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Mission 4-5 - August 31, 2004
Greetings my fellow harriers and welcome to the winter road and cross-country season 2004-5 (“Mission 4-5”). It is my great honour to have been nominated road and cross-country captain and I pledge to continue to give the club the commitment and enthusiasm that I have over the past six years. My thanks and congratulations to ex-skipper Roger Alsop and his nine hugely successful years as captain – he now concentrates on what promises to be a fine vet’s career. Rog became captain when the club was at a somewhat low ebb. Not only were the Bels barely competing for trophies in many of the prestigious competitions, but we weren’t even fielding teams. Suffice it to say, much has changed. Roger’s loyalty to the club and passion for the sport were crucial to this turnabout; as was – and is – the tireless work of the finest team manager in the country.
However… getting to the top is one thing – staying there is quite another! And just when the Bels thought things couldn’t get any better – around February – when we enjoyed that splendid day at Leeds in the "National", the waters have got a little choppy. Indeed, thanks to our friends at Thames Hare and Hounds, Herne Hill Harriers, Aldershot Farnham and District, Salford and Birchfield; the club has been hit with some surprising and, yes, painful defeats in the past few months. In some ways though, we welcome these defeats. Such tangy competition keeps us all on our toes and adds value to the trophies that we hold and those that we have relinquished. Winning “the big ones” isn’t easy after all. One slip up and there’ll always be another club ready to shine on the day.
But one thing is for sure – the sixty or so leading runners in the club have no desire to return to the dark days of the mid-nineties. And we have an absorbing and hugely enjoyable eight-month road and country season to anticipate with relish, in which we have several titles to defend, and a few to reclaim! I shall speak in this edition of skipper’s corner about the first three races of “mission 4-5”: two captivating road-relays and a terrific cross-country race.
Saturday, September 11: Surrey 6-stage road-relay. When I turned up for my first ever race for the Bels back in ’98, this was it. Our six man squad, with the vain aim of a Surrey qualified team, consisted of: one Surrey man (whoo-hoo!), one from Middlesex, one from Kent, one from New Zealand and one from Morocco. And we didn’t even have a sixth. Pretty inauspicious stuff. I have no doubt that on the 11th, we’ll be fielding more than one full team and that it’ll be a great afternoon of running. The course is superbly set-up for spectators as every step a runner makes over that gruelling last mile may be witnessed for all to see. Add in one shocking ascent, and a seemingly never-ending descent, and you have one heck of a time-trial. The likes of Dave Taylor, Gary Staines and Dave Anderson have set the course alight in recent years; but it is the engine-room boys who are crucial on this day, and terrific runs of late from Lloyd Catley, Junior Galley (x 2) and Warren Lynch are what stick most in this correspondent’s mind. (Oh and that maniacal 14:02 from Al Stewart, of course!) Who will be the hero this year? And will we defend our title?
Speaking of defending titles…! We will be up against it on September 25 - and then some. We have had two thrilling wins at the SEAA 6-stage in the past two years. But our hosts AFD probably start favourites this time round. And there’s always the great depth of those frisky Bedford boys to fear. Chris Thompson duffed me up something awful last year on stage 5, to all but win AFD the race, but luckily we had Marty Dent up our sleeves who repaired the damage. He’ll be gone this year… so will I (pheeuuw, I hear you say!) as I’m Great North Running, as are Dave Anderson and Hassan. And Paul Freary’s unavailable too. Eek! However, rumour has it that the team manager has got an army of more than able foot soldiers who have rallied to the cause and that our defence is still very much on. We’ve got about four dead certs in the team… what about those other two spots?? We need YOU!! Get fit now! This is your chance to duke it out with Thommo. It’s really fun. Honest. And of course there’ll be a B-team, C-team, D…etc. The course is a beauty. Hand-picked for relay-running. You’re nearly always in public view getting a shout; the hills are tough for sure, but sort your downhill technique out, and you’ll fly.
And then, on October 9, one of my favourite races: the peaceful Indian-summer surrounds of Brockwell Park and Surrey League 1. You don’t like cross-country running? Don’t worry. You’re a 1,500 runner? Perfect. The ground is firm, there’s no mud, and the course is lightning quick. If this plodder can do 23-minutes, how hard can it be? And what a crucial race it is. Do well here and the entire rhythm and mood of our winter is set up: the rest of the Surrey League becomes one fantastic dogfight. Stumble and we’re chasing our tails big time. HHH believe it’s their turn to win the Surrey League, and with their collection of fine runners, they’re more than dark horses. As for THH - they’re as tough as ever.
So we need everyone out for SL1. Remember, our two terrific Surrey League wins at Coulsdon in 2000 [our first since 1971] and 2002 both came off the back of Brockwell wins. And we need some insurance for the following two league matches that are on our home patch (where we’re notoriously dire), and on Thames’s course: a route designed over a hundred years ago by someone with a very macabre sense of humour, to deliberately antagonize a visiting runner, and who had particular relish for watching hapless Belgravians go down like ninepins. So please put Oct 9 in your diaries now - in some ways it’s the most important race of the winter.
Finally, for each race this winter, there shall be a “Man-of-the-Match” award for the best performance of the day (i.e. not necessarily the fastest run). The prize list will consist of a mouth-watering choice of stocking-fillers such as: bubble-bath/coconuts/cinema vouchers/hair-loss treatment/book tokens/pipe tobacco/signed photographs of the captain/satsumas/HMV vouchers/Absinthe etc etc…
Have a great “Mission 4-5” and Up The Bels!
