enough?

But Blackheath responded with the next 3 across the line; Ian Scott, Gregory Bull and David Adams. It would have been 4 across but for the fabulous effort of Ranelagh stalwart David Wright, who finished ahead of Blackheath’s James Breen Norris by a mere 6 seconds!

11 home for Ranelagh and 10 for Blackheath; at this stage it was 109 for Blackheath and 122 for Ranelagh. Only two more runners to score for us, but 3 more for Blackheath. It was beyond close.

Our Aoife Kilpatrick blazed ahead of Hadi Khatamizadeh to complete Ranelagh’s scorers; taking first lady in the process. Narissa in her excitement made a rookie mistake and failed to note the placement of Blackheath’s last 3 runners; but with the help of Sam Roberts’ mental maths, was ‘somewhat’ certain we’d managed to edge them. But we’d have to wait for the official results.

Once everyone had crossed the line, all trooped back to the glorious edifice that was the Blackheath clubhouse for showers and much needed refreshments. The mood between the two clubs was gregarious and convivial; as Blackheath pushed the boat out in being fabulous hosts.

Eventually David Beadle, Blackheath’s handicapper called for attention to begin the prizegiving. Starting first with their club handicap presentations, he went on to announce the first three open finishers; Micah Evans (BBHAC), James Riley (RAN) & David Lawley (RAN) and the first 3 ladies, Aoife Kilpatrick (RAN), Katy Sugden (BBHAC) and Claire Warner (RAN).

In a hilarious moment of misgendering, Hadi was briefly 2nd lady but after a quick check, he confirmed his pronouns were firmly he/him and was persuaded to relinquish his 2nd lady mantle.

Eventually the time came for the results of the mob. James was called up to the front; Narissa crossing all digits hoping fervently that Sam’s mental maths was robust, and that the Ranelagh total previously calculated was correct. A hush fell across the room.

David kept the scores close to his chest; from our comms, they knew what a win would mean for us. He started his preamble, explaining that under mob match rules, the lowest score would win.

As soon as he announced Blackheath’s score to be 184, Narissa let out a premature yell - which was quickly echoed resoundingly by the Ranelagh mob, as David confirmed our score to be 167!

Narissa & James celebrated with a huge bear hug; before James was presented the Pelling-Radcliff Trophy which he hoisted high above his head. At this stage, we pass to James for a few words…

“The result was in doubt until the Blackheath handicapper made the final announcement. Narissa was confident Ranelagh had it — Gordon Whitson, less so…

And what a win it was. Not a Project Betelgeuse-style mob of 100+ blue & amber vests, but a win for the ages — the narrowest of narrow margins. The sort of victory made up of a hundred sliding doors moments.

If there’d been no sub-station fire, Sam Roberts would have been in Tokyo. Had the lure of the McLeod Cup not been so great, maybe Neil Rae would have stayed home ill. If Aoife had stuck to the percentage approach to marathon training, she’d have stayed home — and not finished first woman.

Any one of those tiny moments (or countless others) going the other way, and we’d have lost.

The twenty runners who made the trip to Blackheath were counted, as was every runner who turned out for a mob match this season. A clean sweep — apparently only the third time in Ranelagh history.

Well done to every single one of you. You are amazing 💙💛”

In closing, a HUGE thank you to Blackheath for their sterling race organisation and a shout out to their amazing volunteers & marshals. Kudos too to their runners to giving us a good race. We look forward to hosting you all in Richmond Park next season.

We end this race report with a friendly gauntlet thrown down by Ranelagh country member, Eirin McDaid, who had this to say; “Amazing achievement and well done Ranelagh (RA RA RA). Just another 11 more mobs and 3 more grand slams to match and surpass our record of 15 mob match wins in a row (including 3 full grand slams) from a few years ago.”

Eirin, you’re on!

Race report & pics by Narissa Vox

Results & photos kindly shared by Blackheath @ http://www.bandbhac.org.uk/ranelagh22-03-25.html