British Athletics League 2005: Match 3, Sport City, Manchester
Belgrave 5th - our worst score in nine years!
After 24 hours in a darkened room with a wet towel round his head, Bill Laws writes:- Travelling is not much fun these days. Friday driving out of London is a nightmare and believe it or not several cars took 8 to 9 hours to make the 250 mile trip to Manchester. A good night’s sleep in a new hotel close to the stadium proved insufficient to rejuvenate tired bodies and the Belgrave performances were generally well below par resulting in a sub 300 points total – the first for 9 years. With four events to go in a very tight competition the team was in an unlikely second spot with chief rivals WGEL in fifth place but disqualification in the sprint relay and some poor results saw a final position with WGEL second to a resurgent Birchfield and Belgrave in fifth place.
Bright spots
There were several bright spots. With the Solihull BMC races on at the same time and the next days AAA’s road 5km team championships we knew the middle distance would be weakened. But thanks to Jonathan Blackledge and Kasse Tadesse (who both ran the following day’s road race too) and a season’s best from Will Cockerell in the 5000 the middle distance boys came up to scratch. Tim Bayley ran a pb in the 1500 and Simon Marwood returned to the fold to gain an excellent third in the steeplechase. Darren Gauson had hoped for a fast time in the A 800 but a tactical first lap of 58 secs put paid to that. Forced to lead out on lap 2 he opened up a small gap and was only pipped on the line by Alasdair Donaldson – a 1.47.3 man – so a great performance there. Eighteen year old Joe Van de Toorn (pictured right, 11) made an impressive debut in the B 800 but found the 53 second opener a bit daunting. Nonetheless he held on well to just miss out on a pb.
Decathletes performed well and welcome back to Matt
Our star decathletes both performed well as usual. Will Sharman followed an excellent 2m high jump with fourth spot in the sprint hurdles and then contributed to both relay teams. Kevin Sempers did the same events which was greatly appreciated as he has been selected for the GB multi events team to compete in Helsinki next weekend and could well have taken things easy. Matt Douglas flew in from Bangor where he had won the 400 hurdles the night before and chalked up another good win to provide respectability to an event which has been a disaster for us so far this year. He later completed a good 24 hour stint with second spot in the B 400. Sadly Andrew Bennett pulled up at hurdle 2 in the B 400 hurdles so the jinx on this event continues.
But throws below par ...
The throws were well below par with several names missing which was not good news on a day when the opposition brought out their big guns. Mick Jones moved house in the week and it showed; but he came, and his support was greatly appreciated. A special mention for John Osazuwa who gained good points in the B hammer with a season’s best effort of 59.22m, and long jumper Darragh O’Farrell who produced a 53.33m effort in the javelin. Darragh and Adrian Phillips had previously both gained second spots in the long jump. Darragh also filled the B slot in the triple jump and the last leg of the sprint relay squad. But disappointing points came in the triple and not much luck in the pole vault where Joe Ive finished ahead of a slightly injured Cameron Johnston on count back.
... and we suffered in the sprints
So, all round, points were drifting away, but it was the sprints where we really suffered. So far this year the 100, 200, and relay had amassed over 60 points in each match. This time the contribution was just 20 points. We knew that most of our excellent young sprinters would not be there due to next week’s U20 and U23 AAA’s Championships but the late withdrawal of Graham Beasley and an on-going injury to Darren Chin proved insurmountable problems. Darren wanted to run as he is short of race fitness but felt a niggle in the A 100 and eased as a precaution. To reduce pressure Jason Hussain moved to the A 200 and despite a poor start did well to finish fourth. But Darren faired no better in the B 200 and jogged the straight to avoid further problems. And so the sprint relay team consisted of just one recognised sprinter, two decathletes and a long jumper. With no baton practice it was odds on that the baton would not get round. And so it proved. With the red flag raised on the last exchange, the game was up.
Set Osho, who had previously set a new pb of 47.58 (a European Junior qualifying time) in the A 400, reluctantly joined the long relay squad including the ubiquitous decathletes William and Kevin and 800 man Darren Gauson; they produced a creditable time of 3.20.30.
Only 22 points covered 2nd to 5th
Frustratingly at the final count only 22 points covered the second to fifth spots. But WGEL now have a comfortable lead at the top of the table. It looks as though the real interest in the final match (which is now at Haringey) will be to do with relegation. For Belgrave, retaining the title is surely a bridge too far.
Special thanks to Belgrave’s sports therapist Tony Ganio who again performed wonders to keep the team almost in one piece. At least Tony found the facilities at sports city ideal for both working and viewing the proceedings. We like to keep him happy.
100m: 6 D Chin 11.01/-0.4; 7 J Hussain 11.18/-1.6. 200m: 4 J Hussain 21.96/-0.4; 7 D Chin 23.06/-0.5. 400m: 5 S Osho U20 47.58; 2 M Douglas 48.21. 800m: 2 D Gauson 1:53.76; 5 J Van Der Toorn U20 1:53.17. 1500m: 3 T Bayley 3:48.15; 2 J Blackledge 3:54.72. 5000m: 4 K Tadesse 15:14.87; 3 W Cockerell 15:19.57. 110mH: 4 W Sharman 14.31/-1.2; 4 K Sempers 14.80/1.6. 400mH: 1 M Douglas 51.23; dnf A Bennett. 3000mSC: 3 S Marwood 9:16.43; 2 T Watson 9:24.86. HJ: 5 K Sempers 2.00; 1 W Sharman 2.00. LJ: 2 D O'Farrell 7.24/nws; 2 A Phillips 7.15/0.5. TJ: 7 D Wellstead 13.54/0.4; 6 D O'Farrell 12.15/0.6. PV: 4 J Ive 4.60; 4 C Johnson 4.60. SP: 6 C Gearing U20 16.15; 3 S Thompson 15.11. DT: 3 S Thompson 49.07; 5 C Gearing U20 39.81. JT: 7 D O'Farrell 53.33; 6 S Thompson 50.41. HT: 3 M Jones M40 66.06; 2 J Osazuwa 59.22. 4x100m: dq Belgrave (W Sharman, J Hussain, K Sempers, D O'Farrell. 4x400m: 6 Belgrave 3:20.30 (W Sharman 48.7, D Gauson 50.7, S Osho U20 50.4, K Sempers 50.5).
1 Birchfield H 339; 2 Woodford Green wEL 306; 3 Newham & Essex Beagles 295; 4 Trafford AC 288; 5 Belgrave H 284; 6 Shaftesbury Barnet H 247; 7 Border H 228; 8 Enfield & Haringey AC 197.
Restored from the club's earlier website, belgraveharriers.com, and published here as originally written.