ECCA National 4 x 5k CC Relay, Berry Hill Park, Mansfield

The best-laid schemes ...

Michael Mulhare second fastest of the day as Bels place 8th in National

The logistics in pulling together four runners that we felt sure would gain us medals was the difficult part. The travel plans which involved getting our runners from Madrid, Dublin, Kenya ... and Roehampton ... all went like a dream. And when we found that our first stage runner had been left off the programme that too was handled with the minimum of fuss as the organisers realised it was their mistake. The running was then meant to be a formality! But a day or so of heavy rain had turned the course into a morass which our boys did not enjoy.

The swift start did nothing to faze Michael Mulhare who locked onto National Cross Country Champion Steve Vernon’s frame and together with City of Norwich’s Ashley Harrell they broke clear of the field on the first 2.5k lap. The second circuit saw Vernon prise open a gap of a few metres on Michael and as they ran through the finish it was Stockport’s yellow vest five seconds ahead of “claret and gold” with CoNAC another five seconds back just a pace or two ahead of Leeds … and only three more runners below 16 minutes! What was going on here? You might normally get that many below 15 minutes on a competitive first stage. In 38th place Stephen Sharp, on hand as reserve in case of emergencies, ran a very respectable 16:46 as he returned from injury.

Ok, so as in the past, we expected Stockport to drift back through the field … and then we’d be ahead with James Kelly fighting off the opposition to hold a forward place. Not so. James did not seem at all happy with the conditions and as Stockport increased their lead – albeit with a 16 minute plus run – it was New Marske moving into second and Neilson Hall of Bedford ripping through the field to go third. Jim was treading water … well, mud and water … and shaking his head he sent Paskar on his way.

Paskar has had a purple patch of late but was unable to extend that today, slipping about as he made a few gains, only to lose an equal number on his second lap. Not one runner ran faster than 16:22 on stage three and it was obvious that that the mud and soft turf were wreaking havoc with predictions. Still Stockport led, looking quite comfortable, as the cognoscenti revealed to the perplexed that the ex-Sunderland Martin brothers were now in their line-up; they could do this. Norwich had gone up to second with Tipton’s green and white hoops now showing in third and Birchfield chasing hard in fourth.

We’ve not been out of the top ten in the last eight years that we’ve regularly tackled this event but it looked as if we would be this time as Dan Mulhare took off in 14th with some fairly substantial gaps ahead of him. What a fighter Dan is, though. Only arrived from Kenya on the morning of the race he’d been picked up at Heathrow by the Cockerpillar who delivered him to St. Pancras and then sent a text to the Team Manager saying he was on the train and looked “ripped”. An hour before the race Dan arrived on the course toting bags that the TM could barely lift.

Only one man on the last stage went sub-16, Stockport’s Patrick Martin who increased his club’s lead to getting on for a minute – and one had to say they entirely deserved this win, their first time ever in the medals - in fact their first time ever in the top ten! Leeds’ Simon Deakin was running a Captain’s leg as he moved up three places to second. In third place City of Norwich claimed their first ever top ten spot. Other risers on this final stage were Morpeth from 12th to 9th, AFD from 13th to 6th through Moreau, and our own Dan who dispatched Altrincham, New Marske, Salford, Notts, Highgate and Bedford to take us to 8th; a great run but only a 16:19 to go down on the stats.

The boys’ disappointment was made worse to a certain extent by the times; but we’ve had worse problems than this in what is the most competitive of relays where the merest off-day by one runner is all it takes to knock medals out of the equation. Our two wins, silver medals and a course record are beginning to assume magical qualities as the years pass.

Later discussion 'twixt rival TMs and runners at a motorway café on the return south seemed to favour the view that the conditions had cost everyone a minute; a simple equation that is more or less borne out by the facts. Perhaps it was a fraction less than a minute on leg 1 going back to a minute and ten on last as the conditions got worse. Whatever, it makes nonsense of our stats, although we continue to update them, nonetheless.

1 Stockport 1:04:25.25; 2 Leeds City 1:05:19.10; 3 City of Norwich 1:05:24.50; 4 Tipton H 1:05:36.10; 5 Birchfield H 1:05:52.55; 6 Aldershot, F&D AC 1:06:08.05; 7 Liverpool H 1:06:13.50; 8 Belgrave H 1:06:18.85; 9 Morpeth H & AC 1:06:23.00; Salford H 1:06:23.40; … 200 teams started, 158 finished.

A: M Mulhare 15:31.45 (2), J Kelly 17:27.25 (14), P Owor 17:01.00 (14), D Mulhare 16:19:15 (8).

B: S Sharp 16:46.05 (38).

Fastest: 1 S Vernon (Stockport) 15:26.45; 2 M Mulhare 15:31.45; 3 A Harrell (City of Norwich) 15: 36.10; 4 J Walsh (Leeds) 15:37.40; 5 J Taylor (Morpeth 15:48.35; 6 R McLeod (Tipton) 15:50.25 – all stage 1 except McLeod on stage 2.

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