Golden Jubilee Cup Semi-Final, Derby Moorways
Rugby put the boot in - no Cup final for us in 2005!
"Are you sure there's no-one else who could do the 400 relay?" Kevin Sempers implored of the Team Manager. "Well there is just one guy," replied the bearded one, "but he's out there with two more laps to go in the steeplechase at the moment!" Kevin turned to see forty-two year-old Paul Beaumont plodding down the straight on his way to earning 7 points for a second place. "Ok," said Kevin with a smile, "I'm knackered - but I'll do it ."
Multi-event star Kevin had pulled out of the team two days earlier, suffering from an adductor strain, but the night before the match he 'phoned up to say that maybe it wasn't quite so bad, and perhaps he'd come along to see how things went. He ended up doing six events, taking in four wins - and all this with an important decathlon lined up in two weeks time.
Kevin wasn't the only hero. We've already mentioned veteran 400 hurdler Paul Beaumont turning out for the 'chase. Jonathan Blackledge injured himself while winning the 800m and had to pull out of the 1500 - but then David Anderson, with his Achilles tendon already sore from the 5k, stepped into the breach saying he'd jog round; of course he then couldn't resist having a pop at the field on the last lap. As David limped off to catch his train home we could only hope he hadn't done himself any long term damage. It was like that all afternoon: Scot Thompson also has an injury problem and would only do the discus - until he saw how a few more points might save the day and offered a "standing" shot put as well; an unfit Darren Chin won the 100m, ran the sprint relay - and then let himself be persuaded to run the long relay; Graham Beasley has been troubled with a trapped nerve but won the 200 and ran both relays; Chrissie Foster placed second in the 800m and then lined up for the very next event, the 100m, to avoid a blank on the team sheet.
The long relay boys were promised that we'd pull them out of the 4x400m if it was impossible to win the match but with a flurry of late wins including the women's long relay, where we were boosted by the arrival of Hannah Stares and Jennifer Culley who'd hot-footed it from Loughborough, we could see that if our men won and Rugby placed fourth - we'd win the match. And then, as they lined up, we found that there were only three teams on the track. It was all over barring dropped batons. We did win the relay - but missed out on a place in the final by a whisker.
There were plenty of nightmare events where points could have been gained. We had no runner in the women's high hurdles and with only one competitor in the race we could have turned out someone to bunny-hop over the barriers to gain 7 points. We also suffered from a pole vault problem - no competitor in the women's competition and Cameron Johnston coming in late and failing to clear a height in the men's event.
The match at Loughborough (all credit to those who did that and the Cup), the BMC meet at Cardiff, a Heptathlon in Spain and the European U23 Champs. drew heavily on our teams, but whereas the men's squad have the depth to cope with these demands, the women's team don't. Nevertheless, there were bright spots in the women's team as well. Eva Massey blew the opposition away in the shot and Michelle Nestor, with long and high jump action already behind her, took the triple jump in a near best of 11.47m. It was great to see our men's winner Farel Mepandy giving Michelle some advice which paid immediate dividends and also to hear respected coach John Anderson tell us what great potential she has. Jacqui Loney was close to her best in the hammer and Louise Cooper came off the roads to gain second in the 3000m.
So, that's it for the Cup in 2005. All credit to everyone on the day who did all they could, but we can now go on holiday in late August!
Men. 100m: 1 D Chin 11.2. 200m: 1 G Beasley 22.4. 400m: 3 K Sempers 50.7. 800m: 1 J Blackledge 1:54.5. 1500m: 2 D Anderson 4:02.6. 5000m: 1 D Anderson 14:55.9. 10000m: 2 J Clarke 33:52.9. 110mH: 1 K Sempers 15.6. 400mH: 2 P Beaumont M40 57.8. 3000mSC: 2 P Beaumont 14:09.0. HJ: 1 K Sempers 2.00. LJ: 2 A Phillips 7.22. TJ: 1 F Mepandy 15.36. PV: no height C Johnston. SP: 1 S Thompson 15.27. DT: 1 S Thompson 49.41. JT: 2 K Sempers 51.91. HT: 4 R Bridges M50 18.09. 4x100m: 1 Belgrave 43.5 (K Sempers, G Beasley, D Chin, M Douglas). 4x400m: 1 Belgrave 3:41.5 (G Beasley, K Sempers, D Chin, M Douglas).
Women. 100m: 7 C Foster 13.7. 200m: 6 L Collier 29.6. 400m: 6 L Collier 64.2. 800m: 2 C Foster 2:21.5. 1500m: 5 R Powell 5:03.6. 3000m: 2 L Cooper 11:40.0. 100mH: no competitor; 400mH: 4 G Williams 76.9. HJ: 3 M Nestor 1.50. LJ: 3 M Nestor 5.40. TJ: 1 M Nestor 11.47. PV: no competitor. SP: 1 E Massey 15.11. DT: 3 L Fox 36.55. JT: 6 J Loney 21.17. HT: 2 J Loney 40.02. 4x100m: 5 Belgrave 53.3 (C Foster, H Stares, G Williams, L Cooper). 4x400m: 1 Belgrave 3:58.9 (L Cooper 67.6, C Foster 57.7, H Stares, 57.3, J Culley 56.4).
1 Rugby & Northants 244; 2 Belgrave 242; 3 Tamworth 157; 4 Bedford & County 154; 5 Derby & County 136; 6 Coventry Godiva 97; 7 Birmingham Rowheath 81; Cheltenham did not take part.
Restored from the club's earlier website, belgraveharriers.com, and published here as originally written.