Belgrave open NAL season with solid display at Chelmsford

Words by James Roberts.

Belgrave Harriers made a promising start to their 2026 National Athletics League Championship East campaign, with seven event winners and strong contributions across all disciplines at Chelmsford on 23 May.

Saron Haileselase, Lara Mangan and Billie McClosky all claimed gold in the A string, while a host of athletes doubled up across events to help the team accumulate points throughout a competitive afternoon in Essex. A big thanks to the seven officials who volunteered which also improved our score. The team finished fourth and the match was contested by Belgrave, Chelmsford AC, Havering AC, Herts Phoenix and Shaftesbury Barnet Harriers.

The full results are available on OpenTrack.

Sprints

The men's sprints produced some encouraging performances in claret and gold. Joe McGrath was the pick of the bunch, finishing second in the A string 100m in 11.28 and backing it up with a third-place finish in the 200m A string in 22.81, contributing 18 points across the two events. Moses Owor added six more points with third in the 100m B string, while Neil Holloway did the same in the 200m B. Cameron Salter rounded out Belgrave's 400m contribution with a fifth-place A string finish in 52.47.

On the women's side, Miriam Glassner was a lively presence across the sprint programme, taking third in the 100m A string in 12.24. Carmen Antonia Gadea Arcos delivered an excellent B string win in the 100m, clocking 12.56 to score the maximum ten points. Carmen also contributed in the 200m A string with fourth place, while Megan Loney secured third in the 200m B string. Rachel Donnison ran a composed 58.10 to finish third in the women's 400m A string, contributing eight valuable points. Lucy Austin won the B string for ten points, and Austin would go on to add a further ten points by winning the 800m B string and eight more as part of the 4x400m relay, making her the day's top scorer in claret and gold.

Miriam Glassner and Michael Burslem gave the team a useful eight points a-piece coming third place in the 100 hurdles and 400m hurdles respectively.

The relays produced solid team efforts with a team challenging in each event. The highlights were the men's 4x100m quartet of Moses Owor, Joe McGrath, Pierre Walker and Gabriel Baptiste Halliday finished fourth in 45.07. The women's 4x400m team of Lara Mangan, Lucy Austin, Rachel Donnison and Gemma Newport produced a strong combined effort to finish third in 4:16.53.

Middle Distance

With temperatures above 30 degrees, blazing sun, no shade and little wind, any event over 800m proved very difficult. However, the middle-distance events were Belgrave's richest hunting ground, producing all three of the day's A string victories.

Lara Mangan won the women's 800m from gun to tape in the A string in 2:16.71, leading home a fine Belgrave one-two as Lucy Austin followed in 2:27.31 to claim the B string maximum of ten points. The pair combined for 22 points from a single event, the highlight of the day's team scoring.

Saron Haileselase turned in the performance of the day, after being tripped by the leaders on the second lap of the 5000m, took off on her own for the next eleven laps easily finishing first in the 5000m A string in a commanding 17:43.72. Fresh from her outstanding winter road relay form, Saron showed she is rounding into fine track shape. Rosanna Mutsaars further boosted the team with eight points in the B string.

Billie McClosky claimed the third Belgrave gold in the women's 2000m steeplechase, and looked the part, winning easily despite running in the Comeback 5000m less than 24 hours before. She crossed the line in 7:38.49 to give the club maximum points.

In the men's middle distance, Daniel Ghajar ran an encouraging 2:00.47 in the 800m B string moving from last place up to second in a very well-run B string race. Daniel Wolff contributed seven points with fourth in the A string in 2:00.71. Nick Morris and Pierre Guillaume both ran in the 1500m, picking up six and five points respectively, while Ben Scott and Matthew Holman covered the 5000m. Valentin Rigori and Adam Justice shared the 3000m steeplechase points, with Rigori particularly impressive in adding to contributions across three separate disciplines through the day.

Field Events

The field brought out several of Belgrave's most versatile contributors, with many athletes competing in multiple events to maximise the team's points haul.

Valentin Rigori was arguably the men's most valuable all-round performer, competing in the steeplechase, pole vault (fourth, 3.21m) and javelin (sixth, 25.63m) to accumulate 22 points across the three disciplines. Gabriel Baptiste Halliday was another busy contributor, clearing 1.76m to take third in the high jump A string and adding eight more points in the long jump, finishing fifth with 5.74m. Nigel Isherwood supplemented the high jump haul with ten points in the B string.

Chris Privett and Adrian Armstrong were the men's throws workhorses, appearing in the shot, discus, hammer and javelin and accumulating significant points in every event they entered. Privett was particularly notable in the discus, finishing fourth in the A string with 29.41m and picking up points in three further events. Between them the two throwers contributed around 40 points to the men's team total.

On the women's side, Neva Jansen was a standout in the throws. She delivered her best result with second place in the discus A string, throwing a fine 37.45m, and also competed in the shot put and hammer to bring in points across all three events. Martha Bevan threw 35.82m to claim third place in the javelin A string, a quality result, while also contributing in the shot put and the B string javelin. Allegra Simpson was another multi-eventer, picking up points in the long jump B string, discus B and hammer B. Simonetta Ifeji contributed seven points with fifth in the women's long jump A string.

Match Summary

Full results: data.opentrack.run

A string winners for Belgrave: Lara Mangan - 800m, 2:16.71; Saron Haileselase - 5000m, 17:43.72; Billie McClosky - 2000m Steeplechase, 7:38.49; 

B string winners for Belgrave: Carmen Antonia Gadea Arcos - 100m 12.56; Lucy Austin - 400m, 1:07.78; Lucy Austin - 800m, 2:27.31; Nigel Isherwood - High Jump, 1.66

Top points contributors (estimated): Chris Privett & Adrian Armstrong (men's throws combined ~40 pts) · Lucy Austin (~28 pts across 400m, 800m & relay) · Lara Mangan (~20 pts) · Valentin Rigori (~22 pts) · Neva Jansen (~22 pts) · Miriam Glassner & Carmen Gadea Arcos (~26 pts combined) · Joe McGrath (~18 pts) · Saron Haileselase (12 pts) · Billie McClosky (12 pts)

Competing clubs: Belgrave Harriers, Chelmsford AC, Havering AC, Herts Phoenix, Shaftesbury Barnet Harriers

Round 2 takes place in Stevenage on 11 July.

Photos by Swish Picz.