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Report by Bill Laws

Photos by Patricia Mead

Men's and Women's Golden Jubilee Cup - 2002 

Golden Jubilee Cup Final, Bedford, 17 August 2002  

Inaugural Golden Jubilee Cup competition goes to Belgrave

Left: Some of the Belgrave crew get in on the presentation.  Right Amala Onuora, Amy Spencer, Sarah Claxton (not pictured) and Christine Harrison-Bloomfield set new club figures for the 4 x 100 metres.

With temperatures hovering at a season's high of 30 deg C plus, the omens were good for a hot competition in this the very first Cup Final for combined men's and women's teams. Remember that the combined might of Belgrave's men and women had not even been seeded in the semi's and yet we had disposed of the powerful Woodford Green and Essex Ladies combo to advance to the final.
Men's team managers Bill Laws and John Jeffery had sweated buckets to ensure that the men would not let the side down and likewise Women's team managers Cynthia James, Catherine Eastham and International Comps manager Phil Green had worked like Trojans to ensure that our ladies would hold their collective heads high at this the top most level of Club Competition.

The match started early and got under way by 10.30am. Our start was not exceptional. Fourths in the men's long jump and women's hammer were quickly followed by Spencer Barden's second spot in a torrid 10,000m. But then Mick Jones exceeded his Commonwealth gold medal mark to win the hammer followed by Matt Douglas' win in the 400H and we were free and into a lead which was to expand and contract all afternoon until we eased finally to a massive points win - not only in the combined match but also in each of the men's and women's comps scored independently.

Mavis Hall proudly poses with Commonwealth Games Hammer Champion Mick Jones.  Mick reckons that he shares his medal with every person who has ever supported him. 

Every event brought a new level of excitement. Double wins came in the 100's with Darren Chin's achieved facing a 5m/s headwind, this being echoed by Christine Bloomfield when conditions had eased to only a 4.5m/s headwind. Then double wins for Chris Moss in the men's 800 sprinting to the lead down the home straight, and for Emma Davis employing identical tactics and looking as though there was a lot left in the tank. Remember this at a level representing the best in the country. Other notable double firsts were from Stuart Faben and Goldie Sayers in both javelins and from both our sprint relay squads.

After 17 events out of the final combined total of 40 we were leading Birchfield by 30 points. Then 10 events later this gap had closed to 9 points - but thereafter a series of good results combined with several Birchfield disasters saw us stretch away to a massive and truly outstanding 47.5 points win aided by many outstanding performances. First there was Adam Zawadski's electric kick to out sprint Mike Openshaw to win the men's 1500 followed by a fine second in the women's metric mile by Julie Mitchell. Then the height of excitement as Will Cockerell finished third in the 5000 having caught the leaders with 2 laps to go, but heartache for Tania Sturton as, overwelmed by the stifling heat and drafted in as a late and unwell replacement, she collapsed just 550m from the end of the women's 3000. Fortunately she recovered to share the team's excitement as victory beckoned.

Darren Chin ran 10.79 into a 5.0 metres per second headwind. With the wind hindrance estimated as 0.1 of a second per metre and allowing for the fact that he might have had a 2.0mps following wind ... that works out at a feasible ...  10.09!

Lucy Webber had a fine win in the women's pole vault narrowly failing at 4.00m while Paul Williamson gained silver in the men's event at 5.15m which was not bad considering he had forgotten his orthotics. Other winners included Shelley Newman in the discus and Sarah Claxton in the long jump. Shelly's hubby Lee stood in at short notice in the discus for Kevin Brown who arrived injured. Lee finished a very creditable second and informed us that he is now retiring due to pressure of work and a pair of dodgy knees. (This is all we will mention here of this great Belgrave athlete but rest assured that a fitting tribute to one of our all time high points scorers will be published at a later date.) Other silver medallists were: Matt Douglas in the 110 hurdles, Amy Spencer in the 200m and Dave Readle in the shot.

But let's not forget the relays where we had three wins and a second to take our points well clear of the rest. The women's sprint relay with Amala Onuora, Amy Spencer, Christine Bloomfield and Sarah Claxton powered to a new Club record of 46.13 while a men's sprint squad comprising just two recognised sprinters in the forms of Darren Chin and Graham Beasley won aided by yet another contribution from Matt Douglas who handed the baton to the final runner- triple and long jumper Femi Daramola. The women's long relay team just failed to win but the final leg split of 55.1 for Jennifer Culley was another fine run for this athlete who claimed to be tired and below par. Not to the cheering supporters she wasn't!

And then to the final event the men's long relay. Well this team was dredged from the walking wounded with a 400 hurdler (you've guessed it, Matt Douglas), followed by a high jumper (Richard Aspden), an 800m runner (Chris Moss) and then a sprinter (Graham Beasley). Yes, and egged on by a huge crowd of team and supporters they won at the last gasp thanks to Graham's storming home straight sprint and dip to give him a fantastic 46.8 split.

This truly was one of our greatest team performances and it was fitting that for the men Will Cockerell and for the women Amala Onuora accepted the new Jubilee trophy surrounded by a tired but euphoric team. Can it get any better than this?

Men

100m: 1 D.Chin 10.79/-5.0; n/s 2 F.Daramola 11.34/-1.6. 200m: 1 G.Beasley 21.57/-1.8. 400m: 5 N.Levy 48.73. 800m: 1 C.Moss 1:51.85. 1500m: 1 A.Zawadski 3:54.54. 5000m: 3 W.Cockerell 15:38.44. 10000m: 2 S.Barden 30:52.75. 110mH: 2 M.Douglas 14.39/-0.5. 400mH: 1 M.Douglas 50.71. 3000mSC: 3 K.Nash 9:33.95. HJ: 3 R.Aspden 2.05. LJ: 4 J.Flynn 6.94. TJ: 6 F.Daramola 13.88. PV: 2 P.Williamson 5.15. SP: 2 D.Readle 16.15. DT: 2 L.Newman 51.48. JT: 1 S.Faben 69.27. HT: 1 M.Jones 73.25. 4x100m: 1 Belgrave 41.46 (D.Chin, G.Beasley, M.Douglas, F.Daramola). 4x400m: 1 Belgrave 3:16.73 (M.Douglas 49.2, R.Aspden 51.9, C.Moss 48.9, G.Beasley 46.8).

Women

100m: 1 C.Harrison-Bloomfield 11.87/-4.5. 200m: 2 A.Spencer 24.42/-1.4. 400m: 3 J.Culley 55.73. 800m: 1 E.Davies 2:09.54. 1500m: 2 J.Mitchell 4:31.22. 3000m: dnf T.Sturton. 100mH: 4 S.Claxton 14.09/-1.2. 400mH: 3 M.Carey 61.83. HJ: 3 J.Hollman 1.70. LJ: 1 S.Claxton 6.28. TJ: 4 C.Stead 12.24. PV: 1 L.Webber 3.80. SP: 5 S.Newman 11.70. DT: 1 S.Newman 54.67. JT: 1 G.Sayer 53.60. HT: 4 D.Holden 55.58. 4x100m: 1 Belgrave 46.13 (A.Onuora, A.Spencer, S.Claxton, C.Harrison-Bloomfield). 4x400m: 2 Belgrave 3:44.19 (M.Marks 56.3, H.Stares 58.4, M.Carey 54.5, J.Culley 55.1).

Long and triple jumps subject to following wind but readings not currently known.

Prolific points scorer Graham Beasley sets out on another winning run in the 200 metres.  Graham later ran second leg in the winning 4x100 metres team and raced to a 46.8 individual time on last leg of the 4x400 metres.

Copthall, 21 July 2002.

This was the first time ever that our men and women competed together to form one team and the result was all that we had hoped for.  

The two matches held at Copthall were “loaded” with four top teams present and only the winners of each match earning the right to take part in the final.  Belgrave eyebrows were raised when it was announced that the seeded teams were to be Shaftesbury Barnet H and Woodford Green with Essex Ladies.  These two teams were therefore separated, one to each match, while the rest of the clubs present, including Belgrave, went into the draw.  Considering that Woodford were 5th in last year’s men’s final, three places behind Belgrave, and didn’t even make it to the women’s final in which we placed 3rd, while Shaftesbury placed well behind us in both competitions, this seemed an extremely dubious bit of seeding.  But in a knockout competition one has to beat all the teams whether one faces them early or late so the decision was accepted (although queried) – and before the end of the day it became clear that seeded Woodford Green were destined not to make final in 2002.  

Men

100m: 1 M.Dickson 10.5w/3.6. 200m: 2 M.Dickson 22.1 w/2.9; 400m: 2 G.Dearman 48.1. 800m: 3 T.Bayley 1:54.8. 1500m: 1 C.Moss 3:53.4. 5000m: 2 A.Stewart 15:06.5. 10000m: 1 P.Freary 31:35.2. 110mH: 1 N.Owen 14.4/1.9. 400mH: 1 M.Douglas 51.0. 3000mSC: 2 K.Nash 9:22.8. HJ: =2 J.Hilston 1.85. LJ: 1 J.Flynn 7.26w/3.6. TJ: 3 D.Wellstead 14.02w/2.4. PV: 2 P.Williamson 5.10. SP: 3 G.Beard 16.23. DT: 2 K.Brown 53.88. JT: 2 S.Faben 68.16. HT: 1 M.Jones 73.33. 4x100m: 1 Belgrave 41.7. 4x400m: 2 Belgrave 3:15.1 (N.Levy, T.Bayley, C.Moss, G.Dearman).

Women

100m: 2 C.Harrison-Bloomfield 11.8w/3.2. 200m: 2 C.Harrison-Bloomfield 24.3w/2.2. 400m: 1 J.Culley 55.6. 800m: 6 H.Stares 2:32.0. 1500m: 6 S.Stracey 5:05.9. 3000m: 6 M.Heaton 11:16.6. 100mH: 1 S.Claxton 13.9w/2.9. 400mH: 2 M.Marks 62.4. HJ: 1 M.Knight 1.60. LJ: 1 S.Claxton 6.23/1.5. TJ: 1 C.Stead 11.84/1.3. PV: 2 L.Webber 3.80. SP: 3 S.Newman 11.66. DT: 1 S.Newman 58.34. JT: 3 M.Knight 35.39. HT: 2 D.Holden 55.61. 4x100m: 1 Belgrave 47.0 (A.Onuora, J.Culley, S.Claxton, C.Harrison-Bloomfield). 4x400m: 1 Belgrave 3:48.4 (J.Culley 57.9, M.Marks 57.7, H.Stares 58.8, M.Carey 56.0).