British Athletics League Results & Reports 2007: Match Two, Sportcity Manchester

Above left: Paul Lipman (6 Shaftesbury Barnet) and Andy Brown (8 Woodford Green wEL) lead off the final bend in the A 800m but the winner was Oliver Teasel (Birchfield) from Paskar Owor. Right: A cold-ridden Neil Speaight (1) has already passed four men since the "200 to go mark" and will take a few more down the home straight. Winner was Lee Emanuel (4 City of Sheffield) from Moumin Geele (not in picture, Newham & Essex Beagles). Photos by Pat Mead.

Bels fight for third place at Sportcity

Bill Laws reports:- Let us start with a few statistics. In match 1 we did not contest 99 points and in the whole match 139 points were unused. So between them the remaining seven clubs passed on 40 points or roughly six points per club. No wonder we struggled. Determined to rectify the situation the team managers dug deep and contacted every athlete who had competed for Belgrave over the past three years. Many had slipped under the radar so the task was daunting especially as match 2 of the Premiership was only five days after the European Clubs Cup in Portugal and the team managers were creamed. If salaried, they would have earned their crust this week. As it was, the joy of leading one of the best club teams in the country had to suffice.

With UKA calling up our top athletes for the Glasgow Grand Prix and the BMC meetings demanding the attention of our middle distance men, the task was harder than ever, but eventually a team of 26 was assembled in Manchester for one of the most fiercely contested matches anyone could remember. Every point was going to count but the outcome was always going to be in doubt until the last event. Of the 22 Belgravians who lined up for match 1 only 10 made it for this one. So 16 freshers were there to scrap for every point.

The start was not good

The start was not good. Matt Douglas had reported sick the day before and was in bed when the A 400H started. Pensioner Paul Beaumont again filled in for the points but even he was injured so ignore the time. Ryan Dinham, recovering from surgery, may be out for the rest of the season so the long hurdles continues to be a disaster. In the pole vault Keith Higham had just one clearance - fortunately that was at 5.00m to win the B - and Joe Ive cleared 5.20m to get second in the A on count back. Looking better!

Meanwhile the discus boys were in the coach ready to transfer to another stadium for their competition. The outside throwing area at Manchester has a slope that would make a mountain goat feel at home. Unsuitable for record purposes, it is a disgrace for a stadium purporting to be the leading venue in the UK. As a result several of the top throwers had stayed away and both Scot Thompson and Mark Allen gained good points despite below par performances into a tricky head wind. Mark later threw a pb in the shot for bronze in the A while Scot won the B event with his last effort. In the hammer Mick Jones improved his season’s best by 4m to gain second spot and he was one happy bunny. More excellent points had come from our throwers then, exceeding our predictions.

Good points in the sprint hurdles

Now back to the track where the 100m was disappointing, with Darren Chin’s blocks slipping and Jason Hussain looking as though he had just got out of bed. Fortunately they reacted positively and both gained second places in the 200m to make amends. In the A 200m Andy Turner’s winning time was good enough to win “man of the match” so Darren’s performance was exceptional. It was great to see Paskar Owor back for the 800m and he didn’t disappoint with a close second place; then to Neil Speaight who despite a cold also gained silver in the B with a time faster than the winner of the A. More good points came in the sprint hurdles where William Sharman ran a season’s best for second followed by an unexpected victory by Kevin Sempers in the B. Kevin had an awful start and only got his chest in front on the line. It looks as though his pb in this event may well be revised in next week’s Decathlon championships. The 400m brought us back to earth as Gavin Selway struggled for last spot in the A while Ryan Thomas ran a similar time for third in the B.

Above: Steeplechaser Sam Aldridge (1) made his début for Belgrave and his 4th place was a big bonus. Dave Mason also entered the BAL squad for the first time and scored in both steeplechase - and triple jump!

13 points from the 'chasers

Back from his gruelling 5000m in “Euroclubs” Simon Jones produced a pb to gain third spot in the A but Peter Willis in the B race struggled throughout, possibly due to racing in a BMC meet a couple of days earlier. New men in the steeplechase produced 13 points where recently we have had only 5. Sam Aldridge claimed he had only started training after match 1 so his fourth spot was a big bonus. David Mason gained sixth spot in the B chase and then agreed to début in the TJ. One point perhaps but he was only a tantalising 13cm off sixth spot. Gary Wilson jumped a 14.51m pb in zero wind and there is plenty more to come from him. In the long jump Adrian Phillips broke 7m for the first time but could only finish fifth in a competition where seven men cleared seven metres. There was some confusion, as Newham & Essex Beagles seemed to have three competitors. All became clear when Chris Tomlinson explained he had been due to compete in Greece but had been turned round at the airport because his passport was damaged and therefore not valid. An 8.10 windy effort from him meant the weekend wasn’t wasted. Louis Evling-Jones was disappointed with his 6.87 effort but he secured fourth spot in the B event.

Back to the track for the 1500m where Neil Speaight had agreed to double. His cold seemed to be getting the upper hand as he struggled to maintain contact with the leading group of ten but just as we were despairing he started to close the gap – but there was only 300m left! The task seemed impossible but fortunately Neil didn’t appear to think so and a really fast last 200m saw him cruise into third spot while Alex Bodin gained more valuable experience in the B race.

Third spot - just!

So as the meeting moved towards its conclusion the points scores were announced. Still holding fourth spot we remembered earlier visits to Manchester where the last four events had seen Belgrave drift down the results table. This time there was no such capitulation. Excellent points came in the high jump with Darvin Edwards winning the A event on count back as three men cleared 2.15m, and Kevin Sempers added more by finishing second in the B with a season’s best of 2.00m. While the javelin was taking an age the relays demanded our attention. Three recognised sprinters got the baton round in fine form to Kevin Sempers, fresh from the high jump. Safety first was the order of the day and the baton crossed the line in sixth spot - job done. Then to the long relay where AAA’s decathlon champion Louis Evling-Jones joined the specialist one lappers including Set Osho – making his first outing of the year following back problems. Ryan Thomas, Louis and Gavin Selway made sure we remained in contention at the final handover. Our closest rivals in the points table, Sheffield, had Richard Buck on the last leg, which was bound to be tasty. How would Set fare? - unbelievably well. With an official split of 46.9 he held on for an excellent third place and proved he is well and truly back. So with just the javelin result to come in we were in third spot just five points ahead of Sheffield. Eventually the javelin result was announced – Lee Doran of Sheffield had won the A (16 points) but Tom Dobbing had held on to fourth (10 points). Ouch! Then the B results: Wes Smith was second (10 points) with Sam Ellis of Sheffield third (8 points). Yes!!! Up went the cheers. Third spot by just one point. Each and every team member had fought for this. We are out of the relegation zone but can be assured that the next two matches are going to be real scraps. Suddenly the BAL Premiership seems an exciting place to be.

Results: 100m: 5 D Chin 10.63w/2.5; 7 J Hussain 10.90w/4.3; n/s 5 S Osho 11.07w/2.2. 200m: 2 D Chin 21.23w/3.5; 2 J Hussain 21.6w/2.7. 400m: 8 G Selway 48.72; 3 R Thomas 48.77. 800m: 2 P Owor 1:53.0; 2 N Speaight 1:52.33. 1500m: 3 N Speaight 3:48.76; 8 A Bodin U20 4:09.70. 5000m: 3 S Jones 14:41.30; 7 P Willis 16:20.23. 110mH: 2 W Sharman 13.76w/2.3; 1 K Sempers 14.67w/2.4. 400mH: 8 P Beaumont M40 63.83; no B competitor. 3000mSC: 4 S Aldridge 9:49.72; 6 D Mason 10:48.67. HJ: 1 D Edwards 2.15; 2 K Sempers 2.00. LJ: 5 A Phillips 7.06w/3.4 (6.82/1.4); 4 L Evling-Jones 6.87w/3.4. TJ: 5 G Wilson 14.51/0.0; 8 D Mason 10.68w/3.1. PV: 2 J Ive 5.20; 1 K Higham 5.00. SP: 3 M Allen 16.41; 2 S Thompson 16.00. DT: 3 S Thompson 50.97; 3 M Allen 46.80. JT: 4 T Dobbing 65.46; 2 W Smith 60.71. HT: 2 M Jones M40 66.44; 7 M Allen 49.94. 4x100m: 6 Belgrave 42.39 (W Sharman, J Hussain, D Chin, K Sempers). 4x400m: 3 Belgrave 3:12.13 (R Thomas 49.2, L Evling-Jones 48.5, G Selway 47.6, S Osho 46.9).

Teams: 1 City of Manchester 338; 2 Birchfield H 333; 3 Belgrave H 311; 4 City of Sheffield 310; 5 Woodford Green w EL 262; 6 Newham & Essex Beagles 235; 7 Shaftesbury Barnet H 225; 5; 8 Trafford AC 187.

Restored from the club's earlier website, belgraveharriers.com, and published here as originally written.