Phil Wicks married Emily Adams of Aldershot Farnham and District AC, the
daughter of Peter Adams who will be known to many as an outstanding
runner of the previous generation.
The couple first met whilst running for England
at the Neukirchen Cross Country meeting in Germany in January 2006.
Emily made her GB & NI debut at under 23 level in the European Cross
Country championships held in San Giorgio su Legnano in 2006, and
Phil made his at the World
Cross Country Championships in Mombasa in
2007.
Since those events, both
have made significant progress at club and international events as
well as supporting their individual companies, such as in the recent
Standard Chartered City race where they were both individual winners
(pictured above)
2 Aug 2010
Betty Walker
Members will be saddened to learn of the death on 15 July of Betty,
widow of the late Charlie Walker who was elected President of the
club for the year 2007-2008 but died during his term of office.
Betty's funeral took place at Streatham Vale Crematorium at 2:30pm
on Monday 2nd August.
1 Aug 2010
League roundup
UKWAL Division 3
In spite of high team spirits, the
final match of the UK Women's Athletics League at Portsmouth had the
Belles placed seventh at the end of the day and it looks as if they must now
reconcile themselves to going into the qualifying match to earn the
right to stay in the UKWAL for 2011.
BAL Premiership
The third British League
Premiership match at Eton saw the men's team also place seventh. With
one match to go it is likely that the two clubs that came back into
the Premiership for 2010 will be going back down again - Windsor,
Slough Eton & Hounslow ... and Belgrave Harriers. Mathematically
it could, just, be avoided but we'd have to make a mighty effort. Paskar
Owor scored heavily in the 800m, 1500m and 5000m with 1:50, 3:48
and 14:32 clockings - some afternoon!
Full results | Report and Belgrave results
Southern League Division 3(N)
At Hemel Hempstead the Southern League squad have ended up fifth in their division - probably not
high enough for promotion but nevertheless a very successful season
considering they only came up from Division 4 last year. If only
they'd been able to fill more middle-distance slots it would have
been Division 2 next year.
In hot and humid conditions
Phil Wicks, representing England, was 3rd in the 19th Berliner Vattenfall City Night 10k,
finishing just 4 seconds down on Kenya's Felix Limo, winner of so
many big city marathons. The tough course meant that times
were kept down to 29:21 and 29:25. The winner was Musa
Roba-Kinkal in 29:06, running for Germany.
25 Jul 2010
Sam wins again
Samantha Amend saw off some speedy
rivals in the Elmbridge 10k to win the women's race in 36:35, just 5
seconds slower than her best ever set only one month ago at Ham.
Will Cockerell, 5th in 33:08, spearheaded a trio of Belgrave
men who at last made a substantial mark in this summer's Surrey Road
League.
24 Jul 2010
parkruns
On a quiet weekend, three parkrun wins went
to Belgravians. Richard Ward travelled to Crystal
Palace for his 16:35, Russell Dessaix-Chin clocked a 15:05 on
Wimbledon Common prior to his return to Australia and up at Leeds,
race walking star Alex Wright ran a highly respectable 16:15.
21 Jul 2010
Belles delighted with league win
For only the second time, our women's team won the Eastern Division
of the Rosenheim League, coming from behind to take the last three
matches and only clinching the win over Serpentine Runners in the
final league fixture.
The men also won their match and have cruised through the season
unbeaten. They now face the final at Tooting on August 11th where
they will come up against the best clubs from the East and West
Divisions who will no doubt turn out very strong teams.
18 Jul 2010
McPrivett's fling
Stoke-on-Trent. Stalwart of our Men's Southern League teams, Chris
Privett tried
something different when he tackled the MMTG Highland Games at
Northwood Stadium.
Chris won no less than eight events, most of
them featuring extremely heavy and exotic hammers (including the
gloriously named "Hammer of
Igmánd") but he was particularly proud of his efforts with the
caber where he had two near perfect tosses and scored 35 points out
of a maximum or 40.
10 Jul 2010
The Jones Boy - on his way back
The ERRA National 5k resurfaced in
the fixture list after a gap of four years.
Unfortunately we were
unable to put together a full team to defend the title we won when the
race was last held in 2006 but Simon Jones, a member of that
winning team, made a good
advance up the 2010 road rankings as he clocked 14:36 for 15th.
10 Jul 2010
At last - a win for the Southern Leaguers
After three consecutive second places
our happy-go-lucky band of Southern Leaguers secured a win in MSL
Div 3N match four at Havering. The competition was close
between the Bels and the home club so the relays were exciting to
say the least. Nevertheless, in spite of the victory, Havering & Mayesbrook remain a
smidgin ahead on the league tables with the
Bels in 5th. Promotion prospects are difficult to calculate in
a division split into three sections but a win in the final match
must bring us close to Division 2.
Unable to
take part last year due to a fixture clash, Phil was back with a bang in 2010 to pick up his
third win. Each previous victory has been followed by a high placing in
the global event - 5th in 2007 and 3rd in 2008 - both races were
held in New York. This time, should his company Legal &
General send a team, they'll have to travel a little further - to
Singapore in the Spring of 2011.
Phil is obviously up for it. In his post race
interview he revealed how proud he would be to race for a company
that has been so supportive of his running.
"We have been fortunate to qualify for several
Championships, and to get to Singapore would be very special for us
as a company.”
5 Jul 2010
BAL - the gulf widens
Saturday 3 July. More blues for the Bels in
Birmingham as a final team place of 7th,
means that we currently need to find 5 league points to be sure of
getting clear of the relegation
zone.
Meanwhile, in Madrid, William Sharman clocked a
windy hand-timed but mightily impressive 12.9 sprint hurdles - a long shot for European Gold this summer?
Other impressive runs came from Shaun Moralee
in the Cork City Sports where he outran the 1500m field to win in
3:41.83.
Also in Cork Russell Dessaix-Chin was still
running his final strides when the 3000m field were being called to
their marks. A frantic race to the start as the gun was fired had
him well behind and facing a struggle to reach and then get through
the pack; he got up to 8th and 8:21-odd but was very unhappy with
himself. Hopefully he can make up for things in his next event - a
10,000m in Belgium.
The Bels returned to Nonsuch Park near Cheam for the Dave Davies Nonsuch Park 4 x 2 miles relay. A staunch
Belgravian for very many years, the late Dave Davies was a regular
at all the local road races and race organiser Dave Denton took the
opportunity to dedicate this year's mid-week Nonsuch Relay to his
memory. The Bels responded by turning out a winning team.
Will Cockerell took the lead on stage one and the margin was increased by 19
year-old Max Kiralyfi who ran our best time - 9:10. Mal
Byansi and Russell Dessaix-Chin kept the pressure up
until the end.
28 Jun 2010
Aviva UK Champs & Euro Trials
Friday-Sunday 25-27 June, Birmingham.
It was a
pretty successful championships for the Bels who gained six titles.
Highest profile winner was again Dwain Chambers
who clearly saw off the domestic challenge in the 100m (BBC
video).
Expected victors were Goldie Sayers (women's
javelin) and Phillips Idowu (triple jump) but not quite such
a certainty was William Sharman in the sprint hurdles who
pulled out a 13.45 season's best to stop Sale's Andy Turner taking a
fifth consecutive title.
Out of the blue was pole vaulter Joe Ive's
performance. Last minute unavailability for
the opening BAL match was followed by a "no height" in the SEAA
Champs - so who'd have thought his next outing would result in
winning the UK title at 5.35m, not so far off his best ever.
Wright can do no wrong
Last year Alex Wright placed 2nd in the 5000m
Walk with 23:20.13. This time around he was supreme - moving
to 8th on the UK all-time list (so far as we can tell), smashing the
stadium record and totally obliterating Carl Lawton's 34
year-old Club Record (21:39.8 from 1976) with this 20:11.09 clocking.
Having relieved Graham Seatter of the club's 20k best seven
day's earlier, there's no telling what Alex might achieve. After
all, he's still only 19!
... to Pat Lewis who was awarded an M.B.E. in the Queen's
Birthday Honours list for Services to Youth.
In our own circles Pat is known as the lady who always seems to have
a cheese roll in her bag - "for emergencies" - and was the
only person able to control our unruly European
Champion Clubs Cup team when high spirits resulted in naked wet
towel fights throughout the hostel used for our accommodation in
Belgium.
To the team she was a.k.a "The Rottweiler".
Well done Pat.
20 Jun 2010
Commonwealth Games 20km Walk qualifier for Alex
In the EAA Permit Meeting
held at Bedford in conjunction with the England Athletics Under 23 and 20
Championships on the roads of Priory Park opposite the stadium,
First Year Sports Performance student Alex Wright removed 5
minutes from his previous best in clocking 85.46 the fastest time by
a British Athlete over 20km since 2002 and well inside the English
qualifying time for the Commonwealth games of 89.00.
In only his 3rd attempt at the distance Alex overcame
unusual conditions and pressure to move to top of the UK Rankings
and to 14th on the UK All Time list and the 3rd fastest ever time by
an Under 23. Wright finished 3rd in the race behind German Carsten
Schmidt (84.15) and Hungarian Mate Helbrand (84.48) to become
Britain's fastest ever teenager and hopefully earn selection for the
Commonwealth Games.
20 Jun 2010
9.99 from Dwain Chambers
European Team Championships, Bergen.
"Stunning Dwain Chambers wins 100m at European Team
Champs", was how the BBC described the Belgravian's performance
on the first day of the competition in
Bergen. Up against the 20 year-old French sprint sensation
Christophe Lemaitre, who until this race was fastest in Europe this season, Chambers
grabbed grabbed half a metre at the start and held it to the line.
Good throwing came from Goldie Sayers in the
women's javelin where a difficult wind kept distances below 60m.
Goldie placed 2nd with 59.25m, 63 centimetres behind Germany's
Christina Obergföll.
On the second day, the triple jump was expected to be
the "Teddy Tamgho Show" with the Frenchman the outstanding favourite
after his World Leading jump in New York last week. In fact he
could only place 3rd with our own Phillips Idowu two
centimetres ahead in 2nd (17.12m) while Ukrainian Viktor Kuznyetsov
stole the show with 17.26m.
Belgrave HCA Mervyn Luckwell represented GB&NI
in the men's javelin.
David Gillick placed 2nd for Ireland over 400m
with 45.29 in the 1st League at Budapest.
13 Jun 2010
Nokia
Windsor Elite Triathlon
Two Belgravians featured in the top dozen in the
NOKIA Windsor Elite
Triathlon. Richard Stannard was fastest 1500m swimmer
and among the best on the 42k bike ride. He ended up 9th
overall.
After a good swim
David Anderson was around three or four minutes slower on two
wheels than the
very best bike riders before setting third fastest 10k time to place 12th overall.
It was David's first elite event and only his second attempt at the
Olympic distances. His transitions were much improved but he
had a big problem getting his feet into his cycling shoes and while
fiddling about, missed the lead bunch of around 25 riders. In
hindsight David says he should have put his head down and tried to
bridge the gap (and would have no doubt been fired up for a faster
10k run) but as it was he settled into the second group of wheelers
and when it came to the run he was too far down to do a lot of
damage.
"It will be rectified next time," Dave tells us. "I wore my
Belgrave tri-suit, so actually had people shout 'Go on Bels' at me –
quite surreal at a triathlon."
12 Jun 2010
Diamond geezers
IAAF Diamond League, New York.
Leading a stacked triple jump competition for a while was Philips
Idowu, 1 centimetre ahead of Sweden's Christian Olsson with
17.21m. But that was before the young Frenchman Teddy Tamgho
unleashed a final four jumps of 17.61, 17.60, 17.84 and 17.98 - to
elevate himself to third on the World all-time list. Olsson also
improved with 17.62 and although Phillips got up to 17.31m he had to
be content with third place on the day. Also third, in the
high jump, was Samson Oni, who leapt a season's best of
2.27m.
At the BMC Nike Grand Prix at Watford Graeme Oudney sneaked
under 1:50 in the 800m, Jonathon Blackledge took another step
towards full fitness with 1:52 and bits and Nick Goolab set a
personal best. The 1500m saw another personal best from
James Fairbourn - getting into very respectable territory with
3:58.95.
12 Jun 2010
parkruns
Our veteran
parkrunners were out in force with Mike Trees (Bushy),
Knut Hegvold (Wimbledon) and Paul Freary (Heaton) all
under 17 minutes, and Matthew Morgan winning at Roundshaw.
Our first man (we think) parkrunning overseas was Paul Chapman
who raced at Armager Fælled in Copenhagen.
6 Jun 2010
Second again for the Southern Leaguers
Wycombe. With just a few less gaps in the
team than in the first two matches the Southern Leaguers placed
second yet again, unable to pull off the win required to get into
promotion territory. Nevertheless, the Bels are up to 5th in
the league.
Again the throwers were almost perfect, boosted by a 56.74m effort
from hammer man John Osazuwa. They dropped just one
point and now have scored 92 points out of a possible 96 in the
first three matches. Captain Pete Mayfield covered six
events, winning four of them, and setting pbs in discus and javelin.
Very many thanks indeed to those who responded to our plea for
officials and enabled us to fulfil our obligations.
Copthall Stadium, Barnet.
Ouch! The Bels were stone bonkers last in the opening BAL
match. There were some good performances nevertheless: Mick
Jones sent his ball and chain over 70 metres - another
improvement on his World Best for M45s and a Commonwealth Games
qualifying mark - Dan Mulhare
won the 3000m and Paskar Owor did sterling work in the
800/1500. But eleven drop outs during the week and a "no show"
on the day are difficult handicaps to overcome.
At the sharp end Woodford Green w EL surprisingly
overturned a Beagles outfit that placed 4th in Europe the previous
week - but the Bels have now put themselves under pressure in the
fight to stay in the top division of the sport.
Christchurch, New Zealand. From
our NZ correspondent ... A big breakthrough win came from Aussie
Belgravian Erwin McRae as he took the SBS Half Marathon in
64:59. Link
Neuss, Germany. The race was meant to be over 5k but when
Phil Wicks and Simon Jones arrived they found it been
changed to 6k. Phil went out hard, leading over the first two
of the four laps, which included 180° turns and cobbles. Before long
he had only Kem (Poland) and Tsetserokou (Belarus)
for company. 800 metres to go and the Pole managed to break
away for the win in 16:59. Phil made his move with about 400
to go but had misjudged things slightly, giving the Belarusian the
chance to come back and nick 2nd spot by two seconds. Phil was
pleased with his 17:06 and although down the field a little, Simon
Jones showed that he too is on his way back from injury.
The previous day two Belgrave wins came in parkruns - Richard Ward at Crystal Palace and Will
Cockerell at Bushers.
1 Jun 2010
Staggering advance by Alex Wright
When the Inter-County results became available we
blithely listed the Belgrave winners and linked to the official
results - completely overlooking the magnificence of 19 year-old
Alex Wright's performance in the 3,000 metres walk.
His winning time of 11:38.16 completely destroyed Graham Seatter's
club record of 12:06 set in 1978 and further eclipsed the legendary
Stanley Vickers' 2 miles mark of 13:02.4 set at White City in
1960 - the year that Stan took a bronze medal at the Olympic Games.
We reckon that Stan's time works out at 12:10 pace for 3000 metres.
There have been some truly great race walkers in the ranks of the
Belgrave Harriers over the past century and more but Alex could be
in line to be one of the greatest - especially if he continues to be
pushed by the three fellow young walkers who also cracked 12 minutes
in his wake.
We believe that Alex is now 8th on the all-time list of UK walkers
over 3,000 metres.
1 Jun 2010
AthleticoTv Interviews
After his 10.22w run at the Loughborough International, James
Ellington faced the AthleticoTv camera.
Link. The young Belgrave middle-distance star Nick Goolab was interviewed
after his BUCS 5000m win.
Link
A strong field for the BUPA London
10k, held over part of the route scheduled to be used for the 2012
Olympic Marathon, was headed at the tape by Mo Farah whose 27:44 was
immediately hailed as a British record - although we note that Nick
Rose ran 27:34 in New Orleans way back when. Mo outsprinted Kenyan
Micah Kogo, 27:49, and Chris Thompson was 3rd in 28:17.
Phil Wicks, pictured above in the lead pack at Parliament
Square, is not in top shape yet and was plagued with the "sniffles"
this week. He was hoping for a sub-29 but all things considered was
happy with his 5th place and a 29:08 clocking. Phil's fiancée
Emily Adams was 5th woman home in 35:00 with Getenesh
Tamirat 4th in 34:53
30 May 2010
Samson wins in Hengelo ...
Sunday 30 May. At the Fanny Blankers-Koen Games held in
Hengelo, Netherlands, Samson Oni took a great scalp to beat
the outstanding Russian high jumper Yaroslav Rybakov. Both athletes
cleared 2.24m.
Saturday 29 May. The BMC Nike Grand Prix at
Sport City, Manchester, saw several Belgravians in action, while at
Ewell, Vilma Thompson set no less than four W55 Championship
Best Performances for a great day's work in the Surrey Veterans
Championships.
... likewise Dwain in Brazil
Wednesday 26 May.Uberlandia, Brazil.
A 3.2mps headwind in the 100 metres failed to hinder Dwain Chambers
who ran 10.19 to beat Bahamian Derek Adkins, 10.27. A twinge
of cramp warned off Phillips Idowu who skipped the triple jump
competition.
23 May 2010
World leading jump from Phillips
Rio de Janeiro, Brasil.
Phillips Idowu leapt to a world-leading 17.48 metres to win the
triple jump at the Grande Premio Brasil Caixa de Atletismo meeting.
The Belgravian's mark was 1cm further than that posted by Cuba's Alexis Copello at the first Diamond League meeting in Doha earlier this
month.
Dwain Chambers also looked impressive in clocking 10.11
seconds to finish second in his 100m race. American Mike Rodgers,
whom Chambers beat to win 60m gold at the World Indoor Championships
in March, took victory in 10.06. But Chambers finished ahead of a
decent field including Trinidad & Tobago's Olympic silver medallist
Richard Thompson, Jamaica's Lerone Clarke and Antigua's Daniel
Bailey.
23 May 2010
Hurdles maestro back from injury
Loughborough. After a winter wrecked by a
severely broken wrist, William Sharman was back on the track
in the
Loughborough International and scorching to a 13.60 seconds win in
the sprint hurdles. Sprinters James Ellington, David Gillick,
Craig Fleming and Jason Hussain showed
they were in good form and a startling advance came
from James Fairbourn who ran a great 1500m to narrowly miss
cracking 4 minutes.
Marty Dent and
Russell Dessaix-Chin went head to head in the Sydney Morning
Herald Half Marathon which doubled as the New South Wales
Championship.
It was Marty who came out on top,
running 64:28 for a personal record, and having run a 2:13 marathon
in February should gain selection for the Australian team in the
Commonwealth Games in Delhi this
October.
“I’ll find out later this week if I’m on the team;
I’d be pretty devastated if I wasn’t,” Dent said.
Russell ran 67:15 for third place, beaten by newcomer
19 year-old Harry Summers (66:45). It was Summer's first ever
half marathon and he'd only recently taken up running to keep fit
for soccer during the off season.
9 May 2010
Phil moves up
Bristol. Coming back from injury Phil Wicks
made a significant improvement to place 6th in the National 10k Road
Championship at Bristol with 29:16, 22 seconds behind his best ever.
The race was won by Muji in 28:29 with Geele 29:05, Ndayisenga
29:08, Vernon 29:12 and Scullion 29:14. Pleased with his
progress, Phil's next target is the London 10k in three weeks time.
Over in Geneva Vicki Goodwin
set yet another personal best for the half marathon with 1:29:10 in
11th place.
9 May 2010
Welcome to Alfie
Monday
26th April saw the arrival of Alfie George Blizzard, son to
Louise
(nee Cooper) and Gareth Blizzard. Alfie weighed in at 5 lbs
8oz and it may well have been Louise's attendance at the London
Marathon marathon the day before that contributed to his early
arrival. She wasn't running this time, we hasten to add.
Alfie has
already been bought his first pair of adidas trainers!
8 May 2010
World Best from Mick Jones
Hammer maestro
Yuriy Sedykh still holds the World Record with 86.74m but at K2
Crawley in the Sussex Championships the Russian lost his World Best
for men over 45 to our own Mick Jones.
Despite a disturbed winter where a foot injury hampered his
training, 46 year-old Mick proved that he is still amongst the elite
of British hammer throwers. He opened a spectacular series with
67.59m to better the British over 45 record and in the third
round he unleashed a marvellous 68.89m to take the World over 45
mark. Every one of his six throws was in excess of 65 metres - a
truly brilliant series.
Although some five metres shy of his ten year old championship
record it is the fifth best throw by any British thrower this year.
It was his 26th Sussex County title.
Sedykh's record of 67.74 was set in 2001 at Clermont Ferrand.
2 May 2010
Triathlon win for DA
Lymm Triathlon. David Anderson won
his first tri of the summer by 2 minutes despite some silly mistakes
in transition and trying to swim a length too far. He'd
targetted it as a low key event but there were a couple of very good
athletes at the sharp end.
1 May 2010
Phil Wicks picks up the Captain's baton
With
the 12-Stage Relay out of the way, this time of year has recently
been the occasion when a new Men's Running Captain takes charge.
A very big thank you to Neil Speaight for his
time at the helm ... no mean task Captaining from Switzerland! It’s
a shame we couldn’t give Neil the chance to lift some of the big
trophies aloft – but he’s positive for the future as he tells us:
“Not so good a tenure for me, but a tough year and a
bit of bad luck all round. No excuses though, we came down with a
bump but sometimes you need some harder times to re-spark the
commitment and drive. We certainly have the talent and I look
forward to a return to the medals shortly.”
Phil Wicks (above) steps up to the Captain’s
role with Simon Jones as Vice-Captain. We know you’ll
support them well.
1 May 2010
Alex Wright first Brit in IAAF Challenge
Sesto San Giovani, Italy.
In his first year as a senior Alex Wright had the challenge of lining
up against the Italian Olympic 50k Champion Alex Schwazer. The
Belgravian led the Brits to the finish but slipped behind the
Commonwealth Games qualifying standard due to the warm conditions.
He set personal records over 5k, 10k and 15k en route to a finish
time of1:30:27.
30 Apr 2010
Elizabeth Shippen
Sadly we must inform you of the passing of Elizabeth, wife
and constant supporter of Belgrave Past President Clive Shippen.
Elizabeth had been in poor health for some time and she died
peacefully on Thursday 29 April. Clive and Elizabeth were central in
Belgrave affairs from the '50s right through to the '90s but
emigrated to Australia to be with their sons who were also former
Belgravians.
Our deepest condolences to Clive and to Martin and Mark.
30 Apr 2010
Humph in Africa
In case
you wondered why you hadn't seen Mark Humphrey lately - he's
in Zambia.
After a
period of training in Cardiff, Mark is working for a organisation
which is supporting people in the community and social projects.
He's based in a place called Japarta which is 10 miles away from
Malali. He tells us that he's been visiting many interesting places
and hopes to get to the magnificent Victoria Falls on the
Zambia/Zimbabwe border soon. The people are very friendly and have
many stories to tell about their tribes and cultural traditions.
Mark has
been training hard in the countryside and mountains - we look
forward to seeing his new-found fitness when he returns late in the
summer.
30 Apr 2010
Baby Amy
Congratulations to Rieko and Mike Trees on the safe
arrival of baby Amy on 30 March. A month early, Amy lost a
little weight to start with but both mother and daughter are doing
fine and we look forward to seeing all three of them soon.
25 Apr 2010
Virgin London Marathon
Samantha Amend was disappointed
with a final time of 2:47:01 when she'd been looking for something about eight
minutes faster. She was,
nevertheless, 6th female in the mass race and 33rd if the elite
women are included. Sarah Murphy was 62nd in 3:03:38.
First male Belgravian home was Harm Sengers in 2:29:38,
followed by Jose Antonio Blanco, 2:34:17 and
Mal Byansi 2:37:31. James Kelly was given the ok
to run by his doctor, in spite of his stress fracture, and from the
looks of it, had a torrid time with a final 2:40:48.
17 Apr 2010
Looking for a miracle ...
ERRA National Road Relays, Sutton Coldfield, 17
April. With two men running injured and a further four
desperately short of training for one reason or another, the Bels
remained optimistic of their chances of a medal position to complete
a full decade on the podium. Even when aces Sharp and
Goolab became stranded in Portugal due to the European
airports shutdown a wild hope existed that by some miracle our
running wounded would be able to raise their game to an
extraordinary level. But running is the most unforgiving of
sports; if you haven't done the work you can't do the business.
Once dreams of a medal had slipped away and the
pressure was off, it was another enjoyable day in Sutton Park to add
to the annals. A final eighth place wasn't so bad bearing
everything in mind, and as a texting Paul Freary summed up
... "Ten years in the top ten and the best team of the decade."
Favourites Newham & Essex Beagles won the title from
a resurgent Tipton Harriers with Shettleston Harriers third.
Our own Dan Mulhare was 12th fastest of the long stage
runners and Mark Miles, on very little running, gained an
identical position among the short stage men.
Sadly the Belles could only muster two women in the
end - Sarah Murphy and Sam Amend - but they went out
in a blaze of glory in 15th spot after two stages.
No major winners over the
weekend but several runs near the front of the field. Pick of
the crop was Paskar Owor's 24:43 on Saturday 27th for 5th place in
the Victoria Park 5 miler, 37 seconds off his best set in the
Victory '5' of 2004. Hassan Raidi was 14th, and the following
day placed 3rd in the Hyde Park 10k.
Will Cockerell was our only entrant fit to travel to Wilmslow
for the National Half Marathon Championship on the Sunday where he was 28th in
1:11:55. Will has dropped only 6 positions since his PB run over the
same course in 2003 - but on this occasion was 5 minutes slower!
21 Mar 2010
SEAA 12-Stage Relay medal streak goes on
Milton Keynes. Knowing that we were far from full
strength for the men's SEAA 12-Stage Road Relay it still seemed
feasible that we might pull off a win if the opposition were in a
similar state. Not to be, however, as Newham & Essex Beagles
turned out an almost maximum effort to win by miles, leading from
leg 2, and relieving us of the course record.
The Bels had a battle
royal for the minor placings with Aldershot, Farnham & District AC
and it wasn't until stage 10 that we went clear of the Hampshire
club to clinch silver medals and stretch our medal streak to twelve
years.
Phil Wicks ran an amazing 16:06 for the short
stage off just three weeks running; but he was probably more
delighted simply to be
running pain free after several months of injury. His was the day's
second best time and the third best Belgrave short stage ever. Also second fastest,
over the long stage, was Dan Mulhare. Back after a lay-off of
several years David Anderson is now impressing as an
elite triathlete; he also turned in a speedy short stage - as did
National Junior Cross Country Champion Nick Goolab on the
final stage.
The women's 6-Stage race saw the Belles finish a
pleasing 11th, aided by a last leg run from Samantha Amend
who had earlier in the day placed 8th in the Reading Half
Marathon!
It was the first day out in 2XU kit thanks to
Mike Trees' company Triathlon Consultants who have stepped in
to provide technical clothing to Belgrave's top runners.
We regret to hear that one of the key men of our track and field
teams of the '70s and '80s, Charlie Gillett, has died after a
long illness, aged 68.
Charlie's enthusiasm rubbed off onto those all around him as he
tackled relays, 200 and 400 metre races (flat and hurdles) in our Southern League teams
and in our very first British League teams.
Just a few months ago he got in touch with us to talk about old
times and he mentioned that his
illness three years ago had wiped out his
running. He was as a result working with a 'personal trainer',
which he never imagined would be his fate.
But he was still regularly meeting up with a couple of his old
Belgrave team mates at the café at the Clapham Common
bandstand for a lunchtime chat.
Racing for Belgrave Harriers was just one facet of
Charlie's full
life, of course. He was known around the world for his radio
programmes and books, particularly championing 'world music'.
He was once offered, but turned down, the job of hosting the
renowned Old Grey Whistle Test on TV and discovered one of the
biggest rock bands of all time - Dire Straits.
In the Hague Half Marathon Samantha Amend
went through 10k in 36:51 but then suffered a bad patch before
rallying to finish 9th in 1:18:44. Five men went under 60 minutes in
the men's race! Nearer to home Hassan Raidi won the
Wimbledon Audi 10k in 33:14.
Four Belgrave wins were chalked up in 5k parkruns.
Steve Davies was fastest with a 14:49 clocking in Cardiff;
other winners were Paul Freary at Heaton Park, Richard
Ward in Greenwich and Lander Eguia in Reading.
At the McCain World Trials and Intercounties Championship at Cofton
Park, Birmingham, Paskar Owor led home the Surrey team in
38th, followed by James Kelly 53rd. Sarah Murphy
was 58th in the women's race, also representing Surrey.
In Ireland Charlie Dickinson placed 4th in the over 60
category of the Masters Home Countries International in Belfast
while Andrew Connick was 17th in the Irish Universities Cross
Country Championships in Cork.
8 Mar 2010
Phillips out of the Champs
Sadly, Phillips Idowu has
decided not to defend his World Indoor title this coming weekend.
"I am gutted not to be representing GB and passing up
the opportunity to defend my title," said Idowu, who won outdoor
gold in Berlin in 2009.
"However the late arrival of my baby boy has meant
that my training has been severely disrupted. I decided after talking to my coach that I had not
had the preparation we agreed was needed to do the British team
proud. I was hoping to avoid this by competing in a larger
than usual number of events early in the season, but it hasn't
worked out that way. Instead I will increase the training with a focus on
the European Championships in Barcelona. I wish the team the best of
luck in Doha."
8 Mar 2010
Award for Blogger Tom
At the awards ceremony for the Sports
Journalists Association Tom Fordyce won the Best
Live Blog award for his work at the World Athletics Championships!
Our man now has a lovely trophy, framed certificate ... and massive
smile.
Read more
Now that he is an award winning journalist it is
essential that those of you who haven’t already purchased his book
do so in case the shops run out. Click on "We could be heroes"
advert on the right hand side of ththe home page of our website. In fact, better than
that, search for Tom's book by clicking on the Amazon link further
down and the club makes a little commission!
7 Mar 2010
It's a Belgrave 1-2 in Finsbury Park
Travelling to North London in his search for a race,
Paskar Owor ran away from the field to win London Heathside's
5 miler in 25:45. In second place was none other than Hassan
Raidi - 26:37.
6 Mar 2010
David Anderson - 9th in National Duathlon Champs
After placing 2nd in a field of 700 in an Olympic
distance Triathlon last September (fastest swimmer and runner),
David Anderson tackled the Clumber Classic Duathlon which doubled as the
National Championships. Now he's really raising eyebrows in
the triathlon world. He was second fastest over the initial
10k run, 31:47, rode 40k on his bike, 1:03:00, before finishing with
a 16:51 5k. ... and in 117th was Paul Freary with
33:11, 1:12:30 and 18:11 - 22nd in his age group.
6 Mar 2010
Fast times in Bushy parkrun
Led by Blackheath & Bromley Harriers' Mike Skinner
(14:46), Bushy Park's 5k course took a battering. Richard
Stannard was down to 15:54, and in the mix (but unrecorded due
to a detour near the end) was Max Kiralyfi. Will
Cockerell had to "sprint" a mile to get to the start on time and
then got blown away in the melee at the start, settling for turning
the run into a faartlek session.
4 Mar 2010
Samson scales new heights
High jumping at the Europa SC
competition, Banksá Bystrica, Slovakia, Samson Oni set a new
personal record, indoors or out, in leaping 2.31 metres for second
place. If he can reproduce this form next weekend in the IAAF World
Championships in Doha, Qatar, he should have no difficulty making
the final.
27 Feb 2010
Nick Goolab retains his National U20 Title
Roundhay Park,
Leeds. A wonderful run came from Nick Goolab who retained his
ECCA Under 20 Men's Cross Country Championship today. He told
us that he was very nervous beforehand but ended up only the sixth
man in the history of the race to defend his title. Nick came
home with a 16 second advantage over arch rival James Wilkinson of
Leeds.
Only Sarah Murphy was in action for the Belles but she had a
cracking run to place 46th. Winner was Aldershot's Steph Twell.
Senior Men ... pleased with 7th
Aldershot, Farnham & District AC won the senior
men's race, led home by winner Andy Vernon with the Beagles' Moumin
Geele 2nd. Leeds City AC were second team on
their home turf with Bedford & County AC third. Belgrave were delighted with 7th team spot,
missing several leading runners. A storming run from Dan Mulhare
brought him home 16th, James Kelly was 41st,
Paskar Owor 89th, Mark Pollard 103rd, James
Fairbourn 153rd and Will Cockerell 165th.
UKA named the Great Britain & Northern Ireland team for the IAAF
World Championships and included Belgravians Samson Oni (High
Jump), Dwain Chambers (60m, fastest in the World this winter)
and Phillips Idowu (Triple Jump, World Champion). It is
expected that David Gillick
will represent Ireland in the 400m.
21 Feb 2010
Wokingham "half"
Dismal conditions didn't deter Samantha
Amend who is making good progress towards the Virgin London
Marathon. Today she placed third over 13.1 miles at Wokingham in 79:30.
20 Feb 2010
Indoor roundup
Aviva Grand
Prix, Birmingham. For the third time this winter Samson Oni
cleared 2.28m in the high jump, this time taking second place behind
the Russian Master Rybakov. Running his first race since last
summer David Gillick not only won the 400 metres but equalled
his personal best which also happens to be the Irish Record. Coming
back from prolonged injury Sweden's Christian Olssen looks as if he
might be a bit of a handful for World Champ Phillips Idowu.
This was the third time he's had the better of Phillips in the last
few weeks but nevertheless, the Belgravian set an indoor season's
best of 17.25m so is moving in the right direction with the Indoor
World Champs still three weeks off. Tim Bayley ran a personal
record of 3:40.16 in the 1500m, backing up a recent 3:59.75 at the
Reebok Indoor Games in Boston.
And also over in the USA the Gauson brothers have been in action
over the mile. Kris Gauson ran 4:03.68 at South Bend,
Indiana, and a week later Darren Gauson ran 4:01.12 with Kris
4:07.10 in Seattle.
Callendar Park, Falkirk. A famous team
victory came in the Stewarts Scottish National Cross Country
Championships where Inverclyde pipped Shettlestone by a single point
in the senior men's 12k. Dan Mulhare led the way in 5th for
Inverclyde, well involved in the battle for bronze, with Mark
Pollard 19th, having slipped from 10th-15th on the second lap
and struggling to get back through the pack on the third loop. Mark
has twice been a winner of this event.
Full results
After this race Dan and
Tewoldeberhan Mengisteab
(Shettleston Harriers) ended up tied on 77 points at the top of
the Men's Stewarts Cross Country Grand Prix 2009/10.
20 Feb 2010
Silver medals in Surrey
Cross Country Championships
The Belgrave men's team took a step closer to the county title that has
eluded them since 1996, winning the silver medals at Lloyd Park.
Missing James Kelly and Phil Wicks, it was left to
Paskar Owor to lead the squad home by winning the individual
race. Great running came from James Fairbourn (14th) and
Lander Eguia (16th)and their runs were key in the step up from last
year's third team place. Winners were Herne Hill Harriers with
Hercules Wimbledon AC in third.
Sarah Murphy rarely
has a bad race and it was another typically "gutsy" effort from our
leading lady who placed fourth in the women's race, just one second
outside the medals.
With a dodgy ankle that had given
trouble during the week, Richard Stannard eschewed the county
cross country championships over a rough 12k but turned out over the
more predictable Bushy Park 5k course to run second to Basingstoke's
Phil Tulba in 16:13. Richard would have
added even more spice to the Fairbourn, Eguia,
Cockerell shootout in Lloyd Park.
In Banstead Woods Richard Ward won his 57th - yes 57th! -
parkrun. He tops the most wins list (male) by a clear 27
victories. At Heaton Park Paul Freary headed the field
with 16:35.
Missed last week
A massive pb came last weekend from Vicki Goodwin in Seville
where she clocked 3:12:09 to place 20th in the marathon. Also
last weekend Sam Amend placed 3rd in the 26.2 Runners
Valentine's Day 10k - 37:12.
Aviva UK Indoor Champs., Sheffield.
Samson Oni claimed the indoor UK high jump title after a battle
with Birchfield's Tom Parsons. Both athletes cleared 2.25 metres but
while Samson nailed it at first attempt, Parsons needed his full
quota of jumps. Neither could make 2.28m.
Craig Fleming qualified for the final of the 200 metres by
winning his heat in 21.49 but suffered the ignominy of a dq in the
final. Splits of 75 and 70 for the opening 400s destroyed any
chance of a decent race in the men's 1500 metres. Tim
Bayley came away with 4:04.96 for second place while Steve
Davies was fourth in 4:06.19. Missing out on a place in
the 800 metres final,
Graeme Oudney set a season's best of 1:52.37 to win the B race.
Aviva UK Indoor Champs., Sheffield.
Setting the fastest times in the 60 metre heat and semi-final
rounds, Dwain Chambers rocketed to a season's world leading best of 6.50
seconds to
retain his UK title and presumably book his seat on a flight to Doha
for the IAAF Indoor World Championships. His time
was just 8/100ths away from his own UK record. Sutton's Harry
Aikines-Ayreetey was second in 6.55 and Craig Pickering of Milton
Keynes third in 6.66.
BBC story
Tim Bayley qualified for
the following day's final by winning the first heat of the 1500 metres with a
strong finish and Steve Davies was also comfortably through
in the second heat in 2nd place. Results
6 Feb 2010
It's
Dwain again!
Dwain Chambers warmed up for
the following week's world indoor trials in Sheffield with a fine 60m victory
at the Birmingham Games in 6.58 seconds.
Chambers, the world indoor 60m silver
medallist, came home ahead of Mark Lewis-Francis and Harry
Aikines-Aryeetey at the National Indoor Arena.
The 31-year-old went one-hundredth of
a second quicker in his semi, moving him to second place in the
world rankings. The Brit is behind American Mark Jelks, who ran 6.56
in Dusseldorf on Wednesday, in the world rankings (although later in
the day after Chamber's run a posse of Americans went faster in
Boston).
The World Indoor Championships take
place in March in Doha.
Chambers, the reigning European indoor
gold medallist, was competing for the first time since placing sixth
over 100m at last summer's World Championships in Berlin.
6 Feb 2010
Goolab the magnificent
Great results for Belgrave runners
came in the British Universities Cross Country Championships at
Stirling, Scotland. Still an U20 for the rest of the domestic
winter season, Nick Goolab placed second to Andy Vernon,
34:58 to 34:32, a superb run. In 6th place was Dan Mulhare
in 35:17 and 19th Jonathan Blackledge 36:14; great to see Jon
back in a race again after many injury problems.
Results
6 Feb 2010
Surrey Women's CC League
The Belles were back with a full team and 6th team place on the
Common. The final league position was also 6th.
Full results | Results
6 Feb 2010
And where was the Cockerpillar?
Missing his first Surrey league race in years Will Cockerell
was engaged in one of his other passions - a serious backgammon
tournament. But he did get a run in by turning out in the
Wimbledon Common parkrun 5k where his main opposition, Crawley man
Matt Furber, carried a video camera throughout the race and still
managed to outkick the Cockerpillar at the death. Result
6 Feb 2010
"Sweatshop" Surrey XC League
At Newlands Corner, near Guildford, the final Men's Surrey CC League
saw a win for Herne Hill Harriers from Thames Hare & Hounds but their
advantage was not enough to catch the latter who take the league
title again. The Bels placed 4th on the day and ended up 3rd
overall in the league - fairly satisfactory. First Belgravian
was Paskar Owor in 6th; he finished equal 1st individual with Thames'
James McMullan at the end of the series.
...
Link ... Arthur Penny wins the
Surrey CC Champs - 1933 ...
link... Tommy Green wins London to Brighton Walk -
1930 ...
link... EHM Williams wins the South of the Thames
"Junior" 1935 ...
link... and many more - put in your own search criteria.
31 Jan 2010
Dan's the Man
Irishman Dan Mulhare, at University in
Edinburgh and a member of Inverclyde as well as Belgrave, took great
delight in winning the Scottish 4k Cross Country Champs at Glasgow.
He fought off the challenge of Shettlestone's Eritrean contingent who filled
2nd to 4th places and in 6th spot came Mark Pollard.
30 Jan 2010
SEAA Blues
The results of the SEAA Cross Country Champs. don't make exciting reading as far as the Bels are concerned.
Somehow this race proves to be difficult for us to crack and
although we've hauled ourselves painfully up the result sheets and
had two consecutive team placings of 4th in '08 and '09, and were the
first Surrey team to get 12 home last year, we failed to complete a team
this time around.
Good running from James Kelly, though, who
takes the Endurance Cup as first Belgravian home in 25th place.
25 Jan 2010
A bad spill for William
A wrongly placed hurdle caused mayhem for hurdler William Sharman
during training last week. He tried hard to avoid the barrier as he
came upon it far too soon but couldn't miss hitting it and went down
in a bad fall which resulted in a multiple fracture of his wrist.
Will was taken to hospital and underwent an operation the following
morning. His indoor season and warm-weather training are now
cancelled.
24 Jan 2010
A
double win at Dorney Lake
Hassan Raidi led home the men's field in the
Dorney Lake 10k. We have a feeling that the race, held over a
slightly different course to normal, was slightly over distance -
Garmin wearers claiming it to be 10.3k. Hassan's time was
around 33 minutes. The women's race was won by Sam Amend.
She was on her own for much of the route and was timed at 37:27.
Also a winner over 10k, Vicki Goodwin took a minute off her
best time to run 40:16 at Garons in the South of France near Nimes.
Vicki has a couple of half marathons lined up and seriously
targeting further pbs over 10k and 5k.
23 Jan 2010
A good showing in Middlesex Champs.
Ruislip. Stephen Sharp made a successful
foray back to his old stamping ground to clearly win the Middlesex
Cross Country title; his winning margin over the 12k course was over
a minute.
The Under 20 men's race did not feature our European silver
medallist Nick Goolab but it did give a chance for
Max and Dom Kiralyfi to show their paces. Max
picked up the bronze medal while twin brother Dom placed 6th.
Full results
Belgrave brothers were also prominent in the McCain UK Cross
Challenge in Antrim where Michael Mulhare placed 10th and
Daniel was 14th.
Full results
17 Jan 2010
Russell left out of Aussie cross team
In spite of placing 6th in the Australian Cross Country
Championships, less than a minute behind the winner Collis
Birmingham, Russell Dessaix-Chin has been left out of the
Aussie squad for the IAAF World Championships due to be held in
Bydgoszcz, Poland, at the end of March. It seems that the selectors
have elected to take only five men.
Russell tells us that he was very disappointed. Published
information before the race was that the Championship was to be the
main basis for selection but it seems that a lack of supporting
performances let him down. A bit tough when he'd actually been
injured, came back from that to place 6th and it's six to make up a
team.
The KPMG Road Mile race in Bermuda was won by Kenyan
Shadrack Biwot in a time of 4:11.4, finishing ahead of Belgrave's
defending champion Neil Speaight, 4:12.8, and James Thie of
Wales, 4:13:6.
Two-time winners of the race, Speaight and Thie had
both hoped to become the first ever competitor to win three mile
titles in Bermuda but it was Biwot who stole the show.
Cheered on by thousands of spectators lining the
course, Biwot left Speaight and Thie trailing in his wake as he
exploded towards the finishing line to win his first Front Street
mile title.
"Everything just went to plan," said Biwot. "I just
tried to press the pace and stay relaxed. Things got a little bit
hairy going back up the hill but I kept the pressure on. I picked
the right moment and just let everything go."
Meanwhile, on the country in the UK,
James Kelly placed 14th in the McCain Cross Challenge in
Cardiff. And on the roads of Phoenix, Arizona, Brad Poore was
13th in the Rock 'n' Roll Marathon in 2:26:12.
17 Jan 2010
Here & There
Belinda's baby
Arien Caser Howard
made his appearance on 14 January at 12:48pm, weighing in at 7lbs
1oz and a son to our hammer throwing Belinda Heil.
She tells us, "he is a
bouncing baby angel in excellent health. I am a little worse for
wear and am being monitored, but with a little lovin' should be back
on my feet soon".,
but did you
Kev's band on air
A lot of you will know Kevin Gadd, one of our Surrey CC League
troops, but did you know he plays bass in a band going by the name of
Goliath? One of the band's
songs 'Forget It' was featured on BBC Radio Sussex, Surrey and
Solent on Sunday night.
Up & Running offer
This Dulwich based running shop are offering a £40 jacket for
free if you buy a pair of running shoes from them. See moreand
mention that you found out about this via the Belgrave website.
Just 100 days to go
Jackie Bye has been struggling with illness but is still determined
to complete the Virgin London Marathon, running for charity. Her son
Graeme is 9 and suffers from a neurological problem known as Charcot
Marie Tooth. Jackie is determined to raise as much as she can to aid
him and others like him.
Donations
16 Jan 2010
SEAA Indoor Champs
Sat. 16 January. SEAA Indoor Champs. The indoor season moved up a
gear at the Lee Valley Athletics Centre this weekend and Samson
Oni displayed good form to take the high jump title with 2.25m,
equalling his own Championship Best Performance.
Sunday 17 January. There was no denying World
Champion Triple Jumper Phillips Idowu who led throughout the
competition but in the end he only had 8cm to spare over Woodford
Green's Tosin Oke.
Great to see a crop of Belgrave Young Athletes in action over the
weekend.
Sat. 16 January. Pole vaulting for the first time since last June,
Joe Ive cleared 5.18m to win his competition at Vault
Manchester.
Sun. 17 January. The Scottish Inter-Regional Championships saw
Mark Pollard win the A string 1500m in 3:59.09.
13 Jan 2010
In memory of Charlie Henn
A
goodly group of Belgravians gathered at Belgrave Hall after the
funeral of Charlie Henn on 13 January.
His family had
requested no flowers, but that any donations that friends may wish
to make in memory of Charlie, should be made to their nominated
charity which is - Belgrave Harriers.
Such
donations may be sent directly to the funeral directors, who will
accept them up to one month after the funeral. They are T.H. Sanders
and Son, 1a Upper Ham Road, Ham Common, Richmond, Surrey, TW10 5LD.
Alternatively they may be sent to the Hon Secretary of Belgrave
Harriers at 12c Lansdowne Road, Wimbledon, London, SW20 8AN. All
cheques should be made payable to Belgrave Harriers.
9 Jan 2010
County CC Champs cancelled
Snowy, icy and freezing conditions caused many county Championships
to be postponed or cancelled altogether.
The Surrey County Cross Country Champs. have been rescheduled for
Saturday 20 February at Lloyd Park, near Croydon, and the race
programme will be as originally planned for 9 January.
It's easy to say that we always used to go ahead with the
championships in the old days, but one has to remember that the
programme then only consisted of three races - Senior and Junior
men, and Youths. Women's events were held on a different day.
Nowadays the event includes races for all age groups from Under 13
upwards - for both male and female - more than three times the
number of races once held. Officials are not getting any
younger and their duties at the County Champs are now spread over
about six hours.
2 Jan 2010
Nonsuch Relay to be renamed in memory of Dave Davies
Held early in July each year in Nonsuch Park this Dave Denton
organised event has been renamed in memory of our own late Dave
Davies who frequented this race and just about every other
within a fifteen mile radius of Epsom.
As reported on the Running with David website
the race: " ... always attracts around 60 teams and has been renamed
as a memorial to a lovely man who ran for both Belgrave Harriers and
Epsom Oddballs. The event has categories for men, women, V40 & V50
men and V40 women as well as a corporate category and prizes are
awarded to the winners of each category. The relay starts at 7pm."
We'd best make sure we enter a team then, eh? It'll be held on
July 1st in 2010.
2 Jan 2010
Charles Henn 1931-2009
It is with very great sadness that we report the death of Charles Henn early on Christmas Eve
in Kingston Hospital. He had
been fighting illness for some time but was still a regular among
the "Saturday Crowd" until recent weeks.
Charlie had been a member since 1950 enjoying regular runs from our
clubhouse from that date to the present day and was an
ever-present competitor when it came to club races - particularly
over the longer distances. He stepped in to become our General Hon.
Secretary in the mid-90s through to the millennium and beyond, and
brought a meticulousness to the job which was almost unparalleled.
He was elected a Life Member of Belgrave Harriers during this period
but, a quiet and modest man who preferred not to appear in the
limelight, he firmly shunned any greater recognition.
1 Jan 2010
Russell at Falls Creek
Let's dream for a few minutes of somewhere warmer ... Aussie Russell Dessaix-Chin writes to let us know that he is now into some decent
training at the Australian Distance Training Camp at Falls Creek,
Victoria, in Australia. There are more than
60km of
groomed cross country trails and a lot to see across the picturesque
Bogong High Plains. Russ tells us that he loves the cold and
envies us the snow - but if we're not mistaken, that's our man
leading a pack in conditions that we quite fancy right now. Russ
bumps into Marty Dent every so often, "... but he's doing
crazy miles ..."
With
the 12-Stage Relay out of the way, this time of year has recently
been the occasion when a new Men's Running Captain takes charge.
