Road Running & Cross Country, 2006
Ely New Year's Eve 10 km, Camb., 31 December 2006.
Men. 1 R Joy (Norfolk G) 31:39; 2 N Speaight 32:36.
Cliveden 6 miles CC, Bucks, 31 December 2006.
Men. 1 M Trees M40 37:51.
Bushy Park Time Trial 5 km, 30 December 2006.
Men. 1 C Payne (Tortoise &H) 16:35; 5 R Stannard 17:08.
Serpentine Last Friday 5 km, Hyde Park, 29 December 2006.
Men. 1 R Ward 15:07; 46 C Dickinson 1st-M55 18:40.
Hammersmith 3.3 miles, 26 December 2006.
Men. 1 R Marriott (South London) 17:44; 2 M Humphrey 18:24.
Lauriston Christmas Paarlauf, Wimbledon, 25 December 2006.
1 Don Anderson (Belgrave) & A Przedrzymirski (Herc. Wimb) 5m 1405y; 3 W Cockerell (Belgrave) & D Cockerell (SW Bristol &W) 5m 1152y.
Bushy Park Time Trial 5 km, 25 December 2006.
Men. 1 R Ward 15:30; 3 A Bodin U20 16:12.
Bushy Park Time Trial 5 km, 23 December 2006.
Men. 1 J Trapmore (Shaftesbury B) 15:24; 2 R Ward 15:25.
Longridge 7 miles, Nr. Preston, 17 December 2006.
Men. 1 P Freary 37:10.
Reigate Priory Holly Ron, Priory Park, 17 December 2006.
Men. 1 A Robinson (Newham &EB) 31:44; 8 P Buckley 35:16; 9 J Kimaiyo 35:20.
Ronhill Surrey Classic 10 km, Horton Country Park, 17 December 2006.
Men. 1 W Clark (Epsom & Ewell) 32:59; 6 M Webb 35:23; 200 D Davies M65 51:59.
Women. 1 E Nelson (Epsom & Ewell) 35:59; 2 S Murphy 37:45.
South of the Thames CC Championship, Brockwell Park, 16 December 2006.
Above, left to right, start of the South of Thames Championship in Brockwell Park: Dave Anderson, Pete Willis (20), Mike Trees (18), James McMullen (Epsom Oddballs 142), Will Clark (Epsom & Ewell 137), Alan Barnes (Herne Hill 175), James Connor ? (Kent AC), Phil Wicks (19), Dean Lacy (Cambridge H 51), Alex Bodin. Picture by Steve Wicks.
Dewar Shield back with the Bels
The 109th running of the South of the Thames Cross Country Championship turned out to be successful event for the Bels as the men notched up their thirteenth win all told and fifth in the last decade - and, after a recount, we were declared 12 to score winners as well. A dominant Phil Wicks led the pack while Chrissie Wellington was equally impressive in the women's race; both led from start to finish.
Nobody could remember a Brockwell Park in this state. Weeks of rain had left the Park like a sponge and even before the race had started, the passage of 150 pairs of feet on their warm up runs over the lower slopes had liquified the top two inches of soil. In fact there was barely a firm footing to be found on the entire circuit.
These were clearly not everyone's idea of perfect cross country conditions but it seemed to make little difference to Phil who was 40 metres clear of David Anderson and Cambridge Harriers' Dean Lacy after one lap and more than twice that after two. Phil's two-lap time was 26:06. Compare that, if you will, with the Surrey League's winning time of 25:58, run in balmy October; and of course there was a third lap to contend with on this occasion.
Dave Anderson is far from fit but he had more than enough talent to deal with the rest of the field; and two more very impressive runs came from veteran Mike Trees and Pete Willis - the latter at last beginning to give a hint of what he can do. In his first scoring run for the Bels, eighteen year-old Alex Bodin battled with John Kimaiyo. Alex had never gone further than 8 km before but closed in our team as first Junior in the field - and pushed the Skipper off the score sheet for the first time in years.
We welcomed new members in Dave Mason and Charles Hobbs ("I've never experienced anything like this before") who have both recently moved to south London - but unfortunately neither of them was able to score on this occasion. Carl Moynihan also made his debut and Tom Fordyce delayed his late shift at the BBC so as to boost the 12-to-score team; he works on the BBC's website covering the Ashes series and we wonder which experience was the most painful.
We are so glad that Tom made the effort to turn up though, because along with team mates Will Cockerell, James Fairbourn, Mark Humphrey, Rob Poulter and Harry Corbett - some of whom don't get to score in a Belgrave winning team too often - we lifted the Coleman Cup. The team manager was delighted.
Men. 7.5 miles. 1 P Wicks (Belgrave) 39:30; 2 D Anderson (Belgrave) 41:02; 3 D Lacy (Camb H) 41:15; 13 M Trees 1st-M40 43:25; 14 P Willis 43:44; 21 J Kimaiyo 44:22; 24 A Bodin 1st-U20 44:27; 34 W Cockerell 45:16; n/s (36th) D Mason 45:19; 50 J Fairbourn 47:08; 64 T Fordyce 49:06; 88 M Humphrey 52:40; 103 R Poulter 55:18; 105 H Corbett M45 55:41; n/s (102) C Hobbs 53:43; 113 C Moynihan 56:53.
Teams:
6 to score - 1 Belgrave H 75; 2 Herne Hill H 146; 3 Brighton & Hove City AC 160; 12 Belgrave 'B' 444.
12 to score - 1 Belgrave H 519; 2 Brighton & Hove City AC 526; 3 Herne Hill H 654.
Women. 7.5 miles. 1 C Wellington (Belgrave) 48:10; 2 F Clark (Crawley) 49:34; 3 M Sinott-Wells (Ranelagh) 51:19; 4 M Heaton 53:28.
Bedford Harriers Half Marathon, 10 December 2006.
Men. 1 N Leighton (Bristol &W) 1:09:38; 154 P Cross M50 1:29:31.
USATF Junior National Olympic CC, Spokane, Washington State, USA, 9 December 2006.
U19 Men. 5k 1 G Billington U20 15:39.
Hercules Wimbledon AC 5 miles Club Race, Wimbledon Common, 9 December 2006.
Men. 1 A Bodin U20 27:52.
SEAA U23 Inter-Counties (held with London Champs, etc), 9 December 2006.
Men. 1 P Wicks U23 32:37; 2 H Lobb 1-London (Bedford &C) 33:25; 3 A Livingstone 1-U20 (Thurrock) 33:32.
California International Marathon, Sacramento, USA, 3 December 2006.
Men. 1 J Ndambuki (Kenya) 2:14:56; 12 B Poore 2:21:51.
Lanzarote Half Marathon, 3 December 2006.
Women. 1 A Critchlow (West 4) 1:23:24; 4 H Smethurst 1-W40 1:29:28.
Victory '5', Portsmouth, 3 December 2006.
Forty to fifty mile an hour squalls made for an interesting race at Portsmouth where the leaders ran nearly 6 minutes for the last mile. Phil Wicks' preparations for the race were turned upside down when a late arrival meant that he only had time for a 400m jog before the start. Willard Chinhanhu of Poole attempted an early break but Phil was in the bunch as the field set out along the waterfront with the wind behind them. Geele, Robinson and Mitchison were all prominent for the Beagles with our own Malachi Byansi, John Kimaiyo and Knut Hegvold also well forward.
But those windy conditions meant that whatever happened on the outward journey, the whole field was going to concertina at the end - and it did - with five men coming together at the 4 mile point in 19 minutes. Chinhanhu and Geele arrived back at the track together but were being chased hard by the next three and we had the first five all on the finish straight at the same time.
The wind had made a mockery of the times but there was no doubt that it was a terrific run from Phil who was just three seconds down on Andy Robinson and ahead of Dave Mitchison (both Beagles) and Cole (Medway & Maidstone). It was another good effort from Mal Byansi who had John Kimaiyo, a good six inches taller, trying to shelter behind him on the return. Knut had a powerful finish to overtake JK to become our third scorer and take second veteran's prize.
It was good to see Mark Miles there - he was working with the race sponsors - and happy to report that he has now shaken off his nagging cold and chest infection and is back to running.
Men. 1 W Chinhanhu (Poole) 24:50; 2 M Geele (Newham &EB) 24:51; 3 T Payne (Birchfield) 24:54; 5 P Wicks 25:01; 16 M Byansi 26:49; 23 K Hegvold M45 2-Vet 27:55; 24 J Kimaiyo 27:59; 44 D Mason 28:52; 68 M Humphrey 29:56.
Teams: 1 Newham &EB 25; 2 Belgrave 68; 3 Winchester 71.
Elswick H Norman Woodcock Memorial 6 miles, Newcastle, 2 December 2006.
Men. 1 N McCormick (Morpeth) 28:51; 2 D Anderson 30:04.
SLH Pirie 10 miles, 2 December 2006.
Women. 1 C Wellington 1:03:38.
Oxford vs Cambridge University Race, Wimbledon Common, 2 December 2006.
Men. 1 P Natali (Cambridge) 38:39; 3 J Blackledge (Oxford/Bel) 39:20.
Bushy Park Time Trial 5 km, 2 December 2006.
Men. 1 W Clark (Epsom &E) 16:37; 2 W Cockerell 16:47.
Club La Santa Running Week, Lanzarote, 26-29 November 2006.
26th - 10 km. Women. 1 A McKeown (GER) 38:05; 7 T Heaton 39:47; 8 H Smethurst W40 40:45; 11 L Cooper 43:22.
27th - 13 km Ridge Run. Women. 1 A McKeown (GER) 49:46; 5 T Heaton 51:03; 7 H Smethurst W40 53:28; 17 L Cooper 58:30.
28th - 5 km Beach Run. Women. 1 J King (GBR) 20:47; 5 T Heaton 21:34; 6 H Smethurst W40 22:01; 21 L Cooper 24:42.
29th - 21km run. 1 A McKeown (GER) 1:21:27; 5 T Heaton 1:26:04; 6 H Smethurst W40 1:27:49; 16 L Cooper 1:36:01.
Overall Challenge Positions: 1 A McKeown (GER) 3:10:11; 5 T Heaton 3:18:27; 6 H Smethurst 1st-W40 3:24:01; 15 L Cooper 3:42:33.
Hayling 10 miles, 26 November 2006.
Men. 1 T Payn (City of Portsmouth) 51:46; 121 P Cross M50 1:06:55.
Leeds Abbey Dash 10 km, 26 November 2006.
Men. 1 J Ndaysenga (Birchfield) 29:15; 55 P Willis 33:10; M Whiting 35:28.
Wolverton 5 km, Milton Keynes, 25 November 2006.
Men. 1 D Mitchison (Newham &EB) 24:42; 10 J Kimaiyo 26:49.
UK Cross Challenge, Sefton Park, Liverpool, 25 November 2006.
Men's 10 km. 1 F Tickner (Wells) 31:18; 48 P Wicks 34:01.
South of Thames CC Assoc. 5 miles Team Race, Epsom Downs, 25 November 2006.
Men. 1 H Evans (Tonbridge) 29:03; 5 M Byansi 30:22; 20 W Cockerell 32:03; 40 M Humphrey 33:52; 100 H Corbett M45 38:50; 128 S Baxendale 41:54; 153 finished.
Teams: 1 Kent AC 40; 2 Reading AC 71; 3 Crawley AC 78; 9 Belgrave H 165; 29 teams closed in.
NCAA Division 1 Champs, Terra Haute, IN USA, 20 November 2006.
Men's 10 km. 1 J Rohatinsky (BYU) 30:44.9; 137 D Gauson (Butler/Belgrave) 32:56.5.
Brooks Brighton 10 km, Brighton, 19 November 2006.
Men. 1 J Ward (Altrincham) 30:01; 2 S Sharp (1st SEAA) 30:13 (30:11 chip); P Cross M50 39:11; L Rehn M40 42:19.
Jersey Spartan Half Marathon, 19 November 2006.
Men. 1 P Freary 1:08:57.
Herbert's Hole Challenge 10 km multi-terrain, Chesham, 19 November 2006.
Men. 1 E O'Gorman (Chiltern) 40:53; 3 M Humphrey 41:09.
Gauldry Gallop Open 8 km, Gauldry, Fife, 18 November 2006.
Men. 1 Y Colombet (G Heriot) 27:14; 4 G Oudney 27:41.
Bahrain Marathon Relay, 17 November 2006.
2.7 km N Speaight 7:52; 3.2 km N Speaight 10:38.
VAC 5.2 miles, Wimbledon, 18 November 2006.
M70. 1 F Gander 45:35.
London Colleges League, Wimbledon, 15 November 2006.
5.6 miles. 1 A Vernon (St.M/Aldershot F&D) 32:47; 12 A Marek (gst) 36:38.
Frostbite League 5 miles multi terrain, Bushfield, Peterborough, 12 November 2006.
Men. 1 N Speaight 25:31.
Leatherhead Fire Station 10 km, 12 November 2006.
Men. 1 K Quinn (Aldershot F&D) 32:38; 50 P Cross M50 41:01.
Hellrunner, Long Moor Army Camp, 12 November 2006.
Men. 1 R Jebb 1:02:48; 12 M Whiting 1:13:56.
Bushy Park Time Trial, 11 November 2006.
Women. 1 S O'Sullivan (Thames H&H) 18:05; 15 C Eastham 23:19.
Sweatshop Men's Surrey CC League, Division One, Race 2, Coulsdon, 11 November 2006.
Not so "Happy Valley"
Coulsdon might have come earlier in the season than usual but it produced its normal low take-up among Belgrave runners. Hallowed cross country ground Farthing Downs and Happy Valley might be, but there is definitely a feeling that this course with its flinty, rutty and rooty section, where ankles are already under strain thanks to the camber, is something to be avoided.
Unfortunately Phil Wicks, winner though he was in the end, wonders whether he will run this one again. He suffered from a turned ankle on lap one, having broken clear of the field with guesting Huw Lobb (Bedford &C). Ignoring the pain he pushed on for a second lap and took 60 metres out of Huw but only a jog was possible the following day and no running at all the day after. Phil is obviously in good shape in spite of his recent shin splints and cold but the problems keep stacking up against him as he targets the ever-nearing U23 European Trial. We'll keep our fingers crossed.
John Kimaiyo was our second man for most of the race but, suffering on the far side of the final lap, found himself being swept up by the Skipper whose command to, "stick with me!" was willingly taken up. A powerful descent to the finish had the two of them racing it out and into the funnel almost together. Will was pleased to have edged Thames rival Nick Altmann ... and then came Tom Ellacott with a tremendous run.
Herne Hill are on a Surrey League roll and by now they had swamped the finish funnel with five men in before double figures had been reached and their ten men home in 26; we were having to wait a little longer. Mark Humphrey, taking a break from the "Run Fat Boy Run" film set was delighted to have the beating of Knut Hegvold for his highest ever league place. Then behind Warren Lynch and James Fairbourn, Robert Norville DID make the ten this time - as did Matthew Taylor.
So, we reach the halfway stage over 400 points adrift of Herne Hill and the league seems pretty much sorted with Dulwich doomed to return to Division Two. But there's always a challenge to take up. Next race is on our home course, the other side of Christmas, where it would be nice to move back into second spot.
Senior Men. 5.44 miles. 1 P Wicks (Belgrave) 27:51; 2 H Lobb (guest) 28:04, 3 I Lockett (Herne Hill) 28:21; 17 J Kimaiyo 30:00; 18 W Cockerell 30:00; 20 T Ellacott 30:21; 39 M Humphrey 31:32; 41 K Hegvold 31:35; 48 W Lynch 32:03; 60 J Fairbourn U20 32:30; 92 R Norville 34:51; 113 M Taylor 36:42; 132 H Corbett 38:17; 139 P Cross 38:50;145 L Rehn M40 39:44; 154 finished.
Teams: 1 Herne Hill H 130; 2 Thames H&H 268; 3 Belgrave H 396; 4 Reigate Priory AC 419; 5 Ranelagh H 430; 6 South London H 569; 7 Guildford &G AC 571; 8 Stragglers 607; 9 Dulwich R 705.
Overall: 1 Herne Hill H 287; 2 Thames H&H 663; 3 Belgrave 710; 4 Ranelagh H 808; 5 South London H 1021; 6 Reigate Priory AC 1026; 7 Stragglers AC 1106; 8 Guildford &G AC 1175; 9 Dulwich R 1394.
U17/U15. 2.72 miles. 1 D Altendorf (SLH U17); 6 S Etem (HHH 1st U15) 16:59; 10 J Taylor-Holland (4th U15) 17:40.
Above: Chrissie Wellington, Sarah Gailey, Sarah Murphy, Catherine Bryson, Vicky Clarke, Louise Cooper, Helen Smethurst and Tilly Heaton enjoy a celebratory "cuppa" after the second league race at Lightwater. Photo by Junior Galley.
Surrey Women's CC League, Division One, Race 2, Lightwater, 11 November 2006.
Belles open up the gap
With the Belles fielding the same team plus extras that won XC1 at Epsom just a few weeks before there was an air of confidence and excitement in the team. Could this be a double win and a clear signal to the competition that the Belles were battling to regain the Surrey League title?
The race started well with Chrissie, Catherine and Sarah all up in the top 15 on the first short lap of the course. Naomi Warner and a couple of the Herne Hill girls had decided to make a quick start of the race, but Chrissie and co., weren't too far behind. By the time the group had come through the start area the second time Naomi had dropped back considerably much to the spectators' surprise. It turned out that both Naomi and Chrissie had taken a wrong turn at the end of lap one and whilst Chrissie managed to get back on track pretty quickly poor Naomi had not been so lucky.
Not one to let a little difficulty put her off Chrissie took advantage of the situation and began to make a clean break. Catherine Bryson was more cautious and there was a steady gap between her and Chrissie which was filled by 3 or 4 rapidly tiring athletes. By the time the 3rd lap was coming to an end and Chrissie headed round the final bend in the lead, Catherine had also had a storming breakthrough and sprinted home to provide the Belles with their first 1-2 since this team manager's been around.
And then came Sarah Murphy following just 30 seconds behind - the Belles 3rd runner - followed by Vicky Clarke, whom we welcomed back to the team after a racing absence of some months. Tilly Heaton closed the Belles team in with all five coming home the top 20. An awesome result.
Whilst our competitors were still trying to finish 3 or 4 athletes, our 6th and 7th runners were coming home in 30th and 34th spots respectively. Erica Fogg was a welcome late addition to the squad and Sarah Gailey continued to show her aptitude for distance running.
Helen Smethurst, suffering from a cold, finished in 45th; Louise Cooper, still suffering from the Snowdonia Marathon, came home some places further back than usual in 83rd; and new non-scoring team member, Marketa Johnson, finished in 90th spot. 140 Division 1 runners finished.
In terms of team results, the Belles had a clear win, scoring just 50 points. Whereas we only had a few points advantage after Match 1, the gap had widened, with Stragglers and Thames both scoring 108 points, and injury-stricken Ranelagh only managing 4th with 134 points.
Overall in the league, this places the Belles a clear first ahead of Thames and Ranelagh.
There is no room for complacency though and the Belles need to ensure that 74 point margin isn't eroded over the next couple of fixtures.
In our own plate competition Chrissie Wellington is currently heading the table with a clean sweep of 40 points so far. Catherine Bryson and Sarah Murphy have both scored a 2nd and 3rd place to give them both 37 points. However, with 4 races still to go in the plate, this could all change.
Megan
Evans had some company in the U15 race for once as Krystal Galley
(Junior’s daughter) made a welcome appearance for the team. Considering
this was her first cross country outing she made good ground, working
with Megan over the first lap and then making a break to move ahead,
finishing 9th to Megan’s 10th position. Both girls have only moved up to
this age group this year and were battling girls a couple of years older
and stronger. Only one U17 girl finished ahead of this dynamic pair. If
we could just attract a few more then we could turn out a reasonably
strong squad in this age group.
Megan and Krystal are
pictured right by Junior Galley.
Senior Women: 1 C Wellington 23:40; 2 C Bryson 23:48; 3 F Clarke (Reigate) 23:51; 11 S Murphy 24:23; 16 V Clarke 25:16; 20 M Heaton 25:40; 30 E Fogg 26:22; 34 S Gailey 26:36; 45 H Smethurst W40 27:25; 83 L Cooper 30:16; 90 n/s M Johnson 30:28; 140 finished.
Teams: 1 Belgrave H 50; =2 Stragglers AC and Thames H&H 108; 4 Ranelagh H 134; 5 Herne Hill H 150; 6 South London H 157; 7 West 4 160; 8 Wimbledon W 162; 10 Belgrave 'B' 237.
Overall: 1 Belgrave H 112; 2 Thames H&H 186; 3 Ranelagh H 201; 4
Under 15: 1 I Brinsden (E&E) 16:12; 2 G Shephard (E&E) 16:15; 3 A Tracy (G&G) 16:36; 9 K Galley 17:26; 10 M Evans 17:29.
adidas Run Through the Villages 8.44 miles, Wheelton, 5 November 2006.
Men. 1 P Freary 44:13; 2 R Hayman (Sale) 44:44.
Ronhill Surrey Classic 10 km, Oxshott, 5 November 2006.
Men. 1 T Doran (Elmbridge) 32:58; 4 L Greatorex 34:39; 8 M Webb 35:39; 246 D Davies M65 55:16.
Stevenage Half Marathon inc. SEAA Champs., 5 November 2006.
Men. 1 W Chinhanhu (Poole) 1:05:40; 3 M Byansi 1:10:13; 71 P Cross M50 1:29:09.
Women. 1 J Kang'ara (Belgrave) 1:19:35.
Marlow Half Marathon, 5 November 2006.
Men. 1 M Trees (Belgrave M40) 1:15:21; 395 D McMillan M55 1:51:56.
US Half Marathon, San Francisco, 4 November 2006.
Men. 1 B Poore (Belgrave) 1:09:19.
Alan Scally Road Relays inc Scottish Universities Champs, Glasgow, 4 November 2006.
Women. 10th fastest C Bertram 30:22.
Reigate Priory Cross Country Relays, Priory Park, Reigate, 4 November 2006.
Belles second at Reigate
Sarah Murphy took the first leg, as is her preference, to battle it out up front. Posting the Belles fastest leg of the day, and 5th fastest leg overall, Sarah brought the Belles home in 3rd spot. It was her fastest time ever over the Reigate course on a day when fast times were in evidence.
Tilly is proving to be on the road to full recovery, moving the Belles up one slot and being just 18 seconds down on her best over the Priory. Thinking that Arena's athlete was on her shoulder for the last mile Tilly pushed hard - although the guy who was struggling (but not managing) to get past wouldn't be pleased to hear she thought he was a girl.
And so to last leg, with the Belles a minute and a half down on SLH and with Caroline Hoyte of Arena heading off just after Catherine Bryson, there was tension in the air - could Catherine reel in such a big gap and fend off an aggressive attack from third spot? Unfortunately the SLH runner couldn't be seen throughout the race yet alone be caught, but Catherine confidently held off Arena to bring the Belles home in 2nd slot, and captured the 7th fastest leg of the day.
1 South London H 46:36; 2 Belgrave H 48:21; 3 Arena 80 48:47.
S Murphy (3) 15:48; T Heaton (2) 16:40; C Bryson (2) 15:53.
Fastest: E Baker (South London) 14:05; G Bruinuels (Dorking &MV) 15:37; L Watson (Medway &M) 15:42; S Murphy (Belgrave) 15:48.
ECCA National Cross Country Relays, Berry Hill Park, Mansfield, 4 November 2006.
Tagged in Mansfield
When David Anderson looked around him on the start line of the Senior Men’s race, the last competition of the day, he couldn’t help but be impressed by the number of top clubs and the quality of the runners who had supported the 19th running of the National cross country relays at Mansfield – the 21st occurrence of the event all told. And it had been the same story in each of the preceding races.
Junior team in action
It was back in 1987 that we last lined up a Junior Men’s squad – four to a team in those days, when the race was held at Crystal Palace – and we placed 7th with Matt and Justin Chaston, Matt Kinane and Glen Tiernan. A lot of water has gone under the bridge since then and how great it was too see a Belgrave team in action in this age group once more.
With barely a year of the sport behind him and only seven months of proper training James Fairbourn faced up to the best of British under 20 middle-distance talent on the first leg. The pace was terrific and totally different to anything he’d encountered before, having started his running with a couple of marathons (including a 2:51 in Chicago, 2005). James never gave up fighting but was disappointed with his time; he needn’t be, for we’ve already seen application and determination that will surely take him into our senior teams of the future.
Relishing the thought of a chase, Kris Gauson took over with Newham’s Tom Bilham in close proximity and the two of them set about the field to record a couple of top ten times. Kris has upped his training load this winter and after being a little unhappy with early winter performances, ran a scorcher at the previous week’s Scottish relays and pronounced himself very happy also with his run here at Mansfield.
The Bels were now in 17th but there was still plenty of scope for improvement as Greg Billington tore into the field ahead. Clocking a time just over nine minutes, he overtook eight men before running out of race and having to settle for a final team position inside the top ten and 25 seconds away from the medals. Greg now plans to tackle the US championships in December. At 17 years of age he has two more winters in the age group and Kris has one – so look for fireworks this time next year!
8th again for the Senior men
Over four stages of 5k (two 2.5k laps for each stage), the aggression shown at the start of the men’s race has to be seen to be believed. A short downhill charge over cropped grassland is followed by a rise and then a further roller coaster down and up again before entering the woods. David Anderson’s progress continues well and he was well up in the leading half dozen with a Staffs Moorlands vest initially at the front before Stockport’s Steve Vernon and Holmfirth’s Nick Goodliffe took over. Dave handed over to Neil Speaight in 9th spot with few of the eventual top ten placers around him – apart from the ominous presence of Newham & Essex Beagles (4th) and Altrincham (5th). We didn't originally plan to run a B team but Pete Willis was keen to check his fitness and turned up to run first stage.
It was all change on leg two as Jason Ward took Altrincham into the lead and Michael Skinner raised Blackheath’s stock by 17 points to go 2nd. It was great to welcome “Speaighty” into our team. Not a huge fan of cross country after an ankle injury earlier in his career, he was nevertheless exuberant at the start before suffering in the middle section of his stint, dropping back out of the top ten … to 13th .. and maybe a couple more places. Then, in the final kilometre on the grass at the top of the course, Neil switched into track mode and pulled back all he had lost and more, moving our colours up to 6th. Great work – and we look forward to seeing him on the road in the spring.
Stage three – and still the ingredients of this exciting race were being mixed. With a quartet that had just four seconds between them, Bedford & County replaced Altrincham at the head of the field while a resurgent Tipton Harriers moved up to second place, Sale Harriers completing the frame. The only constant in this turnover of colours at the front was the continued presence of the Beagles, never out of the first four. Phil Wicks’ eager return from an injury-induced layoff had gone so well at Sutton Park, but two weeks later and a head cold had kicked in to pull him back again. He held 6th for as long as he could but eventually had to give way to a couple of opponents, including Aldershot’s Ben Moreau and Mark Husdpith of the Morpeth Harriers who were positioning themselves to slingshot Nick McCormick on the final stage.
All up to Stephen Sharp then – but once again we had given our last man too much to do. Steve gamely chased McCormick and he pulled back two places to equal our position of 2005. Andy Vernon pulled AFD into the medals at the expense of Sale, with Tipton dropping from silver to bronze – but it was the Beagles again in front with Mark Warmby now setting his club up for a grand slam of winter titles.
For the first time results were produced using the Champion Chip method with all runners having to wear an ankle tag holding a computer chip with a unique coding that was captured as each runner crossed the line. This enabled the results to be produced to a previously unheard of accuracy in a national cross country race - giving Dave Anderson the huge pleasure of announcing to "Sharpy" that he'd cracked his time by 35/100ths!
U20 Men's 3 x 3 km. 1 Bristol & West 27:12.95; 2 Owls AC 27:23.35; 3 Liverpool H 27:28.60; 4 Trafford AC 27:31.35; 5 City of Norwich AC 27:33.35; 6 Morpeth H &AC 27:45.75; 7 University of Birmingham 27:48.30; 8 City of Stoke AC 27:52.20; 9 Belgrave H 27:53.95; 10 Notts AC 28:14.35; 71 teams started; 51 teams finished.
J Fairbourn (49) 9:51.60; K Gauson (17) 8:58.45; G Billington (9) 9:03.90.
Fastest: 1 M Mashford (Aldersot F&D) 8:47.55; 2 T Minshull (Trafford) 8:49.10; 3 R Fraser (Owls) 8:49.95; 4 T Bilham (Newham &EB) 8:51.40; 5 A Derricott (City of Stoke) 8:52.55; 6 J Pepper (Uni Birmingham) 8:53.20; ... 11 K Gauson; 14 G Billington.
Senior Men's 4 x 5 km. 1 Newham & Essex Beagles 1:00:42.85; 2 Aldershot F&D AC 1:00:47.20; 3 Tipton H 1:00:54.05; 4 Morpeth H&AC 1:01:03.25; 5 Sale H Manchester 1:01:04.90; 6 Bedford &CAC 1:01:07.55; 7 Altrincham &DAC 1:01:36.00; 8 Belgrave H 1:01:42.35; 9 Owls AC 1:02:00.45; 10 Blackburn H 1:02:18.85; 159 teams started; 132 teams finished.
A team: D Anderson (9) 15:14.35; N Speaight (6) 15:29.75; P Wicks (10) 15:43.55; S Sharp (8) 15:14.70.
B team: P Willis (96) 17:28.65.
Fastest: 1 S Vernon (Stockport) 14:42.65; 2 M Warmby (Newham &EB) 14:44.20; 3 A Vernon (Aldershot F&D) 14:45.60; 4 M Skinner (Blackheath &B) 14:45.90; 5 N McCormick (Morpeth) 14:49.25; 6 5 N Goodliffe (Holmfirth) 14:50.70; ... 21 D Anderson; 22 S Sharp.
Under 17 Men's 3 x 3 km. G Favell 10:42.55.
Algarve Challenge, Portugal, 1 November 2006.
Men. 1 E Malloch (WGwEL) 26:30; 5 W Cockerell 28:51.
London Colleges League, Richmond Park, 1 November 2006.
Men. 1 A Vernon (St Mary's) 28:13; 24 A Marek 31:17.
Barns Green Half Marathon, 29 October 2006.
Men. 1 J Baker (Chichester) 1:09:56; 280 J Pritchard 1:40:20; 467 F Gander M70 1:46:59; 501 D McMillan M55 1:48:10; 879 A Lane M70 2:04:07.
National Trust Snowdonia Marathon, 29 October 2006.
Women. 3 L Cooper 3:16:09.
Noosa 5 km, Australia 29 October 2006.
Men. 1 M Dent 14:10.
Rainforest Foundation Taut 10 km, Regents Park, 29 October 2006.
Men. 1 M Byansi 32:08; 2 J Kimaiyo 32:21.
Women. 1 H Yelling (Winsor SE&H) 34:18; 2 B Dagne 34:23; 3 J Kang'ara 34:50.
Folkestone Rotary Half Marathon, 29 October 2006.
Men. 1 J Creane (Folkestone) 1:12:50; 39 P Cross M50 1:32:52.
Ronhill Surrey Classic 10 km, Nonsuch Park, 29 October 2006.
Men. 1 W Clark (Epsom &E) 32:51; 9 M Webb 35:52; 224 D Davies M65 53:08.
Scottish CC Relays, Cumbernauld, 28 October 2006.
Men's 4 km. Fastest: 1 M Pollard (Inverclyde) 13:17; 6 K Gauson U20 13:38.
Women's 4 km. 1 F Murray (Edinburgh S) 15:12; C Bertram 17:49.
DODDS European Schools CC Champs, Schwetzingen, Germany, 28 October 2006.
Men's 5 km. 1 G Billington 15:48.97.
UK Cross Challenge, Senneleys Pk, Birmingham, 28 October 2006.
Womens 6 km. 1 H Yelling (Windsor SE&H) 22:22; 28 C Wellington 24:29.
Butler Horizon League CC 8 km, Indianapolis USA, 28 October 2006.
Men. 1 S Overall (Butler/Blackheath) 24:53.7; 4 D Gauson 25:36.9.
Bushy Park Time Trial, 28 October 2006.
Men. 1 R Stannard 16:07.
Women. 1 R Disley (Thames H&H) 19:13; 6 S Gailey 20:48; 34 J Moore W45 26:06.
Serpentine Last Friday 5 km, Hyde Park, 27 October 2006.
Men. 1 J Shane (Basildon) 15:59; 31 T O'Neill M50 18:27; 58 L Rehn M40 19:49.
Women. 1 H Wilson (West 4H) 17:58; 4 H Smethurst W40 19:00.
Stroud Half Marathon, 22 October 2006.
Men. 5 M Byansi 1:10:50.
Maidstone Half Marathon, 22 October 2006.
Men. P Hasler (Paddock Wood) 1:13:00; 89 P Cross M50 1:33:48.
Waddington 10 km, Clitheroe, 22 October 2006.
Men. 1 P Freary 31:51.
Ampthill CC Trophy, Ampthill, Beds, 22 October 2006.
Men. 1 H Lobb (Bedford &C) 28:19; 10 M Whiting 32:55.
Croydon 10 km, 22 October 2006.
Men. 1 J Kimaiyo 32:18.
ERRA Women's 4-Stage Road Relay, Sutton Park, 21 October 2006 Full result
1 Birchfield H 59:33; 2 Aldershot F&DAC 59:39; 3 Charnwood AC 1:00:17; 26 Belgrave H 1:05:17; 98 teams started; 78 teams finished.
Belgrave H - S Murphy (44) 16:06; S Gailey (42) 16:57; M Heaton (32) 16:14; C Bryson (26) 16:00.
Fastest: 1 H Clitheroe (Preston) 14:11; 2 J Blizzard (Rotherham) 14:12; 3 C Mutwa (Birchfield) 14:13; 4 H Dean (Hallamshire), J Wilkinson (Bedford &C) 14:18; 6 S Twell (Aldershot F&D) 14:19.
ERRA Men's 6-Stage Road Relay, Sutton Park, 21 October 2006 Full result
Five year run comes to an end
To win five times in a row requires more than talent - it requires the continued generosity of Lady Luck - and in 2006, after favouring the Bels for half a decade, she turned her back on us. Losing Mark Miles with a cold followed by a chest infection was a big blow but this problem was chased by another when we learned that Jonathan Blackledge's return from an end of season break had been delayed by tendonitis. And then with race day looming Richard Ward had to pull out with a muscle problem. All this doesn't just hit the A team of course, it filters down to the Bs as well where, additionally, Mike Trees had picked up a hamstring problem, Hassan Raidi was in Morocco, the Skipper was in Vietnam ... and so it went on through 21 names until it became obvious that we weren't going to be able to complete a B squad.
The Beagles had a top team out but we were pleased with our final line-up, still hoping for medals, and Phil Wicks had a grin that stretched from ear to ear when he found he was back in the A team.
Stage 1
There was some talent on parade on stage one. Sharpy looked oh! so fit as he took his place on the start line, and as the gun fired and elbows jostled he took station in a leading bunch that remained intact for most of the lap before Birchfield's Burundian John Ndayisenga, 6th behind Milesy's 5th in the Horwich 5k, made a run for it towards the end and broke away. Michael East headed the bunch for the Beagles but there was really nothing in it as Stephen came through in 4th.
1 J Ndayisenga (Birchfield H) 17:21; 2 M East (Newham &EB) 17:25; 3 D Samuels (Morpeth) 17:28; 4 S Sharp (Belgrave) 17:32; 5 K Heywood (Bristol) 17:35; 6 D Pettit (Peterborough) 17:37; ... 45 J Kimaiyo (Belgrave B) 18:44; 77 teams started.
Stage 2
Paul Freary set off in confident mood and by the foot of the hill was already drifting into the lead as Birchfield began a 24 place crash, Morpeth dropped away and Newham's talented junior Tom Bilham also came back. Paul was still ahead as they ran along the top but he could hear breathing close behind as Bilham came back to give the Beagles a one second lead over Altrincham with Lincoln Wellington and Harrow also squeezing past. Just 12 seconds covered the first five.
1 Newham &EB (+1) 35:15; 2 Altrincham (+7) 35:16; 3 Lincoln W (+7) 35:18; 4 Harrow (+20) 35:26; 5 Belgrave (-1) 35:27; 6 Tipton (+5) 35:35; ... 44 Belgrave B (+1) 37:33.
Fastest: A Bowden (Harrow) 17:17; 2 J Mays (Kent) 17:21; 3 A McLean (Team Soton) 17:21; 14 P Freary 17:55; ... 36 M Byansi 18:49.
Stage 3
Step up Phil Wicks. Originally scheduled for first leg for the Bs, Phil was delighted with the additional excitement of running in the A squad. After weeks of being unable to run because of shin splints, during which he had kept aerobically fit by much swimming and cycling, he was back where he loved to be. There's no doubt that this was a painful run for him as he struggled to suck in oxygen and felt oh! so tired as the lap unwound; but he moved up a place and clocked a time which showed us that there is an extremely low 17 run due to pop out any time he tackles this circuit with a decent background.
Mark Warmby began to push the chips the way of the Beagles and Jason Ward kept "Alty" in contention but as Lincoln and Harrow's challenge faded, into the frame crept the familiar green and white hooped vest of Tipton, back in contention after a couple of years in the wilderness.
1 Newham &EB (0) 52:30; 2 Altrincham (0) 53:03; 3 Tipton (+3) 53:05; 4 Belgrave (+1) 53:19; 5 Sale (+2) 53:40; 6 Aldershot F&D (+7) 53:52; ... 44 Belgrave B (0) 57:02.
Fastest: 1 M Warmby (Newham &EB) 17:15; 2 D Webb (Leeds C) 17:29; 3 N Burton (Tipton) 17:30; ... 11 P Wicks 17:52; 51 P Willis 19:29.
Stage 4
Tipped for a good run, eighteen year-old Kris Gauson set out on stage four. Altrincham's bid subsided and very soon Kris was into 3rd but, now running on his own, his pace judgement let him down. Undoubtedly extremely fit, he was hitting the early part of the stage too hard and by the time the takeover had been reached a posse of five men had jumped him - Scaife (Morpeth), Frank Tickner (a scintillating 17:03 for Wells City), Cox (Bristol), North (Sale) and Robinson (AFD). Newham and Tipton seemed to be comfortably in charge of gold and silver while the Bels - and four other teams - were within ten seconds of bronze.
1 Newham &EB (0) 1:10:01; 2 Tipton (+1) 1:10:55; 3 Morpeth (+4) 1:11:49; 4 Wells C (+12) 1:11:51; 5 Bristol &W (+3) 1:11:52; 6 Sale (-1) 1:11:54; ... 8 Belgrave (-4) 1:11:59; 46 Belgrave B (-2) 1:16:56.
Fastest: 1 F Tickner (Wells C) 17:03; 2 M Geele (Newham &EB) 17:31; 3 D Deed (Bedford &C) 17:39; ... 19 K Gauson 18:40; 50 M Humphrey 19:54.
Stage 5
Nicholls (Tipton) and Vernon (Aldershot) put in the two fastest runs of stage five as the autumnal Sutton Park squalls began bending the trees and showering spectators and racers alike. But third fastest on the road was Simon Jones, reeling in Sale, Morpeth and Wells City, and clocking a time only seven seconds slower than Sharpy on stage one. Quiet in manner and steady in pace Simon's steely determination is proving a real asset to the Belgrave team.
1 Newham &EB (0) 1:27:44; 2 Tipton (0) 1:28:16; 3 Aldershot F&D (+4) 1:29:20; 4 Bristol &W (+1) 1:29:32; 5 Belgrave (+3) 1:29:38; 6 Morpeth (-3) 1:30:08.
Fastest: 1 P Nicholls (Tipton) 17:21; 2 A Vernon (Aldershot F&D) 17:24; 3 S Jones (Belgrave) 17:39.
Stage 6
With Mo Farah lined up for the last lap, the voyage of the Beagles was all but complete. Tipton too seemed safe in second - but what could our Davey do in the way of salvaging a set of bronze medals. He had an eighteen second gap to make up on Aldershot - it seemed possible - but Bristol's last man, setting out a mere six seconds ahead of him, was one Rob Whalley - in good shape and looking to impress the selectors and gain a British Ekiden Relay team slot.
With a way to go to reach top form, David did indeed pull back AFD but Whalley was too big an ask on this occasion. It was good running from our Vice-Skipper but with luck his best form will be seen in that period the other side of Christmas when National Cross and 12-Stage Relays enter our minds.
It was good to view Tipton back near the top and also to see local rivals Herne Hill make the journey to Sutton Park. Commiserations to Wells City who lost Adrian Marriott (rumoured to have been hospitalised the day before) and Notts AC whose first leg runner was injured just as the runners were beginning to line up.
Result:
1 Newham &EB (0) 1:44:46; 2 Tipton H (0) 1:46:24; 3 Bristol &W (+1) 1:47:01; 4 Belgrave H (+1) 1:47:29; 5 Morpeth H&AC (+1) 1:47:58; 6 Aldershot F&DAC -(3) 1:48:03; 73 teams finished.
Fastest: 1 M Farah (Newham &EB) 17:02; 2 R Whalley (Bristol &W) 17:29; 3 D Bilton (LeedsC) 17:45; ... 5 D Anderson 17:51.
Fastest overall:
1 M Farah (Newham &EB) 17:02; 2 F Tickner (Wells C) 17:03; 3 M Warmby (Newham &EB) 17:15; 4 A Bowden (Harrow AC) 17:17; 5= A MacLean (Team Soton), J Mays (Kent AC), P Nicholls (Tipton), J Ndayisenga (Birchfield H) 17:21; 9 A Vernon (Aldershot F&DAC) 17:24; 10 M East (Newham &EB) 17:25.
SIS Sandhurst Poppy Hill Trail 10 km, 15 October 2006.
Men. 1 T Lambert (Alton) 34:53; 11 P Cross 1st-M50 43:47.
Cumbria Half Marathon, 15 October 2006.
Men. 1 T Abyu (Salford) 1:09:48; 3 J Kimaiyo 1:10:03.
Cabbage Patch 10 miles, Twickenham, 15 October 2006.
Men. 1 S Kasimili (Kenya) 48:37; 9 M Byansi 53:24.
Women. 1 O Kimaiyo (Kenya) 55:46; 2 B Dagne 56:06.
Bushy Park 5 km, 14 October 2006.
Men. 1 W Cockerell 16:18.
NCAA Pre-National Meet 8 kmCC, Indiana USA, 14 October 2006.
Men. 9 S Overall (Butler/Blackheath) 23:53; 100 D Gauson 24:54.
Surrey County Veterans CC Champs, Petersham, 14 October 2006.
M40. 1 P Doyles (Ranelagh) 33:33; 12 S Zealey 38:14; 26 H Corbett M45 43:04; 30 R Walsh 47:54. Teams: 1 Ranelagh 13; 2 South London 21; 3 Hercules Wimbledon 29; 6 Belgrave 68.
M50. 1 B Attwell (South London) 36:18; 12 T O'Neill 40:02; 14 M Nouch 41:02; 19 P Cross 42:29; 24 D Anderson 44:01. Teams: 1 South London 13; 2 Hercules Wimb. 23; 3 Ranelagh 23; 4 Belgrave 45
M60. 1 G Newton (Tadworth) 40:46; 10 F Gander M70 48:56; 99 G Collins M65 52:02; 16 C Henn M75 55:05; 18 A Lane M70 59:04.
Women. 1 C Diss (Herne Hill 22:22; 43 J Moore W45 34:22.
Southend Classic 10 km, 8 October 2006.
Men. 1 C Bloomfield (Billericay) 31:32; 156 P Cross M50 40:41.
Woburn Abbey 10 km, 8 October 2006.
Men. 1 P Freary 31:23.
Surrey Women's CC League, Division One Race 1, Epsom Downs, 7 October 2006.
It's close - but Belles win League opener
Although team managers don't generally like surprises, the ones at Epsom Downs on Saturday weren't just good, they were very good. Having thought the team may be a little low on numbers due to various illnesses and injuries we ended up with a strong squad of eight for the first fixture of the season. Sadly there were no youngsters though, as Megan Evans had been taken ill the night before.
New team member Chrissie Wellington kept her running talent hidden to begin with as she'd never tackled a cross country race before and was doing it to build strength for her triathlon races. Not to worry advised the team manager, it's a 2 lap course, take it easy on the 1st lap and then if you're feeling strong on the 2nd, up the tempo. Hmmm, how foolish did the TM feel when she flew past in 3rd place after the first lap looking very comfortable and then managed to pick off the exceedingly talented Emily Nelson of Epsom & Ewell towards the end of the final lap to finish in 2nd place behind Lucy Hassell. Only after did we discover that she'd recently won the World Triathlon Age Group Champs (for all age groups!). Welcome to the team Chrissie, and we're looking forward to seeing more of you over the cross country.
But it wasn't a one person team effort, and following close behind in 8th place was the ever-present Sarah Murphy. Despite still suffering with knee problems this was another outstanding run from Sarah and she was closely followed by our youngest team member, Catherine Bryson, just outside the top 10, in 11th spot.
Tilly Heaton showed she was returning to her previous form with a top 20 finish (19th) and Erica Fogg closed in the team in 22nd place, having driven up from Southampton that morning. A quick tally of the other teams showed that the Belles had taken a good lead ahead of Thames and Ranelagh, although when the final results were published it proved to be a lot closer than originally perceived, with Ranelagh only 5 points behind.
Although a complete B team wasn't fielded, Sarah Gailey continued her ongoing improvement over the longer distances, and Helen Smethurst bravely tackled the cross country despite only just recovering from a foot injury to finish a solid 41st. Louise Cooper, more at home over longer distances still, managed to close in for the Belles in 54th place. It's going to be tough to maintain our lead in the league, but with a number of reliably strong team members absent but planning to be around in the next few fixtures, it's possible that we could wrest the title back from Ranelagh again.
1 L Hassell (Thames H&H) 18:14; 2 C Wellington (Belgrave) 19:16; 3 E Nelson (Epsom & E) 19:23; 8 S Murphy 19:42; 11 C Bryson 20:13; 19 M Heaton 20:54; 22 E Fogg 21:04; 39 S Gailey 22:02; 41 H Smethurst W40 22:07; 54 L Cooper 22:45.
Teams: 1 Belgrave H 62; 2 Ranelagh H 67; 3 Thames H&H 78; 4 Stragglers 165; 5 Herne Hill H 166; 6 Wimbledon Windmilers 167; 7 South London H 209; 8 Epsom & E 215; ... 19 Belgrave H 'B' 467; 36 teams.
Sweatshop Men's Surrey CC League, Division One Race 1, Brockwell Park, 7 October 2006.
Second place at Brockwell Park
“Looks like we’re going to have a picnic,” said Rob Harding, when he showed up with his family and saw the cool bags and cake boxes stacked at the foot of the Belgrave flag. Afterwards, maybe, but the race was no picnic as Herne Hill slammed all-comers on their home turf.
Several days of heavy rain had failed to do more than encourage the grass to grow, and on the lush Brockwell Park sward, in brilliant sunshine, around 170 runners charged away from the start. The course had been extended a little to make it a full five miles this year.
John Kimaiyo and Malachi Byansi led up the slope but as soon as the top had been gained it was Jermaine Mays, in South London’s colours, in the front – and he stayed there for the next half hour. Dave Anderson chased hard to start with but having just had a cold found himself engulfed in a wave of dizziness that he couldn’t shake off – and wisely came out just before the end of the first lap when lying in second place.
“Sharpy” was not to be found in his normal front rank position. He was using the race as a training run and attempting to keep his heart rate below 175 before letting rip in the last 15 minutes. But not far away was Richard Stannard, World Aquathlon Champion from Lausanne a few weeks back and starting a winter of cross country in a quest to get his 5k time down to 14:30 next summer. The Skipper and Mike Trees were also in the vicinity so the scoring position wasn’t too bad but it was obvious that Herne Hill were on their way to a win.
Into the second lap then. Stephen Sharp pulled back places but while Malachi and John Kimaiyo held their positions, Richard found himself under attack from Will Cockerell and then Mike Trees, as he faded towards the end of the race. Good to see that Knut Hegvold has shaken off his foot injury – but then a little gap until juniors Alex Bodin (non-scoring) and James Fairbourn came through. James has recently started at Loughborough University but says he has every intention of getting back for each of the league races.
Soon the leaders were approaching the finish. Stephen was into 4th … and then 3rd as he overtook McFarlane of Thames but then ran out of race before Herne Hill’s Dave Taylor could be reached. Each of the others more or less held their positions with another astonishing performance from Malachi. Completing the ten it was Warren Lynch and - would you believe it – Rob Harding. Apologies to Robert Norville, who ran a good race and went away thinking he’d made the scorers for the first time.
Among the rest of our 21 starters, Peter Cross made a rare and welcome excursion onto the country, Tim Weeks began his climb back to fitness after months of inactivity and our President Dave McMillan celebrated his election to high office with two energetic laps of Brockwell Park.
As is often the case, we’ve given ourselves a fair old handicap if we have any intentions of winning the league – we were exactly double the winning team’s score. But if it was a lackadaisical day for the Bels it was doubly so for Thames who found themselves behind Ranelagh for the first time in many seasons.
In the youngsters' race Joseph Taylor-Holland was our sole representative. We had hoped for more to back him up - but somehow they didn't materialize. He might have been on his own but as last year's individual U13 winner, Joe looks set to make a big impact in the U15s this time around.
1 J Mays (South London) 25:58; 2 D Taylor M40 (Herne Hill) 26:23; 3 S Sharp (Belgrave) 26:37; 14 J Kimaiyo 27:51; 15 M Byansi 27:57; 17 W Cockerell 28:00; 20 M Trees M40 28:09; 21 R Stannard 28:15; 33 K Hegvold M40 29:05; 47 (guest) A Bodin (U20) 29:48; 57 (scoring 52) J Fairbourn U20 30:15; 68 (62) W Lynch 30:32; 89 (77) R Harding M40 31:37; 97 R Norville 31:57; 99 S Zealey (M40) 32:09; 122 T Weeks 33:56; 128 M Taylor (M40) 34:18; 139 P Cross (M50) 35:36; 140 H Corbett (M40) 35:41; 154 L Rehn (M40) 38:07; 157 D McMillan (M50) 40:08; 162 finished; dnf D Anderson; S Baxendale.
1 Herne Hill H 157; 2 Belgrave H 314; 3 Ranelagh H 378; 4 Thames H&H 395; 5 South London H 452; 6 Stragglers 499; 7 Guildford &G 604; 8 Reigate Priory 607; 9 Dulwich R 689.
Under 15. 1 T Nunn (Ranelagh) 15:44; 6 J Taylor-Holland 16:37.
BUPA Great North Run, Newcastle, 1 October 2006.
Men. 1 H Ramaala (RSA) 1:01:03; 1096 P Cross M50 1:34:19.
Women. 1 B Adere (Ethiopia) 1:10:03; 13 B Dagne 1:14:45.
BMAF Northern Veterans 10 miles, 1 October 2006.
Men. 1 P Freary 52:35.
Highclere Castle Multi-Terrain 10 km, 1 October 2006.
Women. 1 L Cooper 39:48.
George Cummings Relays, Houston, 30 September 2006.
Women. 3x2.7 miles: C Bertram 16:56.
Bushy Park 5 km, 30 September 2006.
Men. 1 A Bodin U20 16:18; 2 W Cockerell 16:22; 22 N Levy 19:42.
Women. 1 C Pauzers (Herne H) 18:36; 3 E Viljoen 19:59.
Bill Dellinger Cross Invitation, "Pre's Trail" 8 km, 30 September 2006.
Men. 1 J Rohatinaky (Byu) 22:58.37; 55 D Gauson 24:28.96.
Bexhill Seafront 10 km, 24 September 2006.
Men. 1 C Illman (Cirencester) 35:17; 21 P Cross 41:28.
Windsor Half-Marathon, 24 September 2006.
Men. 1 T Abyu (Salford) 1:06:25; 2 M Miles 1:07:58.
Women. 1 B Dagne 1:15:07.
Swansea 10 km, 24 September 2006.
BMAF Championship. M55. 1 J Exley (Oxford C) 35:43; 2 C Dickinson 36:08.
Roy Griak Cross Invitation, University of Minnesota, 23 September 2006.
Men. 1 R Cheseret (Arizona/Kenya) 24:22; 115 D Gauson 26:26.
Aldershot Relays inc. SEAA Men’s 6-Stage road Relay, Rushmoor Arena, 23 September 2006
Beagles and Wells beat the Bels
Missing Phil Wicks (injured), Spencer Barden (retired from top level competition), Jonathan Blackledge (on a break), Tim Watson (overseas with the Army) and Alaster Stewart (a long term viral problem) - only Stephen Sharp survived in the A squad from last year's winning outfit. Others unavailable included Kris Gauson (on a break followed up by being ill), Darren Gauson (at university in the USA) and David Anderson (at a wedding); and yet hopes were still high and a fifth consecutive win was certainly being targeted. On this day, however, it would have taken a superhuman effort to outrun Newham & Essex Beagles - and all credit to Wells City who operated at full strength to take silver medals. Our own run went a little haywire on stage two but many times were down on expectations and with the Beagles in full cry - maybe it was a good day to have a bad day!
For the first time prize money was available - £250 for the fastest lap with a £100 bonus for breaking the individual course record.
Stage 1
Should we start off with Richard Ward, on his first tour of duty in Rushmoor Arena, or Shugri Omar, fit after a late start to his track season but with no 5k form behind him. We went with the former – and it worked out right. Richard was close to his expected time and 7th place was a solid start – but up front another 1500 metre runner of note was making the early pace and came home in second place – Newham’s Michael East. Stage winner was Poole’s Willard Chinhanhu.
Stage 2
A good run in the previous week’s Bristol Half Marathon cemented Hassan’s place in the team but what we didn’t know was that race day at Rushmoor coincided with the first day of Ramadan and Hassan was fasting. On his initial lap he slipped back and although he tried to respond to encouragement to pick it up over the second circuit, things did not get any better. Instead of moving up a place or two, Hassan found half a dozen men coming past him and he ran a minute slower than we might have thought. We were 13th and a minute and a half off the lead.
Newham had moved ahead by a pace or two from Wells City who were already impressing – the Somerset club were second in 2005 and once again they’d managed to attend Rushmoor Arena with a full strength team. Fastest on the lap was Angus MacLean of Southampton, a second ahead of Kent’s Jermain Mays.
Stage 3
Well, it was all set up for Stephen Sharp with a string of men ahead to pull on. He felt good – but that speedy time didn’t come. Stephen was fastest on the stage but his 18:28 was his slowest on this course and he probably has yet to settle down after a change in coaching regime. Newham’s lesser-known runners were holding up well in front and there was still only a second in it between them and Wells City. Kent were into 3rd but six clubs had fallen to Stephen’s stride and we were back to 7th – although still just over a minute down.
Stage 4
Paul Freary had been clocking up some good times recently and took the precaution of not running the half marathon the previous week. It paid off. He tells us that he’s learned something over the years and that he’s reigning himself in over the early stages of his races these days. Determined to go through the first kilometre no faster than 3 minutes, he nevertheless hit that mark in 2:50 and as a result still felt that he “blew up.” Nevertheless, his tussle with Aldershot’s Ben Moreau resulted in a time only one second slower than his best and, more importantly, took us into 3rd place. Frank Tickner scorched a 17:59 to put Wells 45 seconds ahead but nobody had any thoughts that the race was over, seeing who the Beagles had lined up for their last two stages.
Stage 5
Always our star man, Mark Miles toed the line for stage five but the gaps were too large for us to dream of an advance to silver medals. Moumin Geele for Newham ripped into the Wells’ lead and just less than 18 minutes later moved a step ahead of Adrian Marriott to regain pole position. An isolated Mark pulled back 35 seconds on Marriott and gave us a cushion of a minute and a quarter on AFD. We weren’t going to win but we certainly didn’t want to end up out of the medals.
Stage 6
Mohammed Farah toyed with Wells’ Ben Tickner for a while but then turned on the after-burners to clock an outstanding 17:14 – 7 seconds away from a course record that dates back to 1989. Our own Simon Jones had come down with a cold after the previous weekend’s effort at Bristol where he had felt very sluggish. We had considered taking him out of the line-up but he was intent on putting down some sort of mark to be thrown into the National selection process. Our Skipper gamely took on the job of anchorman for the Bs, ready to switch teams should Simon feel too bad in warm up. As it turned out, and in spite of suffering somewhat, Simon clocked a respectable time and bronze medals became even more secure.
In this qualifier a top twenty-five placing is required to clinch a place on the start line at Sutton Park. Our B team were never lower than that mark and came through strongly to finally place 15th with Newham’s B’s 14th and Aldershot’s 16th.
1 Newham & Essex Beagles 1:49:20; 2 Wells City H 1:50:27; 3 Belgrave H 1:51:48; 4 Aldershot Farnham & D AC 1:53:10; 5 Kent AC 1:54:21; 6 Bedford & County AC 1:54:57; 15 Belgrave H ‘B’ 1:58:47; dnf Belgrave H ‘C’; 91 teams started; 76 teams finished.
A – R Ward (7) 18:31; H Raidi (13) 19:36; S Sharp (7) 18:28; P Freary (3) 18:25; M Miles (3) 18:06; S Jones (3) 18:42.
B – S Omar (13) 18:48; K Hegvold M40 (24) 20:14; M Humphrey (25) 20:42; M Byansi (18) 19:24; P Willis (17) 20:01; W Cockerell (15) 19:38.
C – J Kimaiyo (16) 19:13; J Fairbourn U20 20:56; A Bodin U20 (36) 20:49; W Lynch (41) 21:33; D McMillan M55 27:24.
Fastest: 1 M Farah (Newham &EB) 17:14; 2 A MacLean (T Southampton) 17:41; 3 J Mays (Kent) 17:42; 4 W Chinhanhu (Poole) 17:53; 5 M Geele (Newham &EB) 17:55; 6 M East (Newham &EB) 17:56; 10 M Miles 18:06; 17 P Freary 18:25; =18 S Sharp 18:28.
Bushy Park 5 km, 23 September 2006.
Women. 2 S Gailey 19:53.
Bristol Half Marathon, 17 September 2006.
Men. 1 P Makau (Kenya) 1:03:37; 4 M Miles 1:05:48; 9 S Jones 1:08:22; 11 H Raidi 1:09:30; 15 M Byansi 1:10:35; 17 J Kipkemoi Kimaiyo 1:10:59.
Teams: 1 Belgrave 39; 2 Bristol & West 159; 3 City of Bath 223; 101 teams closed in.
Women. 1 C Mutwa (Kenya) 1:12:33; 2 B Dagne 1:14:35.
Guardian Copthall 5 miles multi-terrain, Epping, 17 September 2006.
Men. 1 M Humphrey 29:14.
Faversham 10 km, 17 September 2006.
Men. 1 L McMeekin (?) 34:32; 29 P Cross M50 41:18.
IAU 50 km, Winschoten, Holland, 16 September 2006.
Women. 1 Z Morrell (GBR) 3:31:19; 6 L Cooper 3:54:44.
Bushy Park 5 km, 16 September 2006.
Men. 1 R Ward 15:23; 4 A Bodin U20 16:33.
Rye 10 km, 15 September 2006.
Men. 1 J Creane (London Irish) 32:43; 2 M Humphrey 34:14.
Canvey Island 10 km, 10 September 2006.
Men. 1 C Bloomfield (Billericay) 35:05; 32 P Cross M50 42:11.
Cotswold Classic 10 miles, Witney, 10 September 2006.
Men. 1 S Jones 52:30 (course record).
Trafford 10 km, 10 September 2006.
Men. 1 S Hepples (Newham & EB) 30:23; 2 P Freary 30:47; 13 P Willis 33:41.
Experian Robin Hood Half Marathon, 10 September 2006.
Men. 1 S Kasimili (Kenya) 63:52; 9 J Kimaiyo 71:11.
Surrey Road Relays, Wimbledon Park, 9 September 2006.
The season starts with a win
Well, it was a fraught old day as we took on a large share of the organisation of this event and also fielded six teams. But somehow we got through it – even if half our men’s C team did all have to go off together to get a run after a mix-up on stage 2. We have a few ideas for improved organisation next time – but while we were conscious of the glitches here and there, a whole batch of emails from those representing the 19 clubs that entered and the 82 teams that ran outlined the enjoyment they’d gained from the event. Gordon Biscoe organised the officials, members of Hercules Wimbledon AC marshalled the course and Alan Mead took the entries and produced the results – so thanks to them for keeping this event in the calendar.
It was a gorgeous autumn day, writes Catherine Eastham, and the Belles ensured that it wasn’t only going to be the men who carried the club’s colours around the ups and downs of Wimbledon. Catherine Bryson, is showing continuously improving form and she took on the battle of the first stage with plenty of men around her providing ample support and competition. Catherine brought the Belles home in second place, just pipped by Ranelagh’s Cilla Pettersson, and clocked the third fastest time of the day behind Pettersson and Epsom’s Emily Nelson. She now owns our second fastest time over this relay course, just behind Angela Walker’s now defunct 2003 course record of 16.44.
Sarah Gailey knocked more than 2 minutes off her previous best with a powerful run that surprised even herself and brought the Belles home in the lead. Following her great form on the track this summer, it looks like it will be a good winter for Sarah too.
Syreeta Stracey took on leg 3 and although she dropped a few places due to a lack of fitness, her time was surprisingly good for someone who hasn’t trained or raced for a few years and we’re sure it won’t take Syreeta long to be back amongst the action! Tilly Heaton took on leg 4 despite not being at 100% fitness. Having just been diagnosed with anaemia, Tilly is hoping that a swift course of iron will soon help her get back to her old competitive self. A brave effort brought Tilly and the team back in a respectable 5th place, with Ranelagh the champions yet again.
The Belles weren’t a scoring team as Catherine Bryson does not have a Surrey qualification, but despite coming 5th, the Belles clocked their fastest team time over this course, at 73:27, almost a minute quicker than 2002’s previous best effort.
For the men, David Anderson led off for the Bs, checking on his fitness as he works himself back to good form. Approaching the finish some way down on Thames’ John McFarlane, he sped round the oval to hand over with a two second lead, setting the fastest time of the day. We take it he was happy enough as he slid open the window of the results hut to grin and ask whether he’d done enough to claim a “six-stage place!” Not too far behind was 'A' runner Padraic Buckley, giving our Surrey team a grand start, and he in turn was chased hard by Alex Bodin for the 'C's. Charlie Dickinson gave the M50s a good shot at medals by placing 18th overall and second in the age group behind an already dominant South London Harriers.
The non-scoring 'B' team took a lead of nearly a minute on the second leg as Simon Jones ran what was meant to be the first of two even paced consecutive stages. His next run was due to be for the 'C' team but as they failed to connect, his training session had to be adapted to include a further circuit without a race number. Mark Humphrey was disappointed with his run for the Surrey six but nevertheless, the team moved up to 4th spot.
Two veterans took charge of stage three – Knut Hegvold for the 'A's took us up to second and leaders in the Championship stakes – while two minutes up the road the only team ahead was our non-scoring outfit in the charge of Peter Fallenius. Should these two ever team up with others (and there are guys around just approaching or past 40) they could form the nucleus of a devastating veteran team.
In great marathon form, McFarlane took to the road again for his second stint in a Thames team (this time their 'B's) and he jumped up a couple of places to split the claret and gold vests. Will Cockerell felt his blast on the way through but was moving well enough himself and we headed the race for gold medals even though in third place with our own 'B's, in the form now of Jason Webb, still enjoying a one minute advantage over the field. With the completion of stage four the veteran races came to an end: Terry O’Neill was on a charge, just failing to move our M50s from bronze to silver.
For the penultimate stage in the senior men’s race young James Fairbourn found himself in the unenviable position of taking off in the lead with Hassan Raidi gunning for him. In one of the best runs of his short career James held up well but inevitably Hassan reeled him in and as they entered the track for the final takeover the 'A's went ahead and order was established. Richard Ward had been regaled with stories of how Herne Hill’s Dave Taylor had run down our leaders on the final lap in the past – but there was no such drama on this occasion and our sixth man did not have to extend himself to make sure of the win. Almost a minute behind, McFarlane was on his third outing – setting the third out of the five fastest times of the day – to bring the Thames non-scorers in ahead of our own.
Senior Men. 1 Belgrave (1st Surrey) 1:30:19; 2 Thames H&H (n/s) 1:31:15; 3 Belgrave 'B' (n/s) 1:32:02; 4 Ranelagh H (2nd Surrey) 1:33:26; 5 Hercules Wimbledon (3rd Surrey) 1:34:13; 6 South London (4th Surrey) 1:34:24.
A - P Buckley (6) 14:52, M Humphrey (4) 15:27; K Hegvold M40 (2) 15:36; W Cockerell (3) 15:14; H Raidi (1) 14:30; R Ward (1) 14:40.
B - David Anderson (1) 14:05; S Jones (1) 14:31; P Fallenius M40 (1) 15:16; J Webb (1) 15:52; J Fairbourn U20 (2) 16:05; W Lynch (3) 16:13.
C - A Bodin U20 (7) 14:54.
Fastest: David Anderson 14:05; J McFarlane (Thames H&H) 14:07; J McFarlane (Thames H&H) 14:19; J Hamblen (Walton) 14:23; J McFarlane (Thames H&H) 14:24.
M40. 1 South London (1st Surrey) 1:03:00; 2 South London 'B' 1:06:25; 3 Ranelagh (2nd Surrey) 1:06:47; 4 Thames H&H (n/s) 1:07:06; 5 Herne Hill (3rd Surrey) 1:08:36; 9 Belgrave 1:15:45.
S Zealey (8) 16:52; L Rehn (8) 19:09; H Corbett (10) 18:57; D McMillan M50 (9) 20:47.
Fastest: V Maughn (Herne Hill) 15:20; R Marriott (South London) 15:22; C Phelan (South Lonson) 15:36.
M50. 1 South London 1:08:06; 2 Reigate Priory 1:09:05; 3 Belgrave 1:09:08.
C Dickinson (2) 16:19; M Nouch (3) 17:52; Don Anderson (3) 17:57; T O'Neill (3) 17:00.
Fastest: B Attwell (South London) 15:52; C Dickinson (Belgrave) 16:19; K Archer (Reigate Priory) 16:31.
Senior Women