ECCA National CC 4 x 5k Relay, Berry Hill Park, Mansfield
National medals just beyond reach again
Always good for an exciting afternoon's racing, the ECCA Relays did not disappoint. A final slot in the top half dozen was the Belgrave expectation, achieved as it happens; but it might have been considerably better if that always threatening Berry Hill spanner hadn't been lobbed into the Belgrave works again. Many clubs can turn out four good'uns and the race is always that much more unpredictable as a result. For Bedford & County to come away with a third successive win says a lot for their dependability.
Nick Goolab took charge of stage one again and he was neatly placed in the top ten after 1 kilometre, moving into the top half dozen at the halfway point - 2.5k. Norwich, New Marske, Notts, ... all sorts were having a tilt at stealing away from the crowd, but Nick had the lot covered and as next man Sharpy anxiously shouted at the Team Manager, "What position is he?" as he jostled for a good spot on the take-off line, the TM, with a better view up the course, was able to hold up a single digit. What a start!
Rocketing around the lake and into the woods, Stephen was definitely moving away. Were we going to have a dream run? But looks can be deceptive, and it wasn't so much the speed of the Belgrave man, as the slipping back of the second placed runner in New Marske's colours. Before long Tipton, Birchfield, Blackheath, Notts, the Beagles and others were squeezing past our man ... who was in trouble. The dream had become a nightmare. "I just didn't seem to have anything in the tank," was his bewildered utterance when his 5k stint was at last mercifully over. Amazingly he had run some 15 seconds slower than last year when he got trampled on at the start!
Setting about reclaiming some of that lost ground Simon Jones worked hard to pull back Tipton, Enfield and the Beagles while Mark Draper for Bedford was on his way to fastest of the day to put his team into an unassailable lead. Notts AC were impressing to move into second place ahead of Blackheath and City of Norwich, while right to the line Jonesy was fighting on, moving ahead of Morpeth with AFD and Birchfield only just out of reach - nice run!
Locked together as the final stage unfolded, Paskar Owor and Morpeth's Nick McCormick swept up Birchfield, City of Norwich and Aldershot with, surprisingly, the man from the north-east sitting just behind our man as they slugged it out for fourth place ... until the final run in was approached ... and the Morpeth afterburners were ignited.
So, just out of the medals once more but, in a way, a pleasing result. Not at full strength, things going awry ... and we're still in there fighting. The course record (59:36) remains ours and the potential for a claret and gold clad team to go under the hour again is still there.
Late news: Sharpy goes down with a cold! It happens to us all.
Men. 1 Bedford &CAC 1:00:58.65; 2 Blackheath H 1:01:39.85; 3 Notts AC 1:01:44:40; 4 Morpeth H 1:02:10.85; 5 Belgrave H 1:02:19.95; 6 Tipton H 1:02:45.75; ... 163 started, 140 finished.
Belgrave: N Goolab (1) 15:04.75; S Sharp (12) 16:12.80; S Jones (7) 15:33.15; P Owor (5) 15:29.25.
Fastest: 1 M Draper (Bedford &CAC) 14:58.25; 2 F Tickner (Wells C) 15:01.25; 3 S Overall (Blackheath H&B) 15:01.65; 4 N Goolab 15:04.75; 5 R Stevenson (New Marske) 15:05.20; 6 A Harrell (City of Norwich) 15:08.00.
Restored from the club's earlier website, belgraveharriers.com, and published here as originally written.