19 Belgrave men contest Virtual 12-Stage National Road Relays

The first weekend of April usually holds the National 12-stage Road Relay Championships in Sutton Coldfield, Birmingham. This is one of the most iconic fixtures on the British racing calendar and always hugely anticipated by all. Of course, the coronavirus pandemic forced the whole country to stay home and twiddle their thumbs. While this is undoubtedly the right thing to do, it left a lot of fit, fast runners itching for a run out.

Enter the first ever virtual edition of the thing! Inspired by the virtual Belgrave vs Herne Hill mob match last month, a few bigwigs of the sport arranged a large-scale meet-up, facilitated by the Opentrack race results platform. Well over 5,000 athletes - men and women - signed up including just over 60 GB internationals. The rules were simple: twelve athletes per team, each athlete runs a solo 5km time trial, posts it to Strava or Garmin, then uploads that recording to the online database. The race started at 0:00 GMT on April 4th and ended at 23:59 GMT April 8th. All results must be uploaded on the platform by 12:00pm GMT on April 9th. Of course, all runs had to be completed alone and in full compliance with the government’s social distancing guidelines. In other words, run fast and stay well clear of anyone else. Oh, and also don’t be a dick about elevation!

The scoring 12

1. Ben MacCronan - 15:10
Yerrabi Pond District Park, Canberra, Australia

Ben is probably our favourite Aussie right now. After his run out at the London Marathon last year, he returned to Canberra where he has been banking well over 200km per week ever since with an eye on the Australian 50km championships. He had been keen to fly over for a spring racing season in London, too. This was, obviously, also cancelled. Wearing his Belgrave colours, he was keen to be the very first Bel to open fire for this one. TM Steve had to actually remind him he had to wait a few more hours when Ben said he was “gearing up to send it” well before the gun. But when the time came, send it he did! With a blistering 15:10 he was the first but also the fastest Bel of the competition, holding on to that title for the full 5 days of racing. Great stuff, Craka!

2. James Nutt - 15:21
Gilmorton, England

One of the many who had been logging big mileage in anticipation of the London Marathon 2020, James was very disappointed… but also very fit. After a disappointing outing at the Surrey Half in early March, he was aching to redeem himself. We think he would agree that this did just that. Not only was this a huge (if unofficial) PB, it secured him the second fastest run in the team as well as a top 150 place in the whole competition. Should we be lucky enough to have something that looks like a summer racing season, James will definitely be one of the Bels to watch!

3. Euan Campbell - 15:21
Crane Park, Teddington

St Mary’s track star Euan had put in a few runs for us throughout the XC season and was one of the six men we sent to Armagh for the famed 5k. Despite having run a 14:52 there, he remained well clear of the TMs’ radar for this one. Euan is much faster in a pair of spikes than he is on his phone, so we hadn’t heard a peep from him before the evening of Tuesday 8th April when he just casually informed Steve that he had logged our third fastest leg of the race, the day after a hard session and only a few hours after a 12-mile morning. His last-minute heroics made our total team time a whole 2:20 lighter. Beaaaaautiful!

4. Arne Dumez - 15:31
Battersea Park, London

Having fully recovered from a busy XC season and his PB at the Surrey Half in early March, TM Arne had been quietly logging consistent training for the past month, unsure of when he would actually get to put it to good use. Here was his chance. He headed down to his hallowed Battersea Park on Tuesday morning to run just under two laps in a glorious morning sun. His race in the Armagh 5k had left a bitter taste in his mouth, unsure of how much time he had lost in that pile-up on the start line. I’m afraid this solo TT run only made that fall more controversial. Regardless, another solid leg for the team and another (unofficial) PB for its TM. Happy days!

5. Christian Smith - 15:45
Hearsall Common, Coventry

Christian remains somewhat of an enigma to our TMs. The ex-Tonbridge man came out of nowhere for the race against Herne Hill to clock a huge 15:44 around the Arsenal stadium. He was back for the national event and ran a scarily consistent 15:45 to be our fifth man. Don’t be a stranger, Christian! Once all this lockdown business is over we’ll want to have you locked and loaded for the claret and gold.

6. Garret Lee - 15:55
Denver, Colorado, USA

Our second international leg (not counting Arne) came from ‘murican Garret who is just about getting back into running after his outing at the bloody USA Olympic Marathon Trials where he came 67th in 2:21. Since then he has grown a mustache and run a 16:51 leg for us. It doesn’t look good… Or so we thought! Turns out that when you’re the Gare Bear, you can chop a whole minute off your 5k time in two weeks. Many thanks for that, partner. Can’t wait to see what sort of shape you’ll be in this summer…

7. Phil Wicks - 15:59
Stoke Park, Guildford

This is a club legend. This is a true Belgrave icon. This is Phil bloody Wicks! After a winter of injury woes which terminated in ankle surgery in February, Phil’s body finally allowed him to get back to some training this spring. Unfortunately, his calf didn’t quite agree with the timing of his relay leg and complained the whole way round. “Should have been about a minute faster, really. But I did what I could!” is a phrase often thrown around by runners, but in Phil’s case we know it to be 100% true. He will be back to form before long, and then Belgrave will have its captain back. And they shall tremble before us.

8. Andrew Cumine - 16:20
Blackheath Common, London

Cumine vanished a little bit after a fantastic XC season in the claret and gold. We hadn’t really heard from him until we saw he came 2nd at the Tunbridge Wells Half in a superb 74:27. Then we heard he got married! Then we saw he ran a 16:20 5k for us around Blackheath Common. Andrew is surely another one of the thousands of London runners gutted at missing their marathon so this will hopefully have given him an opportunity to blow off some steam and frustration.

9. Michael McCarthy - 16:43
Battersea Park, London

Our first man home at the National XC champs in Nottingham at the end of February had to take some time off from running due to a shin injury. So it’s fair to say he was nowhere near his best for this one. He cycled to Battersea Park on Tuesday morning and arrived just in time to see Arne set off for his leg. He spotted the Belgian again as he was finishing his first full lap of the park and gave him some very much needed encouragement. Then, it was his turn. Although this was only his third race for us so far, Michael has proved to be a hugely valuable find already. He now has plenty of time to see to his shins and get back in form before racing kicks off again. His outstanding XC legs will come in hugely helpful in autumn!

10. Ben Hurley - 16:51
St Margarets, London

I would say this one is tough as nails, but nails are like toothpicks to him. Ben just keeps on smashing and scoring for us, regardless of, well… Anything! The V45 casually strolled down to quiet loop in St Margarets and pulled off what would be a sub-17 PB. No fuss, no drama. This is something for the youngsters to aspire to! Speaking of whom, he didn’t have his usual rivals egging him on during the race this time - Mr Will Johnson is still recovering from a pesky illness, Alex Mills was all the way over in Battersea Park on a different day, and Ross Finlay is another victim of injury. This is sure to make a strong statement to the whippersnappers though. Strong stuff, Mr H!

11. Dylan Mitchard - 16:59
Battersea Park, London

Speaking of whippersnappers, it looks like this one may be another great rival for Ben… Another brand-new signing, Dylan has had a season of firsts: his first ever XC race in Lloyd Park (of all places), his first ever sub-80mins half marathon at the Vitality Big Half, and now his first time dipping under 17mins for the 5k! This lad just keeps on improving and is probably one of the most enthusiastic runners in our squad. Although young he already has many marathons under his belt, but looks set to improve in every event across the board. This was a fantastic solo effort which puts him in great company.

12. Conall McNally - 17:10
Burton Joyce, Nottingham

The scoring twelve closed with Conall who was gearing up to head into his first summer season with us. Another one who has contributed hugely to our winter efforts (and we really do mean that), he had been working hard to find his road legs. While this run is a bit off his best, it’s a welcome return to fast road running, and it was so good to see. We really do hope he gets to smash around the track sometime this year as that 16:24 5k PB is just begging to be crossed off.

A full team effort

Of course, we are so much more than our scoring twelve. Arne and Steve had hoped to send out two full men’s teams to Sutton Coldfield and, truth be told, we weren’t miles off those numbers here, with some very big hitters missing from the roster. Sadly, injury and illness had taken out Goolab, Welsh, Stewart, Gardner, Courtney-Pinn, Buckle, Owor, Jaksevicius and Stockley (just imagine the carnage we would have wrought…) but this was a truly phenomenal team effort and we could not be more proud of our men.

David Walsh was alerted on day 4 of the competition that we needed a 16:50 clocking to put local rivals Herne Hill behind us in the overall table. The brave Irishman set off chasing that time, but unfortunately blew up after about 2km. He still came home with a very respectable 17:27. That was only 12s faster than Lawrence Burton and Matt Edgar who clocked an identical 17:39 - one in Brancaster, one around Dulwich Park. Of course, where would we be without the eternal Patrick McDougall?! His return from achilles troubles seem to be going swimmingly, as he put down yet another sub-18min performance. His 17:56 in Bushy Park is almost as impressive as his commitment to the club colours evidenced by his nail polish. Just behind him was Alex Mills who “definitely still has marathon legs”. Another one to hit Battersea Park, Alex recorded a 18:02 as a hugely valuable backup. But we were not done with Battersea Park… the ever reliable James Morris was one of our first runners out of the gates and registered a 18:55 there on the very first day of competition. Over in Regent’s Park, Ollie Young put himself out there for a 19:15 - not quite his best time, but more proof of the hugely strong spirit of our team. What a great bunch of team players! Finally, we could not call this a team fixture without Will Cockerell featuring in the results. The old timer proved, once again, that he will not sit this one out. Having had a week off with the sniffles, Will had a 19:26 in him - not quite what he had hoped to contribute, but we were happy to see it nonetheless.

Team results

The Bels finished 25th overall, happily ahead of Surrey League rivals SLH and Herne Hill. The men’s competition was won by a last minute assault from Leeds City AC, winners of the (real) national 6-stage last autumn. Tonbridge, managed by competition instigator Mark Hookway, had led the scoring table for most of the 5-day window, but were usurped by late contributions from GB internationals including Marc Scott and Emile Cairess.