Horwich Carnival Races
AAA 5k Team GOLD
The AAA 5km Championship is only in its second year and on each occasion it has been held as part of the delightful Horwich Carnival Races - a meeting that also takes in the BMAF 5km Championship, the conclusion of the Countryside Tour of Horwich & Rivington, various cycle races including the British National Elite Men's Circuit Championship and the Carnival Parade complete with beauty queen and the famous Horwich RMI Clog Dancers - all on the same circuit (though not, thankfully, at the same time).
Local man Paul Freary was in action early, figuring that we had enough fire power in the senior men's race to do without him and electing to run as a Master. He tucked into the slipstream of Blackheath & Bromley's Dave Taylor who set a ferocious pace and the two were clear of the field after one lap. But there were two more circuits to go and our man was unable to hang on to Taylor who went on to set an astounding veteran time of 14:38. Paul won the M35 category but didn't want to make too much of that as two, albeit outstanding, M40s were ahead of him by the time the line was reached. Charlie Dickinson came through as the race progressed - eventually just missing out on M50 medals - while the team race went to our local rivals Herne Hill, headed by Roger Alsop.
In the AAA Championship race Birchfield's men tore away from the start with only Chris Davies (Telford) and Peter Riley (Leigh) getting anywhere near them. But Mark Miles worked hard throughout the race and his final placing of 5th (3rd in the AAA Championship) is a pleasure to record. He was a little disappointed with the time - but what a way to come back in his first race after a long lay-off. To say that we are thrilled to have him back in the team is an understatement.
Simon Jones had reported a minor calf problem but his solid run as tenth Briton was key to our team placing while it was great to see Wardy mixing road success with speedy track runs. Do you know that as a result of his glandular fever and two years of below par results - Richard Ward is now operating at 3:48 1500m level on 30 miles per week?
In 2005 we missed out on the AAA team title by the narrowest of margins, having equalled Salford's score but got our last scoring man home behind theirs; even that situation had only been reached after some overseas competitors were removed from the scoring (without which we would have won) while others (Birchfield's African stars) were not. The intervening year had seen us propose that AAA team places should be calculated on accumulated times, therefore obviating the need to decide who should be removed from the scoring and who shouldn't - and this has been accepted as the rule for 2006 onwards.
Another complicating feature of these events is the fact that for an overseas athlete to win a AAA individual medal he or she must have been resident in the UK for nine months - thus ruling out the Birchfield guys - while to score for a UK club an overseas athlete only has to be resident for two months.
Even getting our first three home onto the scoring sheet had not been without problems as Richard Ward had been left off the result and our Team Manager, ensconced in the warmth of the Cafe Marina and doing justice to a post-race minted lamb pie with brown sauce, was dragged off to Race HQ to clear things up after a phone call from Richard outlined the potential setback.
Suffice it to say that at the conclusion of the race we were resigned to the fact that we had placed second team on the day to the awesome onslaught of Birchfield's men, bolstering ourselves with the thought that we were, at least, first "British" team. We went along to the presentation to receive our second set of silver medals, only to fine that Birchfield, though winning the Open Race, were not included in the Championship event. The golden booty was ours.
Men. Open race: 1 T Shiferaw (Ethiopia/Birchfield) 13:54; 2 P Makau (Kenya/Birchfield) 15:56; 3 C Davies (Telford) 13:56; 4 P Riley (Leigh) 14:01; 5 M Miles (Belgrave) 14:14; 6 J Ndayisenga (Burundi/Birchfield) 14:24; ... 12 A Abdulrahaman (Sudan/Birchfield); 14 S Jones 14:46; 23 R Ward 15:01; 57 P Willis 16:20; A Swearman dnf.
Open Team race: 1 Birchfield 9; 2 Belgrave 42; 3 Oadby &WL 62.
AAA Individual: 1 C Davies (Telford); 2 P Riley (Leigh); 3 M Miles (Belgrave).
AAA Team race: 1 Belgrave 44:01; 2 Oadby &WL 44:47; 3 Leeds City 44:58.
BMAF 5km Championship. 1 D Taylor M40 14:38; 2 D Bilton (Leeds City) 14:55; 3 P Freary (1 M35 Belgrave) 15:05; 77 C Dickinson (4 M50) 17:40.
Women. 1 K Reed (Bristol &W) 15:45; B Dagne dnf.
Restored from the club's earlier website, belgraveharriers.com, and published here as originally written.