National CC Champs., Parliament Hill, London

National Cross Country - a satisfactory day

All in all, the 2006 edition of the "National" was a satisfactory affair. Parliament Hill is a tough course and its tendency to degenerate into a quagmire after half a dozen races, together with the long uphill start, has meant that it has never been a favourite for our teams in spite of it being "local". But the mud is nothing like as bad as in days of yore - a view reinforced by warriors from the '60s who invariably gather around our tent, mulling over old battles - and although the last time we raced the "National" here our men placed a lowly 28th - this time around, both our men and women maintained good team placings and we had a record turn-out of runners.

At an hour known only by milkmen and early rising sparrows, our tent party gained the prime car parking position on Highgate Road. Eight am saw claret, gold and blue canvas flapping in the raw, blustery breeze - and by 9am it was bacon sandwiches and a brew, al fresco at the bandstand cafe. All was under control.

A missed chance for Greg - but Kris shines

There had been great hopes for Greg Billington in the Under 17 Men's race. Our young East Anglian has not been beaten this winter, but as race time neared, neither he nor coach Mick Graham had arrived. It transpired that Greg and his family were stuck on the M11 after it had been controversially closed due to an accident. Greg's race at the final UK Cross Challenge, which doubles as the Inter-Counties Championship, now becomes even more meaningful.

Next up it was Kris Gauson in the U20 Men's race. Having erased two of John Gladwin's famous club bests from our record books, Kris doesn't have to prove himself to Belgravians but his name is obviously still unfamiliar to the announcer at Parliament Hill who reeled off the names of the contenders as they completed the first lap but referred to Kris as "the Belgrave man." The race distance of 10k was a long way for Kris - who recently ran 4:11 for an Under 18 indoor mile in Boston - but he held up well for a final placing of 8th and has two more years in the age group. Could we be looking at a future Scottish winner of the English U20 Championship? Most of the guys ahead of him will not be eligible for the World Cross Championships and with the confidence gained from this run, Kris has everything to go for when it comes to the trial at Nottingham in two weeks time.

Another solid placing from the Belles

It's only in the last few years that we have seen our women completing teams in the National and much of this is down to Team Manager Catherine Eastham - who celebrated another solid team performance by closing in the quartette herself. The men's Team Manager is keen to make it known that he has no intention of trying anything similar!

Again Sarah Murphy was first home, resulting in a 100% record in our Women's Cross Country Plate Competition - 120 points out of 120. Tilly Heaton and Helen Smethurst preceded Catherine, with Louise Cooper out of the scorers for a change, suffering from a foot problem that we hope will be clear by Marathon time. Sarah Gailey, who races everything from 400 metres upwards, seemed unperturbed by the mud and two laps of the all-weather oval will never seem so hard after this.

There was great interest at the front end of the field as well. Gemma Phillips, Mark Miles' girlfriend, had a storming run and was truly delighted with her second place. Belgrave congratulations go to her!

Young lions gain experience

And so to the men. It was always going to be unlikely that we'd be able to turn out a winning team but yet another position well inside the top ten shows that we still have the potential to repeat our 2004 win and there is a tremendous will within the squad to "do it again." It surely will come.

Going "over the top" held no terror for our courageous young lions Darren Gauson and Phil Wicks, and as the 1,300 field climbed the shoulder of Kite Hill, led by Salford's Andi Jones, both these Belgravians were in the 'teens. After a couple of miles things had settled down and one of the pre-race favourites Peter Riley of Leigh had grabbed the lead. Phil was in the early 30s, Darren ten places in arrears, and David Anderson keeping an eye on both, just a few seconds behind. Tim Watson had run an uninspired 4th in the Inter-Services Champs. the previous day but back on the Heath where he has run so well before, he was having a good day in the 60s, thirty places up on a Paul Freary who seemed below par. And then it was Pete Willis making up the six with the Skipper close behind.

Sadly Lee Greatorex was already out of the action. Having returned from a calf injury and a cold, a bad spike wound to his heel put an end to his race.

Setting out on the second lap Phil and Darren had both slipped a few places while our next three men were making ground, most notably David Anderson, even though he was suffering from a shoe that was viciously biting into the back of his foot.

The team race was already over as Leeds City had packed their entire team into the top sixty. It was by no means clear which squads would fill the remaining medal positions - Notts, Bedford, Altrincham? It wasn't going to be the Bels though, as our tally was around the 420 mark. Will had now pushed Pete Willis out of our scoring six but with Tom Ellacott and Tom Hadfield going well, our nine to score chances were looking more hopeful.

While Riley continued on his winning way to the very end, the leading Belgrave duo suffered. Phil held on to win the Parker Bowl as first Belgravian home and at not quite 22 years of age he must be one of its youngest ever winners. But he was being closed down by Vice-Captain Anderson all the way to the funnel and what a pleasure it is to see him back in action and enjoying his racing again. Tim Watson had also run well and had moved ahead of a Darren Gauson who later said that at every hill and with every blast of wind, he felt himself getting knocked back - at any painful point in any future middle-distance race he'll be able to tell himself it is nothing as compared to his first run on "Parly Hill."

A very satisfactory team performance then, all things considered. As we chew over the results things are looking good for the future. We have some young men eager to make their mark in the sport and with the exception of Wells City's Frank Tickner (22 years of age), who placed second, the remainder of the top six were over 26 with three in their 30s. It takes more than courage for a high placing in the National. It takes experience and our team certainly gained some of that.

Senior Men. 12 km. 1 P Riley (Leigh H&AC) 38:53; 2 F Tickner (Wells City H) 39:10; 3 S Vernon (Stockport H& AC) 39:37; 4 R Whalley (Bristol & West AC) 39:42; 5 B Noad (Highgate H) 39:52; 6 K Cullen (Highgate H) 40:00; 41 P Wicks 41:38; 44 David Anderson 41:43; 60 T Watson 42:07; 70 D Gauson 42:19; 92 P Freary 42:58; 134 W Cockerell 44:05; 166 P Willis 44:54; 180 T Ellacott 45:13; 192 T Hadfield 45:23; 223 M Byansi 45:57; 278 W Lynch 46:54; 935 Don Anderson M50 58:27; 979 H Corbett M45 59:08; 1085 S Baxendale 1:01:43; 1290 finished.

Teams at 6 to score: 1 Leeds CAC 234; 2 Salford H&AC 348; 3 Altrincham &DAC 361; 4 Notts AC 367; 5 Shaftesbury Barnet H 377; 6 Bedford &CAC 387; 7 Belgrave H 437; 8 Sale H Manchester 456; 9 Bristol &WAC 524; 10 Wells City H 531; 99 teams closed in.

Teams at 9 to score: 1 Leeds CAC 566; 2 Shaftesbury Barnet H 837; 3 Bedford &CAC 848; 4 Belgrave H 966; 5 Salford H&AC 983; 6 Sale H Manchester 1073; 45 teams closed in.

U20 Men. 10 km. 1 A Vernon (Aldershot F&DAC) 32:49; 2 A Hickey (Southend-On-Sea AC) 32:55; 3 K Gerrard (Manx H)33:19; 8 K Gauson 34:15; 177 finished.

U17 Men. 6 km. 1 L Carey (Nuneaton H) 21:52; dnf T Barry; 282 finished.

Senior Women. 8 km. 1 E Hall (Herts Phoenix AC) 32:12;2 G Phillips (Kendal AAC) 32:45;3 T Krzywicki (Charnwood AC) 32:52;4 J Clague (Liverpool H&AC) 32:59;5 S Thomas (Sale H Manchester) 33:13; 6 J Potter (Charnwood AC) 33:19; 47 S Murphy 36:26; 88 M Heaton 37:57; 116 H Smethurst W40 39:18; 180 C Eastham 41:28; 211 L Cooper 42:47; 260 S Gailey 44:37; 444 finished.

Teams 1 Charnwood AC 68; 2 Shaftesbury Barnet H 148; 3 Highgate H 154; 4 Bristol &WAC 179; 5 Sale H Manchester 206; 6 Telford AC219; 15 Belgrave H 427; 47 teams closed in.

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