European Clubs Championship Trial/Reebok Cross Challenge/European Cross Trial, Parliament Hill
Confusion reigns at European Clubs Championship Trial Latest news
A disappointing afternoon at Parliament Hill saw Belgrave apparently ruled out of the European Clubs Cross Country Championship by just 1 point after two dnfs hit our team score badly. As English Champions we had to beat the top Northern Irish, Scottish and Welsh clubs in this trial event, held in conjunction with the Reebok Cross Challenge and European Trial. Annandale Striders decided not to take part and Cardiff only had one runner so it came down to a match between Ron Hill Cambuslang (Scotland) and Belgrave (England).
The cold and wintry conditions did nothing to lift spirits and when Kassa Tadesse came out of the race after one lap spirits sank even further. Spenny was battling it out with a mob of about a dozen runners up at the front, Mark Miles was a little way back and not looking too comfortable while Tim Watson had made a brilliant start. The conditions were not best suited to Jonathan Blackledge who had a slight niggle but was racing to keep our European hopes alive after several drop outs during the week had reduced our seemingly invincible team.
Going into the last lap Tim was still going great guns but then we were hit by a bombshell as Mark Miles, feeling generally run down recently, came out of the race - it seemed all over. Tom Hadfield was still plugging away down in the "hundreds" - so at least we still had four runners to close in a team.
At the conclusion of the race only Spen and Tim were satisfied with their runs. The only weapon missing from Spencer's armoury was the additional turn of speed, which will come as his training progesses throughout the winter. As for Tim, congratulations on his unexpected upturn in form simply evoked the response: "It's getting there."
When cross country official Ian Byett told us "Sorry Alan, you've lost it by one point," the disappointment was complete - although the joy on the faces of the Scottish supporters and runners eased the despair a fraction; they had brought a nine-strong team all the way to London, in their words, "to get hammered by Belgrave," and were going back as UK Champions with the chance to compete in Italy.
However, perusal of the results next day showed that we had scored 17 points to Cambuslang's 21. The officials had made the Belgrave total 22 points by allowing the non-scoring Cambuslang runners to push back our last man from 9th to 14th. The rules quite clearly stated: "as many as you like to run but four to score."
Protests have now been made and we await the outcome - and to add urgency, the entry of a UK team for the European competition has to be completed tomorrow!
In the women's race Getenesh Tamirat had a fine run to place 7th and Catherine Bryson again showed tremendous potential by placing 35th, just 15 seconds behind Birhan Dagne. Belgrave were announced as third team in the London Championship, with Sarah Gailey closing in the team, but again there was a mix-up and the final result had the Belles out of the medals.
Men. 10k 1 M.Farah (Windsor SE&H) 30:03; 10 S.Barden 30:53; 38 T.Watson 32:15; 53 J.Blackledge 32:55; 154 T.Hadfield 37:21; 326 finished.
ECCC Trial: Official Result: 1 Ron Hill Cambuslang (3, 4, 6, 8) 21; 2 Belgrave (1, 2, 5, 14) 22; 3 Cardiff (only one runner, placing 7th). Unofficial result: 1 Belgrave (1, 2, 5, 9) 17; 2 Ron Hill Cambuslang (3, 4, 6, 8) 21.
Women. 1 H.Yelling (Windsor SE&H) 16:47; 7 G.Tamirat 17:27; 28 Birhan Dagne 18:14; 35 C.Bryson 18:29; 137 S.Gailey 22:46; 178 finished.
Restored from the club's earlier website, belgraveharriers.com, and published here as originally written.