In icy but bright conditions Julian Rendall (11th) and Liz Stavreski (4th lady) led home the Thames contingent in this 7.5 mile race over the Common.

1.   James Kelly	Belg	40:51
2.   Pascar  Owor	Belg	41:28
3.   Dean Lacy	        CambH	41:37
11.  Julian Rendall		42:51
27.  Andy Weir 		        44:48
29.  Simon Wurr	        	45:04
91.  Hugh Shields 		51:21
103. Nic Gould	        	52:21
105. Liz Stavreski 		52:25 (4th lady)
122. Denise Harris 		54:19 (7)
132. George Philpott (ns)	55:53
139. Anna Garnier		56:49 (11) 1st W55
173. Kate Symons 		64:17 (26)

Julia Bleasdale led home the ladies field on a great day for the Thames ladies as they won the fixture and caught up SLH to go joint top of the league with one race to go. Full results are on Ranelagh's website here. Not to be outdone the men also won their fixture later in the afternoon, extending the lead at the top to 67 points over Herne Hill. Again, full results are on Ranelagh's website here.

Don't settle for socks this Christmas! A full range of TH&H kit, including fleece tops, hats, training tops and umbrellas is available from Kate Symons. Contact: katesymons@live.co.uk.

Against pre-match expectations, the Dark Blues secured a double victory in the annual ‘Varsity Cross-Country Races.

The 34th ladies’ race began with Cambridge’s hopes of registering their first win since 2006 being boosted by the withdrawal of Oxford’s two most experienced runners. In the early stages, it looked as if these hopes would be fulfilled with Naomi Taschimowitz and fresher Amanda Scott taking the lead and the main body of the Light Blue team packed in the middle order.

However, as the course flattened out towards the half-way point, it was the Dark Blues who started to emerge ominously with Michelle Sikes, last year’s winner, moving into second and solid support forming behind her, which picked off the Cambridge runners and crucially relegated their fourth scorer to 10th. With Oxford holding a narrow advantage as the runners hit the heavy mud of the last mile, the result was still in doubt. However, the Dark Blues’ strong team work mean that they were able to hold their positions and secure a 17 points to 21 victory and a 21-13 overall series lead.

Buoyed by their ladies’ performance, the youthful, but talented, Oxford gentlemen’s team produced an outstanding performance to take the honours in the 119th race of their series. Prior expectations had been that Cambridge’s more experienced team might just have the edge over the very wet 7½ mile course.

However, with last year’s first two, Richard Franzese and David Bruce, once again making the running, accompanied by team-mate, Andrew Heyes, and experienced Light Blues, James Kelly, Oxford has a strong presence at the front of the race from the off.

Behind them, and emulating their ladies’ team, they were backed-up by good support work, in particular, with impressive performances from the freshers Jake Shelley and Luke Caldwell.

By the time the runners headed out to Parkside, just after half-way, they were 20 points up and it appeared that only misfortune could deny them. However, it was to be their day and with Andrew Heyes pulling away from Kelly in the closing stages, they were able to secure a 1-2-3 and a 28 points to 52 victory. The individual honours were taken by David Bruce in a fine time of 38:02. This win pushed the Dark Blues back into the lead in the overall series by 60 wins to 59.

Earlier in the day, Oxford also secured a victory in the Old Blues’ Race with last year’s captain, Ian Kimpton, leading them home to a 98-165 scoreline. Ladies

1.	N.Taschimowitz Cambridge 23:22
2.	M.Sikes        Oxford    24:03
3.	A.Scott        Cambridge 24:29
4.	H.J.Munn       Oxford    24:44
5.	N.R.Lopez      Oxford    24:55
6.	F.I.MacInnes   Oxford    24:59
7.	M.Rocke        Cambridge 25:08
8.	C.R.Kane       Oxford    25:30
9.	B.J.Gardner    Oxford    25:35
10.	R.Heard        Cambridge 25:41
11.	A.M.Anderson   Cambridge 25:47
12.	L.K.Barklie    Cambridge 25:59

Oxford win by 17 points to 21

1.	D.J.Bruce	Oxford    38:02
2.	R.C.Franzese	Oxford    38:09
3.	A.R.Heyes	Oxford    38:25
4.	J.M.Kelly	Cambridge 38:36
5.	L.A.Caldwell	Oxford    39:27
6.	A.F.R.McGowan	Cambridge 39:30
7.	J.Shelley	Oxford    39:36
8.	R.B.Brown*	Cambridge 39:50
9.	S.M.Lindner	Cambridge 39:54
10.	J.M.Mercer	Oxford    39:56
11.	C.G.McGurk*	Oxford    40:08
12.	C.A.M.Bannon	Cambridge 40:11
13.	M.A.A.Grant	Cambridge 40:39
14.	M.E.Johnson	Oxford    40:43
15.	W.J.Mackay	Cambridge 40:48
16.	M.J.R.Clark	Cambridge 45:57

Oxford win by 28 points to 52