Velocity Events End of '07 10 km, Harrietsham, 30 December 2007.

Men. 1 J Harrison (Unatt) 33:33; 24 P Cross M50 42:41.

Banstead Woods 5 km Trial, 29 December 2007.

Men. 1 R Ward 16:37.

Bushy Park 5 km Trial, 29 December 2007.

Men. 1 T Elsey (HHH) 16:25; 2 R Stannard 17:12.

Serpentine Last Friday 5km, Hyde Park, 28 December 2007.

Men. 1 T Penfold (Birchfield) 15:09; 39 C Dickinson M55 18:02; 70 L Rehn M45 19:36.

Women. 1 R Townend (Winchester) 15:56; 14 V Goodwin 21:28; 18 M Noel W40 22:37; 19 H Smethurst W40 22:39; 29 J Beecroft 24:07.

Banstead Woods 5km Trial, 26 December 2007.

Men. 1 R Ward 16:37.

Lauriston 30 minute Paarlauf, Wimbledon Common, 25 December 2007.

1 H Ahmed (HW)/J O’Halloran (HW) 5 miles/1479 yards; ...6 R Ward (Belg)/Sarah Allen (HHH) 5 miles/872 yards.

Christmas Caper, Torrington, 23 December 2007.

Men. 1 T Watson 1:00:54.

Richmond Park 5km Time Trial, 22 December 2007.

Men. 1 R Ward 16:42.

Richmond Park 5km Time Trial, 22 December 2007.

Men. 1 R Ward 16:42.

Telford 10 km, 16 December 2007.

Men. 1 D Webb (Leeds City) 29:32; 4 S Jones 29:57; 5 S Sharp 30:05.

South of Thames CC Assoc. Champs., Nork Park, Banstead, 15 December 2007.

After a quiet couple of weeks nursing a calf problem, Phil Wicks fancied a tester and made a late decision to turn out at Nork Park - a four lap course with a 500m lead in and finish alongside the football pitches. Sadly we'd lost half a dozen men in the week before the race and were therefore not going to be quite as competitive as we'd have liked.

It was as if "Wicksy" had been fired from a cannon as the runners set out. Any other pretenders to the title gave up their claim immediately as he'd stolen a 40 metre lead by the time the length of two football pitches had been travelled. Paul Rogers of Crawley and our own James Kelly led the rest of the charge and when the first lap had been completed these two were still locked together with Phil now 40 seconds ahead.

Herne Hill were already in command of the team race, unable to match the Belgrave fire power at the front of the race but packing their scoring six into the top twenty with spare men backing up close behind. James Fairbourn had made a bold start while Mal Byansi, Knut Hegvold and Tim Weeks completed our six.

Two laps gone and Phil was lapping the tail-enders. Rogers had moved away from James K but James F was holding on to a place inside the top dozen and both Knut and Tim were moving through well - and a lap later it was a similar story except that a slightly uncomfortable looking James Kelly had now been overtaken by Connor of Kent AC.

And so to the finish where Phil's final winning margin was 70 seconds. It's relatively rare for a man to defend his title in this event, the last man to do so being Horsham Blue Star's Rowland in 1982-3. James Kelly had found some of the downhill stretches unpleasant as the ghost of an old Achilles tendon injury visited him but, cock-a-hoop with his best ever run, was James Fairbourn - still fighting for places as he entered the finish funnel.

Looking completely composed, Tim Weeks was closing down on Knut and Malachi who had themselves come through the field in the latter stages. And a special word for Richard Merrick: under the impression that he was our twelfth man (in fact we only started ten) a flat car battery failed to deter him, and travelling by bike and train to the venue (leaping the barrier at Clapham to save time), he warmed up by pedalling furiously on the three mile climb from Ewell to Banstead.

7.5 miles. Men. 1 P Wicks 32:54; 2 P Rogers (Crawley) 34:05; 3 J Connor (Kent) 34:37; 4 J Kelly 34:51; 12 J Fairbourn 36:22; 25 K Hegvold M40 37:21; 27 M Byansi 37:43; 29 T Weeks 38:09; 65 S Zealey M40 41:35; 80 C Hobbs 43:24; 85 R Merrick 44:20.

Teams: 1 Herne Hill H 65; 2 Belgrave H 98; 3 Brighton & Hove City 110; 11 teams closed in.

12 to score: 1 Herne Hill H 373; 2 Brighton & Hove City 406.

Bedford H Half Marathon, 9 December 2007.

Men. 1 R Burgess-Gamble (Barnet &D) 1:09:56; 192 P Cross M50 1:32:05.

Thompson Brothers Mizuno Stockport 10 miles, 9 December 2007.

Men. 1 M Miles 50:22.

Cockington Christmas Caper 7 miles, Torquay, 8 December 2007.

Men. 1 T Watson 46:14.

Banstead Woods Time Trial 5 km, 8 December 2007.

Men. 1 W Clark (Epsom & E) 16:03; 2 R Ward 16:08.

Thanet Coastal 10 miles, 2 December 2007.

Men. 1 A Lowther (Medway &M) 55:33; 31 P Cross M50 1:08:23.

Scotiabank Half Marathon, Bridgetown, Barbados, 2 December 2007.

Women. 1 J Cheberon (Kenya) 1:17:22; 4 B Dagne 1:20:32.

Victory 5 miles, Portsmouth, 2 December 2007.

Men. 1 S Overall (Blackheath &B) 24:43; 6 N Speaight 25:19; 47 M Whiting 29:20.

Nature Valley 10 km, Bridgetown, Barbados, 1 December 2007.

Women. 1 J Cheberon (Kenya) 34:05; 3 B Dagne 36:44.

Scottish Universities CC Champs., Heriot Watt University, 1 December 2007.

Men. 10 km. 1 C McNulty (Strathclyde) 30:25; 6 K Gauson 31:18.

Oxford v Cambridge CC Race, Wimbledon Common, 1 December 2007.

Men. 1 P Natali (Camb) 39:06; 3 J Kelly (Camb/Belgrave) 39:25.

Wimbledon Common Time Trial 5 km, 1 December 2007.

Men. 1 R Ward 16:33; 6 G Adams 18:11.

Serpentine Last Friday 5 km, Hyde Park 2007, 30 November 2007.

Men. 1 R Ward 16:00.

Maylarch Eynsham 10 km, 25 November 2007.

Men. 1 A Prophett (Cheltenham) 32:46; 79 P Cross M50 39:59.

Hadleigh 10 miles, 25 November 2007.

Women. 1 N Belsome (Ipswich) 65:07; 7 S Cookson 1-W35 68:35.

UK Cross Challenge, Sefton Pk, Liverpool, 24 November 2007.

9.8 km. Men. 1 P Riley (Leigh) 30:18; 29 P Wicks 31:55; 71 M Pollard 33:44; 244 M Humphrey 40:57.

Richmond Park 5 km Time Trial, 24 November 2007.

Men. 1 R Ward 16:40.

Bushy Park 5 km Time Trial, 24 November 2007.

Men. 1 R Stannard 16:04.

Seagate Elite Invitational 5 km, San Jose, USA, 22 November 2007.

Men. 13 T Bayley 14:19.

Insurance CC Champs., Richmond Pk, 21 November 2007.

Men. 1 A Weir (Fidelity) 30:52; 58 C Hobbs 38:34; 86 L Rehn M45 40:50.

Brooks Brighton 10 km, 18 November 2007.

Men. 1 S Sharp 31:10; 29 L Greatorex 34:13; 165 I Ball 39:05; 246 P Cross M50 40:26; 389 L Rehn M45 42:41.

Women. 1 N Harvey (South London) 34:20; C Eastham 44:35.

South of Thames 5 miles Team Race, Petersham, 17 November 2007.

Men. 1 D Lacy (Camb H) 28:46; 11 K Hegvold M40 31:04; 52 F Ward M50 33:42; 100 D Anderson M50 38:32.

Brighton & Hove 5 km Time Trial, 17 November 2007.

Men. 1 R Ward 16:14.

Stebbing 10 miles, 11 November 2007.

Men. 1 M Muir (Ilford) 53:36; 69 P Cross M50 1:07:42.

49e Internationale VGZ Warandeloop Tilburg, The Netherlands, 11 November 2007.

Men. 1 R El Mostapha (Bahrain) 31:18; 4 P Wicks 31:31.

"Sweatshop" Men's Surrey CC League, Race 2, Wimbledon Common, 10 November 2007.

Well, this team had a different look to it ... but as far as the result was concerned it was "no change". For their home match Thames turned out a squad that was too good for the rest. The Bels might have challenged with two more strong runners but colds and injury ruled out a couple of men and in the event five new faces were into the scoring ten as compared with the opening match.

The Sharpman was supposed to be taking it easy on the first lap before coming through on the second; as it turned out he was well up there all the way through. Ok, one might have expected that, but not on the agenda was the forward running of 17 year-old Nick Goolab, training partner of "Sharpy" and cruising home in 11th, scoring 10th. Nick is right at the bottom of the U20 age group but will surely feature in the Championship events the other side of Christmas. And he wasn't the only young man to keep the more experienced men on their toes, for improving another 10 places on his October outing was 20 year-old James Fairbourn - still with only a couple of years of running behind him yet beginning to see a pathway into our major teams.

And yet another 20 year-old made his Surrey League début. Joe van der Toorn has been active for us on the track over 800 metres but in this, only his second cross country race since the age of 15 (the first was the previous week's "Hellrunner" 8 miles,) he comfortably got into the scoring 10.

But it was also a day for old favourites as The Skipper just kept clear of a seriously improving Neil Speaight (up 26 places) while it was good to welcome Kassa Tadesse back into the fold.  Lee Greatorex and Tim Weeks both improved more than ten places ... and aren't we pleased that veteran Steve Zealey turned out to close in the team! 

Unfortunately both Tom Ellacott and Warren Lynch had to come out of the race with calf muscle problems. Hopefully they'll both be injury free soon.  

1 H Lobb (Thames H&H) 28:42; 2 S Sharp (Belgrave) 28:48; 3 P Rogers (Reigate P) 28:53; ... 11 N Goolab U20 30:07; 13 W Cockerell 30:23; 14 N Speaight 30:30; 24 K Tadesse 31:19; 28 J Fairbourn 31:32; 31 L Greatorex 31:39; 36 J van der Toorn 32:01; 37 T Weeks 32:04; 78 S Zealey M40 34:12; 88 R Norville 34:52; 102 A Marek 35:52; 122 R Merrick 37:11; 131 M Taylor M40 38:01; 141 P Cross M50 39:10; 149 M Humphrey 39:54; 159 L Rehn 41:28.

Overall. 1 Thames Hare & Hounds 154; 2 Herne Hill H 227; 3 Belgrave H 255; 4 Ranelagh H 331; 5 Reigate Priory 508; 6 Hercules Wimbledon 534; 7 South London H 632; 8 Guildford & Godalming  642; 9 Wimbledon Windmilers 812.

Overall. 1 Thames Hare & Hounds 357; 2 Herne Hill H 447; 3 Belgrave H 518; 4 Ranelagh H 637; 5 Hercules Wimbledon 1063; 6 Reigate Priory 1127; 7 South London H 1212; 8 Guildford & Godalming  1305; 9 Wimbledon Windmilers 1524.

Women's Surrey CC league, Race 2, Cranford, 10 November 2007.

For the first time in a long while the Belles failed to turn out a full team of five and suffered the penalty of having the maximum scoring points added to their score. So in spite of Sarah Murphy's continued forward running the team crashed to =14th on the day and tumbled down the league table from 2nd to 7th.

There was good news in the Under 15 age group, however, where Megan Evans moved up from 10th in match 1 to 3rd here. Jo Foxley made a similar dramatic improvement and as a result they placed 7th as a team. Just a couple more girls in this age group and we could be challenging for a team win!

Senior Women. 1 A Braham (Thames H&H) 19:57; 2 L Hasell (Thames H&H) 20:08; 3 E Nelson (Epsom &E) 20:29 ... 5 S Murphy 21:11; 17 E Fogg 22:26; 47 C Eastham 24:32; 109 J Beecroft 28:26.

Teams. 1 Thames H&H 72; 2 Herne H 79; 3 Ranelagh H 84; 4 South London H 133; 5 West 4 161; 6 Stragglers 214; ... =14 Belgrave H 332.

Overall. 1 Ranelagh H 163; 2 Herne Hill 195; 3 Thames H&H 303; 4 West 4 308; 5 Stragglers 333; 6 South London 386; 7 Belgrave 425; 8 Dulwich R 436 ; 9 Reigate P 454; 10 Dorking &MV 472.

Under 15 Girls. 1 G O'Leary (Sutton) 18:08; 3 M Evans 18:56; 14 J Foxley 21:32.

Teams: =1 Guildford &G and Herne Hill H 37; 7 Belgrave H 134 (6th overall).

Stevenage Half Marathon, 4 November 2007.

Men. 1 D Wardle (Woodford GwEL) 1:07:34; 71 P Cross M50 1:29:34.

Mornington Chasers 10 km, Regent's Park, 4 November 2007.

Men. 1 A Symonds (Shaftesbury B) 33:42; 3 H Raidi 34:47.

Hellrunner 8 miles CC, Longmoor Army Camp, 4 November 2007.

Men. 1 N Sharp (unatt) 64:14; 16 J van der Toorn 72:10.

Ronhill Surrey Classic 10 km, Nonsuch Park, 4 November 2007.

Men. 1 T Doran (Elmbridge( 32:45; 7 M Webb M40 35:33; 202 D Davies M65 55:11.

USA Marathon Trial, New York, 3 November 2007.

Men. 1 R Hall 2:09:02; 86 B Poore 2:29:14.

ECCA National CC Relays, Berry Hill Park, Mansfield, 3 November 2007.

Sweet Victory at Berry Hill

"Well done Belgrave!"  "Good race lads!" 

As the two Belgrave teams warmed down together once the race was over they accepted the acclaim with justifiable pleasure.  The National Cross Country Relay is one of the hardest titles to win. Quite a few clubs can turn out four fast men, while on the other hand just one slightly below par effort in a foursome can be the difference between a team medal and tenth place. It had been a great race of very high standard with the lead chopping and changing; and it had been a day for keeping one’s nerve as our team were off the front but holding … and then building … a lead on rival quartets who were behind but sure to come good on the final circuit.

The start/finish had been moved along the course a little and although we were assured that the overall distance remained the same, one couldn’t help thinking that, as the finishing runners had to keep going to the timing mat, a few metres may have been added on to each stage.  The ground was firm and dry, the air was balmy and the sun shone brightly – were we really into November?

As normal the start was ferocious and out of the maelstrom of flying feet and jabbing elbows it was the Bristol & West and Gateshead vests showing ahead with Windsor’s James McIlroy and Stockport’s Steve Vernon in the second rank; but Stephen Sharp was close at hand, sparring with Andy Baddeley of Harrow and half a dozen others in the tightly bunched mêlée. Steve had recently taken a few days out of training with a cold but, relishing his task of getting us off to a good start and enjoying his new role as Running Vice-Captain, there was no way he was going to give less than his best. It was only on the sprint up the final climb that his lungs began to fail to suck in enough oxygen, but he was across the timing mat in 6th place in his second best time for the course. Harrow had grabbed a handy lead but none of the teams ahead of us were expected to be the ones to worry about.  The Beagles were in 15th (+15secs), Leeds were 17th (+17), Wells City 19th (+17) and Aldershot 30th (+34); absolutely no room for complacency though, for the equally dangerous Sale, Bedford and Notts AC men were breathing down Stephen’s neck.

Mark Pollard was disappointed with his form at the SEAA 6-stage and had to attend Sutton Park for the national event as reserve.  But he quietly bided his time on the periphery of the A team – and then grasped the opportunity to move into the scoring four at Mansfield when first choice Jonathan Blackledge had to pull out due to blisters that had turned septic after the Great South 10-miler. We needed Mark to hold steady in the face of the expected attack from Wells City’s Ben Tickner and the Beagles’ Keith Gerrard; as long as we were more or less on terms with those two teams at the end of the stage we felt that our chances of winning would be kept alive. 

More or less on terms?  Mark was awesome as he turned on a “gutsy” display and did far more for the team than we were asking.  He was the key to our eventual success. Four of the teams ahead fell back … and behind … but while this was going on, our man was involved in a titanic battle to try to hold on to Matt Janes of Bedford, who were beginning to raise a few eyebrows, while the experienced Peter Riley of Leigh also came past.  Harrow had extended their lead and were now 33 seconds ahead of us but – good old Mark – Leeds and the Beagles, although shooting up through the field, were still around half a minute behind. With Mark Miles next we now believed we could do it – unless we’d underestimated Harrow and Bedford.

And then of course there was Notts AC!  With in-form Billy Farquharson next up for them, was this going to be their day?  Mark Miles set off with five seconds in hand over Billy but before long the Notts man was on him and they fought tooth and nail along the twisty paths in the woods, up onto the plateau, over the switchback and off round again.  During this struggle the Harrow and Bedford men came back to them and it was now Notts in the lead – were they going to live their dream?  Mark’s legs began to buckle over the last, difficult, 400 metres but he just would not give up and at the final take-over it was Notts, less than a second ahead of Belgrave, with Bedford not two seconds behind.  Leeds were now up to 4th, 25 seconds off the front, and with Dave Webb to come still had a remote chance, but for Wells City and the Beagles the gap was now impossible to bridge barring accidents.

It now remained for Phil Wicks to do the business while behind him men were trying to gun him down. He might be talented, but make no mistake, there’s a lot of pressure when being put into this position.  We’d already done it to him at Sutton Park and were now asking him to step up again.  Good job he seems to thrive on it!

Phil pounced on Notts’ Ian Boneham and then drove on hard in his quest to keep the chasers at bay.  It had all worked out to perfection.  Leeds were charging forward now.  They surely couldn’t catch the Bels but Notts and Bedford were both in Webb’s sights. Wells City had also saved their master-blaster Frank Tickner ’til last and Moumin Geele was turning in a sub-15 for Newham & Essex Beagles but their attacks were in vain.

Up front it was a fabulous performance from Phil who never looked in any sort of trouble, his time being on a par with Gary Staines’ 14:43 from 1996 and David Anderson’s 14:42 set during our record breaking run in 2003.  Behind, however, it was all change, as Leeds not only broke into the medals but also made sure that they were going home with nothing less than silver.  Great running came from Bedford & County who were rightly delighted to have earned national bronze medals – but one had to feel sorry for Notts AC who had made such a bold bid for the win yet ended up out of the frame.

Men's 4x5 km: 1 Belgrave H 1:00:04.10; 2 Leeds City 1:00:22.45; 3 Bedford & County AC 1:00:29.95; 4 Notts AC 1:00:31.15; 5 Well's City H 1:00:32.50; 6 Newham & Essex Beagles 1:00:38.65; 7 Bristol & West AC 1:01:04.50; 8 Aldershot, Farnham & Dist AC. 1:01:08.35; 9 Sale H 1:01:39.30; 10 Tipton H 1:01:59.55; ... 36 Belgrave H 'B' 1:05:14.10.

A – S Sharp (team position 6) 15:05.30; M Pollard (4) 15:08.45; M Miles (2) 15:04.55; P Wicks (1) 14:45.80.

B – N Speaight (45) 16:07.35; P Burkart (34) 15:59.25; N Goolab (31) 16:09.20; J Fairbourn (36) 16:58.30.

Fastest: F Tickner (Wells City H) 14:25.80; M Skinner (Blackheath &B) 14:33.85; D Webb (Leeds City) 14:39.65; P Riley (Leigh) 14:42.15;  P Wicks 14:45.80; M Geele (Newham & Essex Beagles) 14:48.10; A Baddeley (Harrow) 14:49.00; A Bowden (Harrow) 14:51.65; C Parr (Gateshead) 14:51.75; T Minshull (Trafford) 14:51.90; S Vernon (Stockport) 14:52.20; P Nicholls (Tipton) 14:52.35; D Bannister (Shaftesbury B) 14:54.65; A Vernon (Aldershot F&D) 14:55.90; M Watson (Bingley) 14:56.05; M Janes (Bedford &C) 14:58.25; B Tickner (Wells City) 14:57.80; B Farquharson (Notts) 14:59.45.

Reigate Priory 6 x 2.5 miles CC Relay, 3 November 2007.

While two teams were in action in far-off Mansfield, contesting the national championship, we were pleased to turn out a further team at Reigate.  Tim Weeks was player/manager for the day and the lads enjoyed themselves thoroughly. Richard Stannard brought the Bels in first on the opening leg and 16 year-old Alex Wright impressed as he ran our second fastest stage of the day.

Men. 1 Tonbridge AC 83:06; 2 Cambridge H 85:21; 3 Southampton RC 85:28; ... 11 Belgrave H 91:51; 30 teams finished, 33 started.

Belgrave - R Stannard 13:27; T Weeks 14:47; W Lynch 15:23; A Wright 14:41; S Zealey 17:54; unknown 15:39.

Bushy Park 5 km Time Trial, 3 November 2007.

Men. 1 J Goulis (Stragglers) 16:03; 2 W Cockerell 16:20.

Banstead Woods 5 km Time Trial, 3 November 2007.

Men. 1 D Baker (SLH) 17:40; 4 G Adams 18:47.

Poole Runners Winter 5 km, 2 November 2007.

Men. 1 C Power (Winchester) 15:13; 3 J Charles 16:10.

Puma Urban Escape 10 km Trail Race, Hankley Common, 28 October 2007.

Men. 1 D Mitchinson (Newham &EB) 37:48; 10 P Cross 1-M50 46:25.

Dublin Marathon, 28 October 2007.

Women. 1 A Ivanova (Russia) 2:29:20; 17 V Knight 2:54:16.

BUPA Great South Run, Portsmouth, 28 October 2007.

Men. 1 L Kibet (Kenya) 47:31; 9 P Wicks 49:06; 15 J Blackledge 50:58; 538 L Rehn M45 1:12:25.

Barnes Green Half Marathon, 28 October 2007.

Men. 1 J Baker (Chichester) 1:10:17; 3 T Ellacott 1:14:46; 189 J Pritchard 1:35:25.

Ron Hill Surrey Classic 10 km, Oxshott, 28 October 2007.

Men. 1 T Doran (Elmbridge) 33:39; 9 M Webb M40 36:23; 200 D Davies M65 54:39.

Scottish Relays, Cumbernauld, 27 October 2007.

Men. 4 x 4km. Fastest R Russell (Central) 13:03; 3 M Pollard (Inverclyde/Belgrave) 13:14.

Wimbledon Common 5 km Time Trial, 27 October 2007.

Men. 1 A Weir (Thames H&H) 16:29; 5 A Wright U17 17:05.

Bushy Park 5 km Time Trial, 27 October 2007.

Men. 1 P Adams (unatt) 16:01; 3 M Trees M45 16:09.

Stroud Half Marathon, 21 October 2007.

Men. 1 W Chinhanhu (Poole R) 1:06:52; 5 K Tadesse 1:12:09.

Wimbledon 10 km, 21 October 2007.

Men. 1 T Kingsnorth (Thames H&H) 33:11; 2 L Greatorex 34:01; 14 S Zealey M40 37:22; 27 G Reid 38:58; 35 P Cross M50 39:50; 73 L Rehn M40 42:47.

Women. 1 C Farley 40:13; 3 G Marek 41:21; 11 C Eastham 43:58.

Croydon 10 km, 21 October 2007.

Men. 1 M Skinner (Blackheath &B) 30:51; 6 M Byansi 33:50; 7 J Wolf 33:54.

Surrey County Veterans Cross Country Champs., Petersham, 20 October 2007.

Men. 6.19 miles. 1 P Doyle (Ranelagh) 34:24; 16 C Dickinson 1-M55 37:38; 57 P Cross 12-M50 41:52; 83 Don Anderson 20-M50 45:41; 106 G Collins 6-M65 53:25; 108 C Henn 1-M75 54:45; 112 T Stone 8-M65 57:26; 113 A Lane 4-M70 58:20.

Teams: M50. 1 South London H 11; 4 Belgrave 37.

M60. 1 Hercules Wimb. 13; 5 Belgrave 69.

ERRA Men's National 6-Stage Road Relay, Sutton Park, 20 October 2007.

Above: James Kelly, Phil Wicks, Stephen Sharp, Mark Miles, Jonathan Blackledge and Simon Jones enjoy another magic moment in the Belgrave road running story. It was the Club's sixth six-stage win in seven years.

What a race!  The conditions were great, fast times were turned in right down the line and no team dominated, even though the final gap between first and second seemed decisive.

Favourites Newham & Essex Beagles had a couple of guys wiped out at the last minute by illness and the rumoured appearance of Mo Farah proved to be no more than a myth.  As expected, Leeds City were powerful – and their B team made front page of the results sheet as well, the first B team to break into our National 6-Stage stats – but all along, in the week before the race and during the event itself, the Belgrave camp were quietly confident.  David Anderson ruled himself out of the squad, his Achilles tendon problems flaring up yet again, but James Kelly eagerly grasped the opportunity to go into the six and we still had Mark Pollard lined up should some other setback arise.

We felt that we could, possibly, take the Beagles to the wire even if they were at their very best and planned to put Phil Wicks out on the road with 30-40 seconds lead over Farah – now wouldn’t that have been a sight.  Thus, there was a slight feeling of disappointment when the Beagles’ bad news became common knowledge.

Stephen Sharp was a happy man on stage one and when the huge leading pack faced the hill together, our man was comfortably in the first half dozen.  So heavy was the traffic at the jostling front end that the spotters out on the course had difficulty relaying meaningful information back to the announcer who simply resorted to proclaiming that, “the lead pack is over 20 strong.” Always busy in the front rank it was Elswick’s Ryan McLeod who eventually proved strongest and he prised open a four second gap before the next half dozen poured through the takeover zone within five seconds.  Unfortunately for McLeod he had no second man to send away. Stephen had given us a great start in 4th and after seven runs in this race set a personal record of 17:18.  With the exception of Bedford & County, 5th, and Bristol & West in 8th, the main players were some way off the pace in the late twenties – where Mark Pollard was setting up our B team.

The second stage saw some huge risers. As the teams ahead of us fell back, Altrincham shot up 17 places to claim 2nd thanks to Matt Barnes, Birchfield’s Ndayisenga took 23 scalps to bring the Stags into 3rd and was chased by Wells City’s Ben Tickner who moved up 26 spots.  In the midst of this turmoil James Kelly, in his first national relay, calmly kept the Bels a stable 5th with “front-loaded” Severn AC 10 seconds clear in the lead.  Leeds City were still 42 seconds down the field in 14th and the Beagles were 21st.

What could Jonathan Blackledge do for us?  It was our hope that he’d take the Bels into the lead and sure enough our supporters on the course fed back the information that he had indeed gone ahead, clearing the front-runners before the hill was reached. But there were big moves going on behind. Steve Hepples had the Beagles baying as he overtook 16 men to move into 5th and more significantly the blue and yellow colours of Leeds were coming forward ... coming forward ... until Dave Webb and JB were slugging it out shoulder to shoulder.  Webb eventually gained the advantage. There were only three seconds in it but the Northern Champions were now feeling confident that by the end of the day they’d be able to take home the 6-Stage cup and put it on the shelf along with the 12-stage "pot".  

As the Leeds and Belgrave fourth stagers went out with little between them, any thoughts that this might now be a two horse race were quickly dispelled as Well’s City’s Frank Tickner was seen limbering up.  While our own Simon Jones and Leeds' James Walsh were locked together for the whole lap, Tickner’s progress was relentless; but against all expectations, he didn’t quite catch the lead pair who were knocking spots off each other in their effort to establish a break.  It was another cracker of a run from Sim who never seems to give us a dud.  He just lost out on the final sprint having spent seventeen and a half minutes gaining – 1 second!  And then, thundering across the line a pace behind, came Tickner.

The redoubtable Simon Deakin shot away for Leeds and was soon pulling away from our own Mark Miles. Deakin’s advantage grew as the hill was climbed and back at the takeover area we were informed that Leeds had broken clear; the gap became as much as 40 metres at one point but Mark knew exactly what he was doing. "I was playing it careful," he later told us. On the run out to the far end of the lap the break was closed down again. Coming back towards the Jamboree Stone the Belgravian and the Leeds City man were side by side and, urged on by our supporters, Mark pushed his foot to the floor and daylight opened up between them at an ever-increasing rate. The decisive blow had been struck.

With the strains of Queen's "We Will Rock You" belting out over the loudspeakers, Phil Wicks was brought out onto the start line a full 28 seconds ahead of his last leg rival Darran Bilton – and there was going to be no slip up now.  Later admitting to feeling far more nervous than normal, Phil nevertheless looked totally relaxed as he powered around the last lap to reduce his best time by over 40 seconds. And, barring accidents, with the title back in Belgrave hands, there was still a target – the possibility of beating our own course record. That mark was set in 2002 by a six that included battle hardened “veterans” Spencer Barden, Allen Graffin – and, yes, Mark Miles and Stephen Sharp, the latter two still in the team today.  This time the record was missed by just six seconds but with four of today’s team being aged 23 and 24 the odds are that they’ll improve that mark in the next few years.

So, gold and silver were sorted, but the battle for the bronze was far from over. Just a few heartbeats had separated Wells City, Notts, Bristol & West and the Beagles as that last stage was begun. Billy Farquharson was on a storming 17:10 run in his quest to get his blue and green Notts colours into the frame. But those Beagles had unleashed Moumin Geele who ran the day's third best to get his team into the medals at the last gasp. With a makeshift team they'd made the podium - and the pundits had got the first three correct (albeit in the wrong order).

Times have changed. We're running as fast as ever with a team that seems to have a lower average age each season but can no longer ever count ourselves as out and out favourites.  Some eight or nine clubs now have an excellent chance of medalling - just as it should be.

A word too about our 'B' team men.  It was the first time we've actually managed to finish a 'B' squad and highly satisfying it was too. Taking over from Mark Pollard, who was gamely attending as our 'A' team reserve, was our Skipper Will Cockerell - who couldn't have kept away from watching the titanic 'A' battle if he'd tried. Neil Speaight has a long way to go to get back to top form but to see such a high level competitor fitting into the Bs and making himself an integral part of the overall squad was terrific. James Fairbourn was rewarded for his upsurge in form with a place on the Sutton Park roadway while Mal Byansi was pleading with the TM to let him into the six. Dave Mason didn't get the call until late in the week but was as eager as anyone to make sure that we finished a second team.  Well done to you all - and to see both teams out on the course after their runs, supporting each and every man, made one feel proud to be a Belgravian.

1 Belgrave H 1:44:30; 2 Leeds City AC 1:45:20; 3 Newham & Essex Beagles 1:45:55; 4 Notts AC 1:45:58; 5 Bristol & West AC 1:46:14; 6 Tipton H 1:47:08; … 38 Belgrave H ‘B’ 1:55:14; 83 teams started and 79 teams finished.

A – S Sharp (team position 4, ranking on stage 4) 17:18; J Kelly (5, 14) 17:46; J Blackledge (2, 6) 17:30; S Jones (2, 6) 17:33; M Miles ( 1, 1) 17:14; P Wicks (1, 2) 17:09.

B – M Pollard (28, 28) 17:56; W Cockerell (35, 40) 18:44; N Speaight (36, 41) 19:09; J Fairbourn (39, 47) 19:31; M Byansi (39, 44) 19:49; D Mason (38, 44) 20:05.

Fastest: 1 C Davies (Telford AC) 16:42; 2 F Tickner (Wells City) 16:59; 3 M Geele (Newham &EB) 17:03; =4 P Nicholls (Tipton H), D Webb (Leeds City), J Ndayisenga (Birchfield) 17:04; ... 9 P Wicks 17:09; 15 M Miles 17:14

ERRA Women's 4-Stage Road Relay, Sutton Park, 20 October 2007.

Another top 20 spot for the Belles

1 Aldershot F&DAC 57:15; 2 Charnwood AC 57:56; 3 Havering Mayesbrook AC 58:57; 4 Bedford & County AC 59:00; 5 Chester le Street & D AC 59:34; 6 Bristol & West AC 59:39; ... 18 Belgrave H 1:02:11; 93 teams started, 78 teams finished.

Belgrave - B Dagne (7) 14:27; S Murphy (22) 15:47; M Heaton (22) 16:50; C Bryson (18) 15:07.

Fastest: 1 S Twell (Aldershot F&DAC) 13:41; 2 S Morris (Windsor SE&H) 13:57; =3 H Yelling (Windsor SE&H), V Gill (Aldershot F&DAC) 14:05; =5 M Ross-Cope (Stoke), R Townend (Winchester) 14:06,   ... 14 B Dagne 14:27.

Bushy Park 5 km Time Trial, 20 October 2007.

Men. 1 O Laws (Newham &EB) 15:39; 2 R Stannard 15:51; 3 M Trees 16:52.

Beckley 10 km, Near Rye, 14 October 2007.

Men. 1 J Mountford (Unatt) 36:16; 10 P Cross M50 41:36.

Brooks Westward League, Redruth, 14 October 2007.

Men. 1 K Toher (Newquay &P) 26:10; 6 T Watson 27:06.

Cabbage Patch 10 miles, Twickenham, 14 October 2007.

Women. 1 B Dagne 56:20; 18 H Smethurst 4-W40 1:07:09.

Scottish West 4 x 4 km Relay Champs., Irvine, Ayrshire, 13 October 2007.

Men. 2nd fastest M Pollard 11:47.

"Sweatshop" Men's Surrey CC League, Wimbledon Common, 13 October 2007.

With Brockwell Park no longer available for Surrey League competition due to red tape, the opening league fixture switched to our own course on Wimbledon Common. Only those "long in the tooth" will remember that this exact course was regularly used for the opening race way back in the early 60s. It turned out to be a popular switch with the runners, for we had a large turn out of over 170; and no wonder, for four of the clubs now contesting Division One are based on the Common: Belgrave, Thames, Hercules Wimbledon and Wimbledon Windmilers.

Our own team was a little depleted with most of the top guns taking a break from racing in the middle of a run of high powered events. So it was left to James Kelly, making his league debut, to tackle the sharp end of a Thames squad strengthened by the appearance of Huw Lobb. James pushed on hard from the start, knowing that he was likely to be in for a hiding. It was a courageous move that had him in oxygen debt towards the end.

The Skipper was in good form, benefiting from hard training for the Istanbul marathon, but he found World Aquathlon Champ Richard Stannard snapping at his heels ... and we had three men home in the first ten; not a bad start at all.  Knut Hegvold and Pete Willis occupied 20th and 21st with our next pair, in the 30s, including James Fairbourn - three minutes faster and 47 placers higher than in January on the same course - impressive improvement eh!

And if such heroics weren't enough, we had Sharky Speaight close behind, back in action after some severe surgery. Lee Greatorex and Tim Weeks closed in the ten inside 50. 

Sixty points cover the top three teams and with Ranelagh also within striking distance of the top three it looks as if we may have a tighter competition on our hands this winter.

1 H Lobb (Thames H&H) 26:33; 2 J McFarlane (Thames H&H) 26:42; 3 J Kelly (Belgrave) 27:01; ... 9 W Cockerell 27:45; 10 R Stannard 27:52; 21 P Willis 28:33; 22 K Hegvold M45 28:34; 37 J Fairbourn 29:28; 38 M Trees M45 29:40; 40 N Speaight 29:45; 42 L Greatorex 29:52; 50 T Weeks 30:33; 74 W Lynch 31:30; 75 J Webb 31:35; 82 S Zealey M40; 84 F Ward 32:02; 114 C Hobbs 34:08; 119 A Neail 34:50; 131 P Cross M50 35:43; 138 M Taylor M45 36:10; 150 L Rehn M40 37:02; 151 H Corbett M45 37:20; 154 M Humphrey 37:33; 165 D McMillan M55 42:03; 169 T Stone M60 49:14; ...170 finished.

Teams: 1 Thames H&H 203; 2 Herne Hill H 220; 3 Belgrave H 263; 4 Ranelagh H 306; 5 Hercules Wimbledon AC 529; 6 South London H 580; 7 Reigate Priory AC 619; 8 Guildford & Godalming AC 663; 9 Wimbledon Windmilers 712.

Surrey Women's CC League, West End, Esher, 13 October 2007.

Catherine the Great!

1 C Bryson (Belgrave) 27:15; 2 C Elms (Dulwich) 27:31; 3 L Watson (Stragglers) 27:44; ... 8 S Murphy 27:56; 13 M Heaton 29:11; 14 E Fogg 29:15; 57 C Eastham 33:00; 156 finished.

Teams: 1 Ranelagh H 79; 2 Belgrave H 93; 3 Herne Hill H 116; 4 Stragglers AC 119; 5 Reigate Priory AC 122; 6 West 4 117; 30 teams closed in.

U15/U17. 1 G Peez (Woking) 17:12; 13 M Evans (10-U15) 19:02; 27 N Anderson (12-U17) 20:12; 41 J Foxley (28-U15) 21:58.

Teams: U17. 1 Guildford & Godalming AC 22; 9 Belgrave H 93; 10 teams closed in. U15. 1 Guildford & Godalming AC 37; 7 Belgrave H 134; 17 teams closed in.

Above: Jonathan Blackledge (61) heads the field soon after the start of the National 10 km Championships. Stephen Sharp (65) is also handy and the South are already well on the way to winning the Inter-Area Match.

UK, AAA, SEAA & CAU Intercounties 10km Championships, Chichester, 7 October 2007.

What a shambles was the start of this race.  A change in the starting arrangements meant that the elite runners (UK, AAA and Inter-county men and women) started out on the road, with the masses starting in the car park.  Barriers were erected to initially keep the two fields apart.  But the two streams met after only fifty metres, by which time elite athletes were running into the barriers while those starting conservatively found themselves having to thread through a wall of club runners who had gone out hard.  In the melee Winchester's Louise Damen crashed into the barriers and was out of the race with a damaged wrist before the event was 10 seconds old!

There was much confusion also as club runners were commandeered by County team managers for the Inter-county event resulting in them being given alternative race numbers which didn't necessarily reflect the fact that they were entered under their old numbers in the various club championships.

But it was a great race for all that, with 10 men going sub-30 including our own Simon Jones and Stephen Sharp.  It was a huge advance for Simon who'd been threatening to do this for months. It was Stephen's best clocking since 2003. Jonathan Blackledge closed in our scoring three with a time 1 second better than he achieved at the beginning of the year, and James Kelly took over a minute off his best to give us a great scoring four in the SEAA race. 

But Oooh! Them Beagles did it on us, reversing the result of the SEAA 6-Stage Relay and setting the scene nicely for a Road Running showdown in Sutton Coldfield where the National 6-Stage Relay takes place in two weeks time.

Birhan Dagne ran a sprightly 33:24 to get into the prizes and with Sarah Murphy and Catherine Eastham making it three, the Belles were not far away from the team medals.  

Men. 1 W Chinhanhu (Poole R) 29:18; 2 J Mays (Kent AC) 29:26; 3 G Thompson (Crawley AC) 29:29; ... 7 S Jones 29:46; 10 S Sharp 29:51; 17 J Blackledge 30:15; 34 J Kelly 30:53; 113 L Greatorex 34:42; D Mason 35:02; 277 P Cross M50 41:04.

Teams: UK & AAA 1 Newham & Essex Beagles (29:32, 29:45, 29:45) 1:29:02; 2 Belgrave H (29:46, 29:51, 30:15) 1:29:52; 3 Bedford & County AC (29:48, 30:32, 31:21) 1:31:41.

SEAA 1 Newham & Essex Beagles (as above + 30:42) 1:59:44; 2 Belgrave H (as above + 30:53) 2:00:45; 3 City of Norwich AC (30:28, 31:10, 32:36, 33:28) 2:07:42.

Women. 1 K Reed (Bristol & West) 32:07; 2 H Yelling (Windsor SE&H) 33:19; 4 B Dagne (Belgrave) 33:24; 39 S Murphy 38:20; 68 C Eastham 45:16.

Teams: UK & AAA 1 Winchester & Dist (33:59, 35:16, 36:44) 1:45:59; 2 Bristol & West (32:07, 36:13, 38:33) 1:46:53; 3 Aldershot F&D AC (34:43, 35:03, 37:48) 1:47:34; 4 Belgrave H (33:24, 38:20, 45:16) 1:57:00.

SEAA as above but 5 Belgrave H.

Geoff Moulden Wimbledon 10 miles, 7 October 2007.

Men. 1 H Lobb (Bedford &C) 51:58; 9 W Cockerell 57:08.

Belgrave H Yacht Handicap, Wimbledon, 6 October 2007.

Berlin Marathon, 30 September 2007.

Men. 1 H Gebrselassie (Ethiopia) 2:04:26 (WR); 843 J Webb 2:57:23; 7386 L Rehn M40 3:37:59.

Great North Run, Newcastle to South Shields, 30 September 2007.

Men. 1 M Lel (Kenya) 1:00:08; 1344 P Cross M50 1:35:07.

Women. 1 K Goucher (USA) 1:06:57; 9 B Dagne 1:14:12; 19 C Bryson 1:20:55; 5252 L Horrobin 1:48:13.

Lancaster 5km, 29 September 2007.

Men. 1 D Bannister (Shaftesbury BH) 14:49; 3 P Freary 15:45.

Aldershot Road relays, inc. Men's SEAA 6-Stage Championship, 29 September 2007.  Photos

SEAA Champs - a fine race but the battle's not over

A year or more of generally being in the doldrums has coincided with rival teams growing in strength.  No longer do we attend road races as odds-on favourites - it's more likely that we're regarded as the underdogs – but the sport is more interesting for that and when it all goes right then victory is even sweeter.

The team line-up wasn’t settled until the preceding Tuesday evening when David Anderson and the Skipper had a “shoot out” over two laps of “the Bridges” - two laps of 3km with the protagonists running in opposite directions. As a result, come race day, David was back in the A team after too long an absence, taking charge of stage one.

A powerful start from Harrow’s Adam Bowden took him well clear of a bunch of a dozen athletes that was gradually whittled down until Blackheath’s Atkinson and our own Davy were alone in 2nd and 3rd.  Eighteen-fourteen:  not at all bad after what had variously been reported as “five weeks of running” or “one real session.”  The Beagles had a slow start and were down in 13th, half a minute behind the Bels although their B team were lying 8th. Bedford weren’t far away though and dark horses Wells City were also close at hand.

Great things were expected of Mark Pollard – and they still are!  But he wasn’t quite firing on all cylinders on this occasion. Harrow and Blackheath slipped back but Ben Moreau of Aldershot came through strongly to head the field while Beagler Hepples was on a sub-18 rescue mission. Young Mitch Goose of Norwich also came by and the net result was that we’d dropped one place.  Mark gave everything he had to finish his tour of duty – and although disappointed is quietly determined that he’ll set the record straight next time out.

Enter Simon Jones, fighting for a spot in the National line-up and clashing with Newham’s Michael East.  Ok, East turned out to be a long way short of his best – but Simon wasn’t to know that as he showed no fear and coolly cruised past all the men ahead.  His 8:59 for the first circuit and 9:13 for his second gave the Bels a marvellous 25 second advantage; a “gutsy” and courageous run, acknowledged by all who watched it.

A relaxed Stephen Sharp gradually extended the lead until he was 34 seconds to the good, notching up second fastest for the stage.  It was a two-horse race now and things were looking good for the Bels, but way down the field, Wells City’s Frank Tickner was ripping out an astounding 17:11.  It was the best time on the course since 1989, eclipsing performances by such luminaries as Keith Cullen and Mo’ Farah. But this drama was a minute and a half off the front where Stephen had already sent a determined Phil Wicks on his way.

Phil’s aggressive start yielded an 8:41 first lap.  He’d gone for it big time, determined to record a startling time.  But Rushmoor Arena bit back at him over the second circuit and much to his disappointment he could only record what ended up as fourth fastest of the day, fastest Belgravian, and an entry to the sub-18 club.  Disappointed he may have been, but the Beagles were now left with the nigh on impossible task of pulling back a minute and a half.

The experienced Dave Mitchinson had been saved 'til last to put the Beagle boot in should things be close.  There was a lot of pressure on Belgrave’s James Kelly. Sure there was no way 91 seconds could be pulled back – but would the responsibility of a last leg run affect the newest member of our team?  Far from it: our Anglo-American 24 year-old went out hard to make sure that there were no immediate inroads being made into his lead – and then switched into cruise control to make sure that all was safe. It was a mature run. 

As a fine race by the Bels came to a conclusion the Beagles’ team manager proffered a hand to his Belgrave counterpart – but make no mistake, the battle will be renewed with intensified vigour in three weeks time.

And before we consign this race to the history books - we must congratulate the Bs.  They fought hard for the highest possible place and as third B team home have earned the Bels the right to place two claret and gold vests on the start line at Sutton Park.       

1 Belgrave H 1:49:39; 2 Newham & Essex Beagles 1:50:44; 3 Bedford & County AC 1:51:47; 4 Wells City H 1:52:14; 5 Aldershot, Farnham & D 1:52:33; 6 Newham & Essex Beagles ‘B’ 1:54:47; … 27 Belgrave H ‘B’ 2:02:18; … 89 teams started; 69 teams finished.

A – David Anderson (team position 3, ranking on stage 3) 18:14; M Pollard (4, 6) 18:34; S Jones (1, 1) 18:12; S Sharp (1, 2) 18:14; P Wicks (1, 1) 17:59; J Kelly (1, 4) 18:26.

B – W Cockerell (20, 19) 18:59; P Willis (19, 24) 19:53; K Hegvold M45 (19, 23) 19:52; J Fairbourn (21, 27) 20:36; D Mason (23, 31) 20:56; M Humphrey (27, 48) 22:02.

C – T Weeks (71) 21:30; Don Anderson M50 (79) 24:43.

Fastest: 1 F Tickner (Wells City) 17:11; =2 S Hepples (Newham &EB) and A Bowden (Harrow) 17:54; 4 P Wicks (Belgrave H) 17:59; 5 D Deed (Bedford &C) 18:02; 6 B Tickner (Wells C) 18:04; … =9 S Jones 18:12; 12 D Anderson and S Sharp 18:14; … =20 J Kelly 18:26.

Serpentine R Last Friday 5 km, 28 September 2007.

Women. 94 M Noel W40 21:09.

Beckenham Trail 10 km, 23 September 2007.

Men. 1 M Clayton (Beckenham) 37:39; 13 P Cross 2nd-M50 42:41; 21 S Stracey SW 44:45.

Bushy Park Time Trial, 22 September 2007.

Men. 44 N Levy 19:27.

Hydro Active Women's Challenge, Hyde Pk, 16 September 2007

17 C Bryson 17:13.

Faversham 10 km, 16 September 2007.

Men. 1 S Rigby (unknown) 34:23; 36 P Cross M50 41:35.

New Forest Half Marathon, 16 September 2007.

Men. 1 L Rodrigues (unatt) 1:10:48; 444 D McMillan M55 1:49:53. Women. 2 E Fogg 3:20:39.