Men's British Athletics League Division One - 2002: Match 4, Wigan

1 Woodford Green with EL 340; 2 Birchfield H 326; 3 Belgrave H 312.3; 4 Trafford AC 310.3; 5 Shaftesbury Barnet H 261.3; 6 Harrow AC 226; 7 Newham & Essex Beagles 214; 8 Border H & AC 164.

The Prologue

With a clear 6 points lead over Woodford Green coming in to this match we would have been forgiven for taking a relaxed view of this - the deciding fixture - which could determine Belgrave's place in the record books. Winning the premier men's title for a unique consecutive sixth time was our aim and the team managers once again approached selection with the thoroughness expected by all concerned. Hotel bookings were made and letters and maps sent out to over 50 A team potential participants. And then the effects of a long hard season and the prospect of a long trip to windy Wigan became apparent as the responses fed back. Thirteen reported injuries, six were already planning to be on holiday and eleven more couldn't make it due to work and other commitments.
Desperate phone calls and the Friday tally showed we would be approaching this match with the smallest ever Belgrave squad to grace a BAL Div 1 track.

The Magnificent SEVENteen

And it was down to just seventeen of our stalwarts who turned up on the day to support the cause. And not all of them were fit. Kevin Brown was driven to the match with a trapped nerve in his back. His normal 54m+ effort became 12m less but his brave effort was typical of the fighting spirit as everyone mixed and matched to cover most events - but inevitably there were gaps. There were many unusual sights. Stuart Faben in the hammer and shot, Andrew Bennett in the high hurdles and high jump backed by James Tuson in the long, triple and high. Ben Flint won the pole vault from a high class field but unfortunately Paul Williamson no heighted in difficult swirling wind conditions.

Then on the track sprinters Darren Chin and Graham Beasley cleaned up with max points in both sprints. Graham handed out decisive defeats to Duaine Ladejo of Birchfield who by choice ran in the B100 and A200 against our man. Darren and Graham were joined by Matt Douglas and Femi Daramola to also win the sprint relay. Femi had a poor long jump but made amends with a season's best in the triple.

Meanwhile the middle distance squad performed magnificently. Chris Moss fresh (almost) from a fine 800 in Sweden won the B 800 and A 1500 while Neal Speaight answered a last minute call-up from the team managers and won the A 800. He also finished a creditable third in the B 400. We had not one of our 400m specialists in the squad and Matt Douglas stepped in for the A 400 leaving Andrew Bennett as our sole 400 hurdler. In cold and windy conditions times were irrelevant. Andrew finished third having paced himself to perfection.

But there was no better example of the team's determination to prove their quality than Will Cockerell's fine PB in the 5000m. Not content with that, just thirty minutes later Will stepped to the line in the 3000 steelechase with 18 year old William Docherty who was making his debut in our British League squad. And this time Will Docherty ran a 2sec PB with Will Cockerell again adding points to our growing tally.

Fortunately England and Belgrave team physio Paula Wild was working flat out keeping the team in one piece throughout the afternoon but even she couldn't present us with enough fit runners for the long relay which we declined to run! But by then we were assured of third spot on the day to ensure a wonderful League win. Yes, six years in a row Belgrave have been GB Men's Champions. Until today we had shared the record at five a piece with Haringey. Now we are clear and it will be a good while - if at all - before anyone betters that.

Thanks

And thanks to everybody who supported us this year. None more so than the men who competed in all four matches despite a full competitive schedule. They are eight in number and are:

Graham Beasley, Andrew Bennett, Kevin Brown, Will Cockerell, Femi Daramola, Matt Douglas, Stuart Faben and Ben Flint.

100m: A 1 D.Chin 10.5; B 1 G.Beasley 10.4.
200m: A 1 G.Beasley 21.1; B 1 D.Chin 21.6.
400m: A 1 K.Thompson (Woodford) 48.1; 2 M.Douglas 48.7; B 1 R.Workman (Trafford) 49.1; 3 N.Speaight 49.7.
800m: A 1 N.Speaight 1:53.1; B 1 C.Moss 1:55.3.
1500m: A 1 C.Moss 3:54.8; B 1 A Renfree (Shaftesbury) 3:57.2; no Belgrave competitor.
5000m: A 1 E.Kirui (Birchfield) 14:33.2; 5 C.Herrington 14:58.7; B 1 R.Birchall 14:36.3; 4 W.Cockerell 15:01.3.
110mH: A 1 M.Douglas 14.4; B 1 J.Wright (Woodford); 6 A.Bennett 17.1.
400mH: A 1 K.Thompson (Woodford) 50.4; 3 A.Bennett 55.9; B 1 R.Scott (Woodford) 54.3; no Belgrave competitor.
3000mSC: A 1 A.Batliner 9:02.8; 6 W.Docherty 9:48.6; B 1 M.Hutchinson (Trafford) 9:25.30; 5 W.Cockerell 10:11.0.
HJ: A 1 D.Grant (Woodford) 2.10; 6 J.Tuson 1.85; B 1 D.Plank (Birchfield) 1.90; 4= A.Bennett 1.70.
LJ: A 1 N.Dowsett (Woodford) 7.03; 5 F.Daramola 6.68w/2.5; B 1 S.Wells (Woodford) 6.98; 5 J.Tuson 6.04w/5.0.
TJ: A 1 P.Ferdinand (Birchfield) 15.30; 3 F.Daramola 14.44; B 1 L.Harvey (Trafford) 13.98; 2 J.Tuson 13.37.
PV: A 1 B.Flint 5.00; B 1 M.Davies (Birchfield) 4.60; no ht P.Williamson.
SP: A 1 E.Udechuku (Woodford) 17.04; 3 S.Thompson 15.07; B 1 A.Rollins 13.52; 8 S.Faben 10.10.
DT: A 1 E.Udechuku (Woodford) 56.67; 7 S.Thompson 43.18; B 1 A.Soalla-Bell (Shaftesbury) 42.94; 2 K.Brown 42.50.
JT: A 1 M.Roberson (Newham) 73.77; 2 S.Faben 69.17; B 1 J.Lundman (Newham) 59.65; 3 W.Smith 54.85.
HT: A 1 I.Nikulin (Birchfield) 67.21; 7 S.Faben 40.80; B 1 S.Brown (Newham) 61.84; 5 S.Thompson 40.24.
4x100m: 1 Belgrave 42.4 (D.Chin, G.Beasley, M.Douglas, F.Daramola).
4x400m: 1 Woodford 3:18.9; no Belgrave team.

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