Home

Track & Field Index

Report by Alan Mead

European Champion Clubs Cup,  Lisbon, Portugal - 25-26 May 2002 

Hopes of an improvement on last year’s 5th place took a knock as the team gathered at Gatwick and found that Dwain Chambers would not be accompanying them on the trip to Lisbon.  Although desperate for races, a niggle at this stage of a crucial season meant that our key sprinter was unavailable.

A further complication was revealed at the pre-match technical meeting when it was announced that a second Portuguese team would be taking part, pushing the number of competing teams up to nine with only eight lanes available in the Estádio Universitário de Lisboa.  The shortage of lanes would be overcome by spltting the sprints and hurdles into two races, putting the slower runners into a race of four men which would be followed by the faster five men in race two.  Not only did this destroy the shorter events as a spectacle, it made team positions difficult to calculate immediately - and in at least one case affected the result.

Conditions were warm (around 19C) without being uncomfortable but a swirling wind - especially on day one - made conditions tricky.

DAY ONE

Hammer - Mike Jones

Drama struck early when on his first attempt and into his fourth turn, Mike Jones suddenly lost control. As the 16lb hammer took command, the Belgrave man was thrown violently to the ground ... and, worryingly, he did not move a muscle as he lay face down in the throwing area.  Officials and spectators were similarly frozen until the spell was broken after what seemed an eternity and help in the form of a worried Team Manager charged towards the prostrate figure. Slowly Mike came around and his first words were: “How far did it go?  How long have I been here?”

Suffering from a bout of tonsilitis, he had lost spacial awareness as his spinning gained momentum.  At three turns and going into four he thought to himself, “this is going to go far,” but wasn’t quite sure where he was.  The next thing he knew was that he was opening his eyes and closely studying the tartan surface around the hammer circle.

Mike was badly bruised and had hit his head on the circle rim but having hauled himself back onto his feet, a short jog out onto the grass convinced him that he was going to continue - and the competition recommenced.  A courageous second round attempt moved him into third place but as others consolidated in rounds three and four Mick, not surprisingly, had trouble staying in the circle and was unable to improve.  His normal 70 metres plus should have given him 3rd or even 2nd - but the team were lucky to get any points at all, for a man any less valiant would have called it a day after that first attempt.

1 V.Khersontsev (RUS) 76.85; 2 P.Sedlacek (CZE) 73.08; 3 V.Costa (POR) 69.95; 4 M.Campeny (ESP) 68.34; 5 M.Jones (GBR) 66.85 (x, 66.85, x, x); 6  A.Vitel E Silva (POR II) 64.95; 7 E.Marioni (ITA) 64.69; 8 W.Ciofani (FRA) 60:32; 9 I.Giller (ISR) 48:87.

After 1 event: 1 SC Luch (RUS) 9; 2 Dukla Praha (CZE) 8; 3 Sporting Club Portugal (POR) 7, 4 Puma Chapin Jerez 2002 (ESP) 6; 5 Belgrave H (GBR) 5; 6 Futebol Clube Porto (POR) 4; 7 VB Carabinieri (ITA) 3; 8 CA Montreuil (FRA) 2; 9 Maccabi Tel-Aviv (ISR) 1.

400 metres hurdles - Matt Douglas

A gaunt looking Matt drove hard from the outside lane in the faster of the two races. Laid low a while back by a bug which had caused him to lose half a stone, Matt is not yet back to his best but this race was an important step on the road to sub-50.  Clearly ahead at 200 metres Matt was still fighting the Russian Boris Gorban for the lead halfway around the final turn, but into the straight his less than perfect condition began to tell and as he began to tread water the Czech and Portuguese runners squeezed past. Just one man in race one beat his time and it was another 5 points in the bag with the team moving up into 4th.

Race 1. 1 G.Carabelli (ITA) 50.37; 2 P.Rodrigues (POR II) 51.68; 3 M.Adamopoulos (ISR) 52.32; 4 X.Ravanet (FRA) 52.74.
Race 2. 1 B.Gorban (RUS) 49.27; 2 S.Tesarik (CZE) 50.03; 3 C.Silva (POR) 50.28; 4 M.Douglas (GBR) 50.82; 5 C.Navarro (ESP) 52.30.

After two events: 1 SC Luch 18; 2 Dukla Praha 16; 3 Sporting Club Portugal 14, 4 Belgrave H 10; 5 Puma Chapin Jerez 2002 9; 6 VB Caribinieri 9; 7 Futebol Clube Porto 8; 8 CA Montreuil 3; 9 Maccabi Tel-Aviv (ISR) 3.

100 metres - Marlon Dickson

Marlon has been with us a long time.  It’s a dozen years now since we first saw him racing in the Thameside League - and while, in far off Battersea, another Thameside was drawing to a close, Marlon lined up with some very tasty sprinters in Portugal.  Drawn in the slower of the two races Marlon was neck and neck with Sunday Emmanuel, representing Prague but hailing from Nigeria.  Just in the final couple of paces half a metre of daylight opened up and Marlon was 2nd. Race 2 saw the “Russian” Brian Lewis hold off the “Portuguese” Francis Obikwelu but Marlon’s time - a pb if it hadn’t been for the following wind - stood up well and it was 5th and 5 points yet again.

Race 1. (4.7) 1 S.Emmanuel (CZE) 10.43; 2 M.Dickson (GBR) 10.50; 3 T Kafri (ISR) 10.60; 4 M.Barbosa (POR II) 10.87.
Race 2. (3.6) 1 B.Lewis (RUS) 10.11; 2 F.Obikwelu (POR) 10.23; 3 M.Diarra (FRA) 10.41; 4 A.Rodriguez (ESP) 10.55; 5 A.Rabino (ITA) 10.64.

After 3 events: 1 SC Luch 27; 2 Dukla Praha 22; 3 Sporting Club Portugal 22, 4 Belgrave H 15; 5 Puma Chapin Jerez 2002 13; 6 VB Caribinieri 11; 7 CA Montreuil 10; 8 Futebol Clube Porto 9; 9 Maccabi Tel-Aviv (ISR) 6.

Above: Andy Graffin heads a tightly packed field in the 1500 metres.  He has just completed a 56 second lap and only 400 metres of the race remain.  Photo by Paul Freary.

1500 metres - Andy Graffin

Before the runners had cleared the back straight for the first time one could see that this was going to be a real “championship” race with everyone relying on a final kick. After a lap in 67 Andy was handily placed near the front and at 700m (1:59) he had moved right onto the shoulder of the leader.  With two laps taking 2:15 the Belgrave man had had enough and down the back straight he ran ahead and injected some serious speed – but could he break away?  Andy’s third lap took 56 seconds but there was still a queue of kickers lined up behind the claret and gold vest.  Entering the finishing straight the line astern formation became line abreast and the race could have been anyone’s.  As target man and pacer for the previous half mile Andy suffered most and in spite of moving at almost the same pace as everyone else, he slipped back to 6th as a mere 63/100ths covered the first half dozen home.  It was a Caribinieri vest that was first across the line, and for the first time in the meeting the Russians failed to take maximum points.

1 C.Obrist (ITA) 3:51.17; 2 M.Sneberger (CZE) 3:51.30; 3 V.Shabunin (RUS) 3:51.33; 4 P.Esteso (ESP) 3:51.47; 5 A.Bispo (POR) 3:51.76; 6 A.Graffin (GBR) 3:51.80; 7 Y.Gerachiw (ISR) 3:54.71; 8 S.Benfares (FRA) 3:55.49; 9 A.Alheira (POR II) 3:57.13.

After 4 events: 1 SC Luch 34; 2 Dukla Praha 30; 3 Sporting Club Portugal 27, 4 VB Caribinieri 20; 5 Puma Chapin Jerez 2002 19; 6 Belgrave H 19; 7 CA Montreuil 12; 8 Futebol Clube Porto 10; 9 Maccabi Tel-Aviv (ISR) 9.

400 metres – Sean Baldock

Nursing a knee problem, Sean’s chances of racing a hard 400 were rated as only 70% a week before the race.  But the niggle improved to such an extent that our man was quite confident that everything would be ok - and it was.  It was his first race of the year and rather than take out the first 200 in the low 21s he took it a little steadier in something more like 22. The result was a very satisfying 2nd place and the knowledge that some fast times are just around the corner.  Sean’s record in the ECCC is probably as good as anyone’s - four wins and a 2nd place. 

Race 1.  1 A.Morante (ESP) 47.59; 2 R.Loubli (FRA) 48.10; 3 V.Moreno (POR) 48.15; 4 N.Green (ISR) 48.51.
Race 2.  1 A.Semenov (RUS) 46.66; 2 S.Baldock (GBR) 46.79; 3 K.Blaha (CZE) 46.82; 4 M.Salvucci (ITA) 47.61; A.Pinto (POR II) dnf.

After 5 events: 1 SC Luch 43; 2 Dukla Praha 37; 3 Sporting Club Portugal 30, 4 Belgrave H 27; 5 Puma Chapin Jerez 2002 25; 6 VB Caribinieri 25; 7 CA Montreuil 16; 8 Maccabi Tel-Aviv (ISR) 11; 9 Futebol Clube Porto 10.

High Jump – Ben Challenger

Ben has had some highs (World Student Games and European Under 23 winner) and lows in the last few years - but put a Belgrave vest on him and he always provides the goods.  First time clearances at 2.05 and 2.09 gave him the confidence to pass at 2.13.  Taking 2.16 at the second attempt and with four men left in the hunt, he then elected to give 2.19 a miss as well.  Rybakov and Janku both took this height at their second trial while the Spaniard went out. Three men were left in - including big Ben.  Both his opponents sailed over 2.21 at the first time of asking while Ben could go no further but 3rd place was more than we expected and the team moved into third spot at the expense of Sporting Club who picked up a single point in this discipline.

1 T.Janku (CZE) 2.25; 2 Y.Rybakov (RUS) 2.23; 3 B.Challenger (GBR) 2.16 (2.05 o, 2.09 o, 2.13 -, 2.16 xo, 2.19 -, 2.21 xxx); 4 J.Bermejo (ESP) 2.16; 5 N.Ciotti (ITA) 2.13; 6 C.Matusevich (ISR) 2.09; 7 M.Raifak (FRA) 2.05; 8 R.Goncalves (POR II) 2.05; 9 J.Mattes (POR) 2.05.

After 6 events: 1 SC Luch 51; 2 Dukla Praha 46; 3 Belgrave H 34; 4 Puma Chapin Jerez 2002 31; 5 Sporting Club Portugal 31, 6 VB Caribinieri 30; 7 CA Montreuil 19; 8 Maccabi Tel-Aviv (ISR) 15; 9 Futebol Clube Porto 12.

Long Jump - Darren Thompson

Where there are swings there are usually roundabouts and yearned for for points in the long jump to fortify our team position didn’t materialise. We’ve seen some monster marginal fouls from Darren Thompson in the past and every one of his efforts had our supporters lifting with him as he hit the board.  Two “no jumps” were followed by a 7.23m effort that at least warranted a point and while in the last round the leader Danil Burkenya celebrated with a mighty 8.35m to wrap it up and take the Cup record, Darren could only muster another 7.23.  He was initially placed equal 7th, sharing with the Israeli, until a sharp eyed Sir Eddie reminded the scorers that the Belgrave man had a superior second best effort and 1.5 team points were turned into 2.

1 D.Burkenya (RUS) 8.35; 2 C.Calado (POR) 8.06; 3 R.Sebrle (CZE) 7.85; 4 A.Rimoldi (ITA) 7.82; 5 K.Taillepierre (FRA) 7.77; 6 N.Evora (POR II) 7.57; 6 I.Roman (ESP) 7.49; 7 D.Thompson (GBR) 7.23 (x, x, 7.23, 7.23); 8 M.Malisev (ISR) 7.23.

After 7 events: 1 SC Luch 60; 2 Dukla Praha 53; 3 Sporting Club Portugal 39, 4 Belgrave H 36; 5 VB Caribinieri 36; 6 Puma Chapin Jerez 2002 34; 7 CA Montreuil 24; 8 Futebol Clube Porto 16; 9 Maccabi Tel-Aviv (ISR) 16.

5000 metres - Spencer Barden

A fine 13:48 at Loughborough a week earlier had given Spencer a lot of confidence but with a few laps remaining, a sudden break left our man adrift and the blustery evening wind made it very difficult to regain contact. Alvarez, an 8:22 steeplechaser, was similarly caught on the hop but Spen’s competitive finish made sure that once again a Belgrave singlet crossed the line in our favourite position – 5th.

1 J.Ramos (POR) 13:53.14; 2 A.Zadorozhnyi (RUS) 13:53.62; 3 L.Maurizio (ITA) 13:58.61; 4 A.Alvarez (ESP) 14:08.14; 5 S.Barden (GBR) 14:09.19; 6 L.Zeroal (FRA) 14:09.54; 7 V.Almeida (POR II) 14:10.07; 8 V.Gatundu (CZE) 14:22.25; 9 A.Bimro (ISR) 14:29.19.

After 8 events: 1 SC Luch 68; 2 Dukla Praha 55; 3 Sporting Club Portugal 48, 4 VB Caribinieri 43; 5 Puma Chapin Jerez 2002 40; 6 Belgrave H 40; 7 CA Montreuil 28; 8 Futebol Clube Porto 19; 9 Maccabi Tel-Aviv (ISR) 18.

Shot - Greg Beard

Nineteen year-old Greg found himself in a hot competition and no mistake.  Three throws over 19 metres were registered in the opening round with Viratyuk heading the field at 19.53m.  A fourth man approached 20m in round two and then the penultimate round saw Italian Dal Soglio go ahead with 19.80m.  In the face of all this Greg, up an age-group and up an implement weight since last season, was faced with a daunting task. He improved in round two but was unable to make a mark in the last two rounds while Viratyuk let out a huge bellow to celebrate breaching the 20m barrier and going back into the lead.  Greg vows that next year he’ll be back and will be taking a few scalps!

1 R.Viratyuk (POR II) 20.05; 2 P.Stehlik (CZE) 19.83; 3 P.Dal Soglio (ITA) 19.80; 4 M.Haborak (RUS) 19.54; 5 M.Pestano (ESP) 18.47; 6 M.Fortes (POR) 17.54; 7 R.Cece (FRA) 16.88; 8 R.Varga (ISR) 16.33; 9 G.Beard (GBR) 15.25.

After 9 events: 1 SC Luch 74; 2 Dukla Praha 63; 3 Sporting Club Portugal 52, 4 VB Caribinieri 50; 5 Puma Chapin Jerez 2002 45; 6 Belgrave H 42; 7 CA Montreuil 31; 8 Futebol Clube Porto 28; 9 Maccabi Tel-Aviv (ISR) 19.

4 x 100 metres relay - Graham Beasley, Darren Chinn, Marlon Dickson, Matt Douglas

It was not an exhilarating weekend for Darren Chin.  Inexplicably left out of the non-scoring 100m by the organisers when his name was the first to be registered, he was left with a relay run which went close to giving us no score at all.  Graham Beasley ran a good first turn but he and Darren then had great difficulty in connecting and by the time the second Belgrave man had the baton it was a lost cause. Twenty metres adrift along the back straight, our team gradually halved the deficit to the next team ahead, but not only were we 5th in the “A” race, we were slower than each of the teams in the “B” relay and a measly single point was all we could add to the halfway total.

With the second Portuguese team not involved in the relegation stakes we were now looking over our shoulders at CA Montreuil.  If they should catch us on day two it would be Group B for GBR in 2003!

1 POR 39.65; 2 RUS 39.74; 3 CZE 40.00; 4 ITA 40.13; 5 FRA 40.77; 6 ESP 41.02; 7 ISR 41.18; 8 POR II 41.73; 9 GBR 41.98.

After 10 events: 1 SC Luch 82; 2 Dukla Praha 70; 3 Sporting Club Portugal 61, 4 VB Caribinieri 56; 5 Puma Chapin Jerez 2002 49; 6 Belgrave H 43; 7 CA Montreuil 36; 8 Futebol Clube Porto 30; 9 Maccabi Tel-Aviv (ISR) 22.

DAY TWO

Diehard Belgrave  track and field fans prepare for a second day's sport at the Estádio Universitário de Lisboa.  Back row: Leo Coy, Eric Hall, John Jeffery.  Front: Alan Mead and Bill Laws.  
Photo by Patricia Mead.

110 metres hurdles - Neil Owen

Neil immediately made up 2.5 points on our Spanish rivals and was close to gaining more when his desperate final lunge in the sprint hurdles just failed to catch another man on the line.  The competition had been even tighter in the previous race where de los Santos and Adamopoulos could not be split by the electric timing and both recorded the same time to the 1/1000th of a second.  The half point gained here by the Spanish club proved to be crucial at the end of the match.  CA Montreuil provided the slowest hurdler and we began to feel a lot more comfortable about avoiding the relegation zone.

Race 1. (1.7) 1 L.Sa (POR II) 14.32; =2 M.Adamopoulos (ISR) and M. de los Santos (ESP) 14.51; 4 G.Diop (FRA) 15.31.
Race 2. (0.9) 1 A.Kislykh (RUS) 13.60; 2 E.Pizzoli (ITA) 13.64; 3 R.Palma (POR) 13.94; 4 L.Burdel (CZE) 13.98; 5 N.Owen (GBR) 14.01.

After 11 events: 1 SC Luch 91; 2 Dukla Praha 76; 3 Sporting Club Portugal 68, 4 VB Caribinieri 64; 5 Puma Chapin Jerez 2002 51.5; 6 Belgrave H 48; 7 CA Montreuil 37; 8 Futebol Clube Porto 34; 9 Maccabi Tel-Aviv 24.5.

800 metres - Neil Speaight

It was a rough old race and Neil Speaight our AAA Champion received a bump or two.  It didn’t bother him though, in fact he later admitted, “ it’s all part and parcel of 800 metre running – and to be honest I enjoy it!”  In Madrid last year he headed Kozhvnikov only for the verdict to go against him on the line as the Russian managed a late charge to clock the same time.  This time Sergey got the verdict again – third time lucky Neil?

1 S.Kozhvnikov (RUS) 1:47.92; 2 N.Speaight (GBR) 1:48.25; 3 M.Chiavarini (ITA) 1:48.27; 4 M.Olmedo (ESP) 1:48.81; 5 F.Almeida (POR) 1:48.84; 6 S.Tabor (CZE) 1:49.66; 7 L.Fonseca (POR II) 1:49.86; 8 Y.Gerachiw (ISR) 1:51.10; 9 E.Miath (FRA) 1:51.16.

After 12 events: 1 SC Luch 100; 2 Dukla Praha 80; 3 Sporting Club Portugal 73, 4 VB Caribinieri 71; 5 Puma Chapin Jerez 2002 57.5; 6 Belgrave H 56; 7 CA Montreuil 38; 8 Futebol Clube Porto 37; 9 Maccabi Tel-Aviv 26.5.

3000 metres Steeplechase - Lee Hurst

The previous two events had seen the Bels inch closer to the Spaniards and 5th place – but it was back to the roundabouts again.  It had been hoped that Lee could pick up three or four points here and a very positive start saw him take the lead and push the pace along to 1000 metres. But there’s no hiding place in track & field and the inevitable happened.  Lee gradually slipped back through the field and eventually all the Group A men got past him and only a single point could be added to the total. 

1 J-L Blanco (ESP) 8:36.71; 2 M.Silva (POR) 8:38.59; 3 G.Crepaldi (ITA) 8:40.73; 4 V.Pronin (RUS) 8:42.39; 5 V.Almeida (POR II) 8:48.75; 6 M.Nejedly (CZE) 8:59.39; 7 S.Auger (FRA) 9:01.15; 8 M.Mailer (ISR) 9:07.54; 9 L.Hurst (GBR) 9:10.11.

After 13 events: 1 SC Luch 106; 2 Dukla Praha 84; 3 Sporting Club Portugal 81, 4 VB Caribinieri 78; 5 Puma Chapin Jerez 2002 66.5; 6 Belgrave H 57; 7 Futebol Clube Porto 42; 8 CA Montreuil 41; 9 Maccabi Tel-Aviv 28.5.

Pole Vault - Paul Williamson

A clean sheet by Paul up to 5.15m proved to be critical as no fewer than five men found this to be their limit for the day.  Three of these had an identical record – including Paul – and the resulting tie for 4th place was more than we had expected.  In fact the Belgrave man’s three attempts at 5.30m were so close that he could be counted unlucky not to have claimed 4th place as his alone.

1 A.Averbuch (ISR) 5.60; 2 E Mikhailitchenko (RUS) 5.50; 3 A.Ptacek (CZE) 5.40; =4 P.Williamson (GBR) (5.00 o, 5.15 o, 5.30 xxx), G.Verbist (FRA) and J.Andre (POR) 5.15; 7 J.Garcia Chico (ESP) 5.15; 8 M.Mariani (ITA) 5.15; 9 P.Pimenta (POR II) 5.00.

After 14 events: 1 SC Luch 114; 2 Dukla Praha 91; 3 Sporting Club Portugal 86, 4 VB Caribinieri 80; 5 Puma Chapin Jerez 2002 69.5; 6 Belgrave H 62; 7 CA Montreuil 46; 8 Futebol Clube Porto 43; 9 Maccabi Tel-Aviv 37.5.

Discus - Kevin Brown

The Czech Malina led from the very first round with Kevin in 7th.  The next two rounds saw  our man creep up towards 6th and finally his persistance paid off as his fourth round effort took him up towards 57 metres, gained him the place he was looking for and was his best throw since 2000.  Surely we will see Kevin representing Jamaica this year in Commonwealth Games competition. 

1 L.Malina (CZE) 64.78; 2 R.Varga (ISR) 63.93; 3 A.Boritchevskyi (RUS) 60.83; 4 D.Fortuna (ITA) 59.95; 5 M.Pestano (ESP) 58.39; 6 K.Brown (GBR) 56.63 (50.68, 52.15, 52.11, 56.63); 7 V.Zinchenko (POR) 54.29; 8 L.Fournet (FRA) 50.64; 9 R.Viratyuk (POR II) 49.73.

After 15 events: 1 SC Luch 121; 2 Dukla Praha 100; 3 Sporting Club Portugal 89, 4 VB Caribinieri 86; 5 Puma Chapin Jerez 2002 74.5; 6 Belgrave H 66; 7 CA Montreuil 48; 8 Maccabi Tel-Aviv 45.5; 9 Futebol Clube Porto 44.

200 metres - Graham Beasley

Graham had been running well in the USA recently and his good form continued here where he was clearly the best of the four man field in race 1.  But the unfairness of splitting the races was clearly shown here when the second race benefitted from a stronger following wind while positions 3rd and 4th were only marginally faster than Graham’s winning run.  Had it been one race we surely would have scored higher than 5th.  Nevertheless, we moved three points closer to the team ahead and Graham’s run was the only time in the meeting that our colours were carried past the post in first place.

Race 1. (1.5) 1 G.Beasley (GBR) 21.17; 2 T.Kafri (ISR) 21.48; 3 A.Martinez (ESP) 21.87; 4 M.Barbosa (POR II) 23.05.
Race 2. (2.9) 1 F.Obikwelu (POR) 20.64; 2 B.Lewis (RUS) 20.77; 3 R.Zachoval (CZE) 20.99; 4 M.Diarra (FRA) 21.11; 5 S.Bellotto (ITA) 21.30.

After 16 events: 1 SC Luch 129; 2 Dukla Praha 107; 3 Sporting Club Portugal 98, 4 VB Caribinieri 90; 5 Puma Chapin Jerez 2002 76.5; 6 Belgrave H 71; 7 CA Montreuil 54; 8 Maccabi Tel-Aviv 48.5; 9 Futebol Clube Porto 45.

Triple Jump - Phillips Idowu

In his first competition of the year Phillips was highly delighted to leap to 17.18m, only six inches behind his all time best. Our club record is surely going to go up again in 2002.  But Igor Spassovkhodsky was even more impressive – and in control.  Nearly a year younger than Phillips and World Championships bronze medallist, he too has youth on his side. The Russian led from the opening round, improved to 17.39m in round two and his winning 17.42 was only 2 centimetres short of his personal record.

1 I.Spassovkhodsky (RUS) 17.42; 2 P.Idowu (GBR) 17.18 (16.49, 16.98, 15.07, 17.18); 3 R.Chapado (ESP) 16.42; 4 C.Calado (POR) 16:00; 5 J.Kuntos (CZE) 15.92; 6 N.Evora (POR II) 15.77; 7 E.Sardano (ITA) 15.73; 8 K.Taillepierre (FRA) 15.71; 9 M.Malisev (ISR) 14.25.

After 17 events: 1 SC Luch 138; 2 Dukla Praha 112; 3 Sporting Club Portugal 104, 4 VB Caribinieri 93; 5 Puma Chapin Jerez 2002 83.5; 6 Belgrave H 79; 7 CA Montreuil 56; 8 Maccabi Tel-Aviv 49.5; 9 Futebol Clube Porto 49.

The field lines up for the 3000 metres.  The eventual winner, Shabunin of Russia is on the inside with Allen Graffin in the centre.  Photo by Paul Freary.

3000 metres - Allen Graffin

This had to be the most entertaining race of the weekend.  With a good pace maintained throughout, the field soon became stretched and one could only marvel as more than once Shabunin seemed to be within a gasp of falling off the back of the bunch, as the serious contestants began to get away.  Allen Graffin was in the thick of the action, always looking threatening, and in the final stretch as he fought for a forward placing and a time oh! so close to his personal record – it was suddenly Shabunin flying faster than anyone and nipping into the lead with barely a metre or two  remaining.   

1 V.Shabunin (RUS) 8:00.38; 2 L Feiteira (POR) 8:00.98; 3 A.Graffin (GBR) 8:03.11; 4 P.Villalobos (ESP) 8:03.78; 5 U.Pusterla (ITA) 8:10.36; 6 Y.Allem (FRA) 8:14.60; 7 R-P. Silva (POR II) 8:16.63; 8 V.Gatundu (CZE) 8:20.06; 9 D.Giat (ISR) 8:41.95.

After 18 events: 1 SC Luch 147; 2 Dukla Praha 114; 3 Sporting Club Portugal 112, 4 VB Caribinieri 98; 5 Puma Chapin Jerez 2002 89.5; 6 Belgrave H 86; 7 CA Montreuil 60; 8 Futebol Clube Porto 52; 9 Maccabi Tel-Aviv 50.5.

Javelin - Stuart Faben

We were now a mere 3.5 points from 5th spot and knowing that Stuart Faben had been over 75 metres in early April felt sure that the javelin would give us our chance to draw level and leave the relay boys to sort it out between them.  An opening “no throw” from Stuart was followed by a 65m effort and one could see that the Belgrave man had a problem.  A third effort went unregistered while Ivanov sent his spear over 82 metres to increase the lead he’d held since the first round.  Belgrave eyes watched as Stuart adjusted his shoes and then went for his last effort – another “no throw”.  Ivanov launched a massive 87 metre effort to put him 10 metres clear of second place and our man had to settle for 6th one place behind the Spaniard.  All was revealed as he returned to the stand – his shoe had split badly on his very first throw.

1 A.Ivanov (RUS) 87.62; 2 M.Guzdek (CZE) 77.14; 3 V.Bavilzir (ISR) 73.83; 4 G.Siakinouu Schmidt (FRA) 69.38; 5 R.Fernandez (ESP) 68.11; 6 S.Faben (GBR) 65.56; 7 P.Valt (ITA) 64.38; 8 F.Ventura (POR) 57.62; 9 C.Tribuna (POR II) 37.88.

After 19 events: 1 SC Luch 156; 2 Dukla Praha 122; 3 Sporting Club Portugal 114, 4 VB Caribinieri 101; 5 Puma Chapin Jerez 2002 94.5; 6 Belgrave H 90; 7 CA Montreuil 66; 8 Maccabi Tel-Aviv 57.5; 9 Futebol Clube Porto 53.

4 x 400 metres relay - Noel Levy 48.1, Tim Bayley 47.3, M.Douglas 46.9, S.Baldock 45.8

Well, the relay boys gave it some.  It was Noel’s and Tim’s only outing of the weekend and together with Matt and Sean they put together one of our fastest ever runs.  In the earlier race the Spanish team had been 8 seconds slower but when the points were tallied we’d just missed out on 5th team place by half a point!

Race 1. 1 FRA 3:15.88; 2 ESP 3:16.09; 3 POR II 3:17.76; 4 ISR 3:18.67.
Race 2. 1 RUS 3:05.92; 2 CZE 3:06.87; 3 GBR 3:08.07; 4 ITA 3:08.26; 5 POR 3:09.04.

After 20 events: 1  SC Luch 165; 2 Dukla Praha 130; 3 Sporting Club Portugal 119, 4 VB Caribinieri 107; 5 Puma Chapin Jerez 2002 97.5; 6 Belgrave H 97; 7 CA Montreuil 70; 8 Maccabi Tel-Aviv 58.5; 9 Futebol Clube Porto 55.