Road Running & Cross Country Team Results January - June 2001
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AAA “National” 12-Stage Road Relay
What a thriller! Bels. miss the gold medals by just six seconds
Full result
28 April 2001, AAA 12-Stage Road Relay, Sutton Coldfield.
Well, we knew it was going to be exciting but who could have foreseen such a story unfolding. Team and spectators alike experienced every emotion throughout the 4 hour saga and then came that final devastating, gut-wrenching twist. As reserve Will Cockerell said afterwards, “It was almost unbelievable: but of course it wasn't unbelievable at all – just sport at its cruellest”.
Fifty-two years ago, when only 21 clubs including just five from outside the Southern area took part, Athletics Weekly described the closing stages of the 1949 National 12-Stage Road Relay with the words, “it was a grandstand finish to a race that had been close and thrilling throughout”. On that April day in 1949, on the London-Brighton road, Belgrave prevailed over Birchfield by just 20 seconds. We have never won since.
At Sutton Park in 2001, after an appalling start, a nigh-on miraculous fight-back saw us head the field for five stages – more than any other club on the day – only for the closest ever finish at Sutton Park to go against us. A blinding run from the last Tipton runner pushed the Bels. back to silver by just six seconds. It was very quiet inside the Belgrave tent for a while. The shock of having the prize snatched away just an instant after we believed for the first time that it was to be ours was stunning. This had been the target since the beginning of the season and we had come so close. But this group of runners is much more than just a team. There is a feeling for each other that rival clubs do not see when they look at Belgrave from the outside. There is no blame, anyone can have a bad run just as they can have a good one – and within 30 minutes there were already the signs of looking forward. “Right then, next year … ”
Times were affected by an icy wind which became stronger throughout the afternoon, bringing with it pulses of rain and sleet. Short stage times were down by about 10 seconds – long stages perhaps half as much again. There were 69 teams in the initial charge down the hill; 64 finished and of those 5 were disqualified – 3 of them on the 4th stage.
Stage 1
Kassa Tadesse is back as a full-time athlete having put his restaurant owning aspirations on hold for a few years. His target is now a British passport and a place in the GB half-marathon team later in the year. Six weeks of training in Kenya with John Mutai’s coach had seen him shed pounds and he looked the gaunt Kassa of 1994 where the first stage on this course had seen him come home in 1st place. Could he do it again? He hadn’t raced for around two years and had only arrived home from Nairobi the day before.
Early reports over the tannoy told us that he was lying in third place … was in the leading bunch … but he wasn’t in sight when at the end of the stage the Swansea man went through the takeover zone … or one minute later when the first dozen teams were all through … or after a further minute when we were into the thirties. It was “head in hands” time for the team-manager. Was he injured? Perhaps he wasn’t going to finish at all and 11 Belgrave runners were going to be left stranded, their day finished before it had begun.
Eventually, looking awful, Kassa came through in 35th. It transpired that he had stopped three times to vomit on the second half of the circuit and, as he barely kept moving over the last kilometre, runners had streamed past him. He was some two minutes slower than anticipated – not the sort of start we were looking for, two and a quarter minutes off the lead.
1, Swansea 25:50; 2, Trafford 25:52; 3, Mansfield 26:12; … 35, Belgrave 28:06.
Fastest: J.Lewis (Swansea) 25:50; R.Gould (Trafford) 25:52; B.Farquarson (Mansfield) 26:12; K.Tadesse 28:06 (35th).
Stage 2
Well at least it was all set up nicely for Richard Ward, youngest man in the team. He’d been warned of the possibility of receiving a forward placing and being in the firing line but here was a different scene and he adapted to it well. It was like some spectacular “shoot ‘em up” video game. In the dog-fight of this first short stage he picked off man after man whilst being subjected to the blast of runners like Telford AC’s Chris Davies who came through from 41st to 14th with the day’s fastest of 14:03. Richard thrived in all this action, taking the Bels up 15 places to clock our fastest of the day – the stage’s =6th best and =9th of the day. He enjoyed himself so much that he tells us that he has every intention of making this race a priority for the next 20 years!
Up front the race favourites Salford and Tipton were already well established in 3rd and 4th places and, in spite of Richard’s efforts, we were still 2:09 away from the leaders Trafford.
1, Trafford 40:37; 2, Bromsgrove & Redditch 41:09; 3, Salford 41:18; … 20, Belgrave 42:46.
Fastest: C.Davies (Telford) 14:03; J.Moorehouse (Birchfield) 14:15; J.Bowler (Bromsgrove & Redditch) 14:17; R.Ward 14:40 (=6th).
Stage 3
Tipton, Salford and Birchfield moved into the first three places on this second long stage and seasoned onlookers could have been forgiven for assuming that the medallists had already sorted themselves out. Not so Paul Freary: “ Ok. So it was a bad start but we’ve got 11 stages to go yet. We can get up there.” As good as his word, Paul smoothly weaved his way through the field and in a time just 1 second faster than his run of last year claimed 10 scalps and we went into the top ten, 1:14 down on the men from the Black Country. This was to have been Paul Evans’ stage but our veteran marathoner had had to pull out of the line-up with two days to go, due to post-London calf muscle problems.
1, Tipton 1:07:43; 2, Salford 1:07:50; 3, Birchfield 1:08:11; … 10, Belgrave 1:09:24.
Fastest: G.Tromans (Coventry) 26:01; B.Whitby (Windsor SE&H) 26:04; D.Taylor (Blackheath) 26:14; P.Freary 26:38 (10th).
Stage 4
A year ago 21 year-old Rick Hayman had barely started running and now, as reserve, he grabbed his chance to go into the team. An 8:47 track 3,000 metres during the week had given him confidence and he kept the forward momentum going by overtaking the blue and white vested Bedford man to move us into 9th. Announcer Bud Baldaro reminded the crowd that Belgrave had some strong long stage runners to come and knowing that some of those ahead would run out of steam soon we began to dream again of medals. Of our Southern rivals, Windsor were now in 4th, Aldershot 6th, Bedford 12th and Shaftesbury 15th.
1, Tipton 1:22:46; 2, Salford 1:22:51; 3, Birchfield 1:23:22; … 9, Belgrave 1:24:41.
Fastest: G.Cuddy (Sale) 14:30; M.Dalkins (Stoke) 14:48; R.Scanlon (Coventry) 14:49; R.Hayman 15:17 (19th).
Stage 5
There were some mean men on stage 5. Morpeth had been languishing down the field but now turned out Ian Hudspith. Birchfield’s Rob Birchall was entering the fray as was Blackheath’s first Brit home in the London Marathon, Mark Steinle. What impression could our Olympic steeplechaser Justin Chaston, with 5 hours of jet-lag in his system, make in this company? The answer: a good one. Twice stitch caused him to ease right off but he became our fastest long stage man so far and third best on the stage while overtaking Aldershot and Sale. Birchfield had grabbed a 36 second lead and we were now 2nd Southern club behind the T-shirt men Windsor SE&H, although still an agonising 1:09 off the lead.
1, Birchfield 1:49:18; 2, Tipton 1:49:54; 3, Salford 1:50:13; … 7, Belgrave 1:51:03.
Fastest: I.Hudspith (Morpeth) 25:55; R.Birchall (Birchfield) 25:56; J.Chaston 26:22.
Stage 6
Taking us to the half-way point was “Gnasher”. Kevin Nash’s coach Richard Partridge has had some glory days in Sutton Park himself and was on hand to see his protégé have a cracking run – fastest of the stage – to dispose of Windsor SE&H, Swansea and Trafford. An absolutely amazing recovery! Fourth place was now ours and the medal positions were lined up a mere 16, 22 and 49 seconds ahead with Birchfield rumoured to be running out of top men and Tipton moving back into the lead. What a race!
1, Tipton 2:04:56; 2, Salford 2:05:23; 3, Birchfield 2:05:29; 4, Belgrave 2:05:45.
Fastest: K.Nash (Belgrave) 14:42; C.Low (Shaftesbury) 14:51; N.Caddy (Tipton) 15:02.
Stage 7
Mark Miles is an awesome runner. Two years ago, at the SEAA 12-Stage, officials suggested that perhaps Mark had cut the course, so fast was his time. Co-holder of our fastest short stage time around Sutton Park (13:49) he had agreed to run a long stage if we thought it would make the difference between winning or not. We did think so – and “Milesy” went long.
Seemingly flying with feet barely touching the ground, Mark ate up Birchfield and Salford and then set about Tipton’s GB half marathon international Nick Jones. Lead motor bike, Jones and then Mark disappeared from the view of our fan-club, heading toward the furthest reach of the long stage. All eyes peered into the distance for their return. Yes. There was the headlight of the bike … and the runner behind … it was a claret vest with gold hoop. We were in the lead! Ten seconds clear at the take-over, Mark was fastest long stage man of the day and second on our all-time list only to Paul Evans.
1, Belgrave 2:31:30; 2, Tipton 2:31:40; 3, Birchfield 2:32:21.
Fastest: M.Miles (Belgrave) 25:45; J.Wild (Sale) 25:58; E.DeJonge (Shaftesbury) 26:09.
Stage 8
Talk about pressure! A pale looking Roger Alsop set off down the slope plumb in the sights of Tipton’s Seb Shepley. “I’m not worried if he comes back in 2nd,” says next man Spencer Barden, “it’ll give me someone to chase.” Someone to chase? Sorry Spen. but no such luxury as Roger proceeded to put another 11 seconds between the Bels and their green and white vested rivals. A medal of some sort now seemed a certainty with fourth place a full 1 minute and 19 seconds behind us.
1, Belgrave 2:46:36; 2, Tipton 2:46:57; 3, Birchfield 2:47:16.
Fastest: I.Gillespie (Birchfield) 14:55; R.Alsop (Belgrave) 15:06; S.Shepley (Tipton) 15:17.
Stage 9
A confident Spencer Barden with a successful winter behind him had returned from warm weather training in Portugal itching to get into this race. We needed a reasonable buffer going into the last quarter of the race – something close to a minute would be nice – and surely Spen was the man to give it to us. Working hard and setting the fastest time for the lap he levered that gap from 21 seconds up to 49. That could be just enough but my goodness this was going to be close.
1, Belgrave 3:12:56; 2, Tipton 3:13:45; 3, Birchfield 3:14:06.
Fastest: S.Barden 26:20; W.Burns (Salford) 26:46; R.Mayock (Sale) 26:48.
Stage 10
Another short stage man in the firing line, Rob McHarg had started the week looking forward to being reserve and now found himself on the tarmac, in the team, in the lead. Every second he could hold on to was crucial and he did a fine job. Tipton came up to within 15 seconds as their runner clocked a time that put him in the day’s top ten and a minute further back the battle for the bronze medal was looking ferocious as a mere 6 seconds now covered Birchfield and Salford.
1, Belgrave 3:28:10; 2, Tipton 3:28:25; 3, Birchfield 3:29:36.
Fastest: M.Hill (Tipton) 14:40; M.Moorhouse (Salford) 15:01; R.McHarg (Belgrave) 15:14.
Stage 11
The penultimate stage surely had to be the key. If Alaster Stewart could only stop Tipton’s Nigel Stirk from getting past then man for man we believed that our own Lee Hurst would be able to look after the last leg. Stirk’s pbs are somewhat faster than Alaster’s but this was our man’s 18th time of racing on the Sutton Park roadway. He knows the course like the back of his hand and it was like a dream coming true – in the lead and racing against Tipton Harriers for the most coveted trophy in Team Road Running.
The tension was really going up now. A ‘phone check with the supporters out on the course revealed that after a couple of kilometres the gap had gone up. Belgrave were now 20 seconds clear and if there was one thing we were sure of, even when well psyched up, metronome Al would never go off too fast.
Incredible. Far from stopping Stirk from getting by, at the end of the last long stage of the day Al had increased the lead by a further 20 seconds.
1, Belgrave 3:55:21; 2, Tipton 3:55:56; 3, Birchfield 3:57:25.
Fastest: A.Stewart (Belgrave) 27:11; N.Stirk (Tipton) 27:31; C.Cariss (Bingley) 27:33.
Stage 12
The margin was 35 seconds. Tipton’s Danny Gibbons was thought to be about on a par with our own Lee Hurst. For the first time, after almost four hours of racing, we felt fully confident that the race was ours. Photographer Mark Shearman said that he would be wanting to get the team together for a photograph and would our man be kind enough to celebrate as he went across the line. Our supporters began to come in from the course to witness the first ever Belgrave victory at Sutton Park. There was a little flutter when the announcer relayed the news that Gibbons had pulled back 5 seconds; but of course he had – he had nothing to lose – he had to go all out. Lee would be fine. What we didn’t know was that Lee’s heart had already been pumping in overdrive before he set out. It had been a long day of incredible tension.
Bud Baldaro’s voice sounded alarm bells. “They are at Keeper’s Pool and the Tipton man is just three seconds behind.” Tipton supporters still dotted around the course had been screaming themselves hoarse and their man was flying. The Belgrave team sprinted off towards the finishing straight to give their support. Approaching the final turn Gibbons took the lead. As they turned into the straight Hurst went ahead again. Now the headlight of the lead bike could be seen by those at the finish – and the runner immediately behind was – Tipton. Gibbons’ arm went up in a victory salute. He was 5th fastest of the day. They’d got it.
We can’t do better than return to the words of Will Cockerell (12th man at Milton Keynes) who knows what a last leg run is like.
“We all know, Lee could go back to Sutton Park tomorrow and run 15 to 20 seconds faster than he did today without breaking a sweat. But the pressure he was under – well, only he could know. I would have said it was four or five times the pressure that I had at Milton Keynes the other day. Half a mile into my stage that day, my legs had turned to jelly and that horrid feeling of nausea was overwhelming as I said to myself: “If the Bedford man catches me, I’ll have to let him go – I have no fight left.” I shared these sentiments with Lee after his run today and he said he had experienced every emotion that I was speaking of; and then some. He was running with the proverbial fridge on his back.”
1, Tipton 4:10:27; 2, Belgrave 4:10:33; 3, Salford 4:12:34; 4, Birchfield 4:12:48; 5, Sale 4:14:53; 6, Shaftesbury 4:15:38; 7, Swansea 4:15:57; 8, Bingley 4:17:09; 9, Morpeth 4:18:31; 10, Windsor SE&H 4:18:51.
Fastest: D.Gibbons (Tipton) 14:31; K.Kyereme (Shaftesbury) 14:34; M.Farah (Windsor SE&H) 14:44; L.Hurst 15:12 (6th)
Fastest of the day
Long stages: 1, M.Miles (Belgrave) 25:45; 2, J.Lewis (Swansea) 25:50; 3, R.Gould (Trafford) 25:52; 4, I.Hudspith 25:55; 5, R.Birchall (Birchfield) 25:56; 6, J.Wild (Sale) 25:58.
Short stages: 1, C.Davies (Telford) 14:03; 2, J.Moorhouse (Birchfield) 14:15; 3, J.Bowler (Bromsgrove & Redditch) 14:17; 4, G.Cuddy (Sale) 14:30; 5, D.Gibbons (Tipton) 14:31; 6, K.Kyereme (Shaftesbury) 14:34.
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"Southern" 12-Stage Road Relay
The tradition grows stronger
8 April 2001, SEAA 12-Stage Road Relay, Milton Keynes.
There’s a different atmosphere about the team these days. Not only do our runners have to fight to get into the team, they know that having got into the “twelve”, there will be medals at stake and the chance to make a name for themselves prior to the National team being selected; no-one wants to pull out in those circumstances. From the time that the team was picked the previous weekend right up until Will Cockerell carried our colours across the line in 3rd place not one man dropped out of the squad. We can never remember that happening before.
Belgrave last won the event in 1990 when the race was still being held in our own back yard at Wimbledon. The period following this, with the race moving to Thurrock in 1994-1998, proved to be a miserable time for the Bels. as we never got near the front of the field; but the move to Buckinghamshire coincided with an upswing in our fortunes and in the three years that the Open University and Milton Keynes AC have hosted the event we have not been out of the awards. The only trouble is – the gold gongs are still missing from our collection.
The entity formed from the amalgamation of Windsor, Slough & Eton AC and Borough of Hounslow AC did their best to wind us up with a derogatory statement on their t-shirts but our teams were far too intent on enjoying the race and the day to worry about them. Kids!
A pleasant surprise for the Men's Team Manager Alan Mead came at the end of the afternoon. The lads had wanted to show their appreciation of his efforts throughout the last few seasons and a collection resulted in the purchase of matching FILA hat and gloves, some programable postage scales to help him get his letters delivered on time and some wonderful IAAF statistical volumes to keep him occupied through the summer months. There were flowers for Patricia the "Cakes and Tea" lady, wine for Don "Wheels" Anderson and more for Bob Bridges who assisted with the driving to Durham for the National. Many thanks Team - you're a grand bunch - and a delight to work for.
Women's 6 Stage Race
It was great that we had a team in action in the SEAA Women’s 6-Stage event. Team Manager Catherine Eastham had managed to twist a few arms and although the Belles finished pretty well down the field – you’ve got to start somewhere. There must be a very good chance of picking up the most improved team award next year. Juliette Clarke, hitting great form with the London Marathon just two weeks away, ran a speedy 19:56 which was third fastest on her stage and 14th fastest overall.
Women: 1, Shaftesbury Barnet 1:59:55; 2, WSE&H 2:02:35; 3, Highgate 2:04:38; 20, Belgrave 2:28:59 (T.Sturton 21:40, J.Smiter 29:13, J.Clarke 19:56, J.Emery 27:48, C.Eastham 26:20, D.Hearn 24:02). 25 teams started; 21 teams finished.
Fastest: H.Yelling (WSE&H) 18:20; C.Hoyte (Arena 80) 18:34; S.Miles (Hillingdon) 19:00.
Men's 12 Stage Race
Stage 1. Haughian comfortably led the field home for WSE&H and at the end of the day his time remained the fastest “long-un”. Cap’n. Roger Alsop, getting stronger each time out, would have liked a sub-25 clocking but he and the rest of the team were pleased with his 11th place and as the race went on it became clear that with the windy conditions anything close to 25:00 was due a lot of respect. In his 37th year the Skipper had staked a strong claim to a place in the National squad. Ineligible Mal Byansi’s opener for the Cs was our fastest long stage outside of the A team.
1, WSE&H 23:43; 2, Shaftesbury Barnet 24:04; 3, Bedford 24:28; … 11, Belgrave ‘A’ 25:03; 29, Belgrave ‘C’ 26:30; 42, Belgrave ‘B’ 27:29.
Fastest: S.Haughian (WES&H) 23:43; R.Alsop ‘A’ 25:03 (11th on the stage and =27th overall); M.Byansi ‘C’ 26:30 (29, =110); M.Webb ‘B’ 27:29 (42, 177).
Stage 2. The man our selectors nearly left out came on next – and what a good decision they made to stick by him. The first of a succession of young lions in our team, 23 year-old Moroccan Najibe Hliouat, scorched the short circuit for our fastest time of the day, overtaking seven of the opposition and moving his name up to 5th on our all-time short stage list. A terrific run from the Norwich runner Amos lifted his team 16 places but they were still only 33rd!
1, WSE&H 41:01; 2, Shaftesbury Barnet 41:26; 3, Bideford 41:32; 4, Belgrave ‘A’ 42:18; … 34, Belgrave ‘C’ 46:02; 42, Belgrave ‘B’ 47:07.
Fastest: G.Amos (City of Norwich) 16:09; N.Hliouat ‘A’ 17:15 (6, =15); M.Anderson ‘C’ 19:32 (38, =153).
Stage 3. Another place was gained by Kevin Nash who took us into the frame, trailing WSE&H by a minute and a half but just 13 seconds behind Shaftesbury. Kevin would have preferred a short stage but gamely tackled the 8 km circuit for the good of the team and ran 12 seconds faster than his 1999 clocking. Charlie Dickinson took the Bs past the Cs and into 2nd place in the B team competition, just over a minute behind – WSE&H’s B team.
1, WSE&H 1:06:03; 2, Shaftesbury Barnet 1:07:21; 3, Belgrave ‘A’ 1:07:34; … 37, Belgrave ‘B’ 1:14:13; 49, Belgrave ‘C’ 1:19:33.
Fastest: H.Lobb (Bedford) 24:43; K.Nash ‘A’ 25:16 (3, =36); C.Dickinson ‘B’ 27:06 (27, =151); R.Bale ‘C’ 33:31 (41, 295).
Stage 4. Rick Hayman, chased hard by Chelmsford’s Keith Cullen who was running a quite amazing 15:49 to break the course record, kept the momentum going to move the Bels. into the silver medal position. He was disappointed with his time, looking for something 20 seconds faster – but times are not always everything and he had fought his way to the highest position we were to reach on this day and closed up on the leaders to boot.
1, WSE&H 1:23:53; 2, Belgrave ‘A’ 1:25:05; 3, Chelmsford 1:25:26; … 36, Belgrave ‘B’ 1:33:27.
Fastest: K.Cullen (Chelmsford) 15:49; R.Hayman ‘A’ 17:31 (3, =24); B.Peeters ‘B’ 19:14 (28, 130).
Stage 5. Rob McHarg now had to face the onslaught of Bedford’s attack as “in-form” Martin Yelling moved up four places to go into 2nd at our expense. Again, Rob was not happy with his time but bearing in mind recent niggles and a cold it was not so bad, and these guys going long on stages 3, 5 and 7 were laying a solid foundation for our final forward position. Phil Carstairs took the Bs up 2 places with a time just 5 seconds down on his best.
1, WSE&H 1:49:04; 2, Bedford 1:50:06; 3, Belgrave ‘A’ 1:50:48; … 34, Belgrave ‘B’ 2:00:17.
Fastest: M.Yelling (Bedford) 24:09; R.McHarg ‘A’ 25:43 ( 8, 61); P.Carstairs ‘B’ 26:50 (26, 128).
Stage 6. Big shocks up front as Bedford took full advantage of Windsor’s reserve, filling in for a cold-ridden Mohamed Farah. We’d had our own health scares as Kevin Quinn had cut short a training session in the week. There obviously was something not quite right with him for his time was half a minute slower than we had expected. Harry Corbett had been due to run for the Cs but was pulled out of that team when it was realised that we were going to be a man short in the Bs; and didn’t he go up that slope at the end of his stage, keeping just 2 seconds ahead of Aldershot ‘B’ team.
1, Bedford 2:06:54; 2, WSE&H 2:07:31; 3, Shaftesbury Barnet 2:07:52; 4, Belgrave ‘A’ 2:08:55; … 37, Belgrave ‘B’ 2: 21:46.
Fastest: J.Fewtrell (Bedford) 16:48; K.Quinn ‘A’ 18:07 (7, =47); H.Corbett ‘B’ 21:29 (46, 273).
Stage 7. In his first big time team run for the club 18 year-old Richard Ward had not had the best preparation for his stint, having just returned home from a University field trip. Add to that the fact that he found himself following runners onto the short stage circuit where he lost 10 or 15 seconds and you can guess that he was not really satisfied with his outing. Nevertheless, he was third fastest for the stage, gained 14 seconds on Shaftesbury in 3rd and moved us away from Aldershot who had been getting threateningly close. What a blast from the past in the ‘B’ team: Stuart Paton is the owner of some of our fastest short stage times in 12-stage relays over the years – but here he was, getting into some sort of shape for the London Marathon and delighted to go well under the half-hour.
1, Bedford 2:31:54; 2, WSE&H 2:32:09; 3, Shaftesbury Barnet 2:33:19; 4, Belgrave ‘A’ 2:34:08; … 38, Belgrave ‘B’ 2:50:45.
Fastest: T.Hart (WSE&H) 24:38; R.Ward ‘A’ 25:13 (3, =33); S.Paton ‘B’ 28:59 (39, 243).
Stage 8. A few weeks back Steve Clarke would not have dreamed he would be in the team. A succession of injuries and health problems seem to have dogged him recently but throwing caution to the winds he jumped at his chance to run in ‘A’ team and was well satisfied with a time 9 seconds faster than his previous best and our second fastest of the day. Up front Windsor went back into the lead and Shaftesbury were having a storming leg as well but Steve took great bites out of Bedford’s advantage and with the Belgrave tail-end sting winding itself up to strike, medals began to look a little more of a possibility.
1, WSE&H 2:49:12; 2, Bedford 2:50:03; 3, Shaftesbury Barnet 2:50:13; 4, Belgrave ‘A’ 2:51:33; 36, Belgrave ‘B’ 3:10:05.
Fastest: K.Kyereme (Shaftesbury Barnet) 16:54; S.Clarke ‘A’ 17:25 (3, 22); A.Binda ‘B’ 19:20 (22, 139).
Stage 9. As Shaftesbury lined up Nick Francis and Windsor offered Ben Whitby, our own “toughie” Paul Freary came into the fray. Francis proved to be second fastest of the day but the North London club were still nearly a minute down on Windsor for whom Whitby was the day’s no. 4. Paul gained 50 seconds on Bedford and being nearly three and a half minutes clear of Thames Hare & Hounds in 5th we were pretty sure we would not get caught by anyone else now – but could we get back into the frame?
1, WSE&H 3:13:19; 2, Shaftesbury Barnet 3:14:09; 3, Bedford 3:15:29; 4, Belgrave ‘A’ 3:16:07; … 35, Belgrave ‘B’ 3:37:20.
Fastest: N.Francis (Shaftesbury Barnet) 23:56; P.Freary ‘A’ 24:34 (3, 11); M.Kazimierski ‘B’ 27:15 (22, =161).
Stage 10. Just a couple of months older than Richard Ward and the second Junior in our team, Frenchman Fabien Bernard-Gaudin has had more than his share of injury during the winter but a good run in the Bath 5 kms a few weeks earlier earned him his slot here at Milton Keynes. He was third fastest on the stage and, importantly, he gained 8 seconds on Bedford. Windsor were a full minute clear of Shaftesbury at the front, Bedford were a further two minutes back and then a gap of 30 seconds to the Bels. who were in turn a full four minutes clear of Thames in 5th.
1, WSE&H 3:30:27; 2, Shaftesbury Barnet 3:31:27; 3, Bedford 3:33:18; 4, Belgrave ‘A’ 3:33:48; … 34, Belgrave ‘B’ 3:57:33.
Fastest: T.Antao (WSE&H) 17:08; F.Bernard-Gaudin ‘A’ 17:41 (3, =29); S.Zealy ‘B’ 20:13 (31, =213).
Stage 11. This was it. The front two were out of reach and we had no idea how strong Bedford would be over the last two laps. As it happened they had a solid enough runner but Alaster Stewart was really up for this. In spite of only two weeks back after a three week ankle problem he pulled back that half minute on Bedford and then took another half minute to give our last man the best chance possible of hanging on to 3rd. Al’s time was second fastest on the stage, second only to Paul Freary among the Belgrave team and 5th on our all-time list.
1, WSE&H 3:55:43; 2, Shaftesbury Barnet 3:56:40; 3, Belgrave ‘A’ 3:58:32; … 33, Belgrave ‘B’ 4:26:00.
Fastest: M.Simpson (WSE&H) 24:16; A.Stewart (Belgrave) 24:44 (2, 15); W.Lynch ‘B’ 28:27 (29, =220).
Stage 12. So it was down to Our Will. He’d held on last year to keep us in bronze – could he do it again? He went out with a 27 second advantage over Bedford and shortly, as supporters who had been out on the course returned to the finish area they brought back tales that his lead was conflictingly down to 20 seconds or up to 30 seconds. The wait on that final corner before the slope up to the finish seemed interminable; but suddenly there he was, still in 3rd having taken another 42 seconds out of our rivals. Bronze again!
1, WSE&H 4:12:00; 2, Shaftesbury Barnet 4:13:26; 3, Belgrave ‘A’ 4:16:21; 4, Bedford & County 4:17:30; 5, Thames Hare & Hounds 4:22:37; 6, Aldershot F&D 4:22:42; 7, Brighton & Hove 4:25:32; 8, Phoenix AC 4:26:27; 9, Cornwall AC 4:33:11; 10, Exeter H 4:32:56; … 31, Belgrave ‘B’ 4:46:42 (2nd ‘B’ team to WSE&H – 28th).
Fastest: D.Brien (Shaftesbury B) 16:46; W.Cockerell 17:49 (4, =36); D.Anderson 20:42 (31, =243).
299 men completed the 7.978 kms long stage and 293 the 5.506 kms short stage. 54 teams started and 44 finished.
Fastest long stages: S.Haughian (WSE&H) 23:43; N.Francis (Shaftesbury Barnet) 23:56; J.Fitzsimmons (Shaftesbury Barnet) 24:04.
Fastest short stages: K.Cullen (Chelmsford) 15:49; G.Amos (City of Norwich) 16:09; D.Brian (Shaftesbury Barnet) 16:40.
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An exceptional team effort in “National” – Hurst takes “Parker Bowl” again
24 February 2001, National Cross Country Champs., Durham
With the going good and conditions surprisingly bright when snow and rain had been threatened, an exceptional team effort gave the Bels. the top ten men’s team place they were looking for in the 2001 English National Cross Country Championships. Missing the services of those selected for World Cross Country Championship duties and with Charles Herrington back on the sidelines again with a confirmed stress fracture, hopes for a successful foray to Durham took another dive when Lloyd Catley went down with flu and Joachim Wolf was involved in a car crash on his way to the race. But our ten men lined up amongst the 1300 strong field hadn’t travelled 300 miles north to give a low-key performance.
As is often the case it was Paul Freary’s figure that was first spotted by the Belgrave supporters. Lying somewhere around 40th after the charge, he was closely followed by Lee Hurst – out to hold on to the Parker Bowl which is awarded to the first Belgrave man home. Al Stewart normally starts steadily and comes through the field with even-paced running but he too was well forward – around 70th at a rough count – with the rest of the Belgrave gang packing well in the mid hundreds. Already the team title looked like a three horse race between Tipton, Bingley and Morpeth.
It was a marvellous course for spectators who were able to dash from one zig-zag section to another to monitor Belgrave progress. On the second circuit Rob McHarg got away from Roger Alsop who had Will Cockerell close up behind him and Najibe Hliouat and non-scoring Malachi Byansi not far away. Nearer the front Lee Hurst had gone ahead of Paul but the revelation was Alaster Stewart, swiftly gaining on both of them. He was now in the early sixties and as Paul Freary sagged a little in mid race, Al came past and going out again for the final lap had his sights on Lee, now just a dozen places and perhaps eight seconds ahead.
At the front a leading bunch of ten or more had come down by now to just two men who tackled the final 3 kilometres almost side by side. Birchfield’s Mike Openshaw was perhaps the favourite to win but 21 year-old Sam Haughian of Hounslow seemed to be the man pushing on with most determination. The finish neared: Haughian continued to press hard but Openshaw was almost alongside him and in a most thrilling climax they entered the funnel side by side – until the Birchfield man switched gear to sprint away in the last 30 metres.
For Belgrave, Lee’s Hurst’s strength told in the end. He maintained his advantage on Al who nevertheless was delighted with his effort and could not resist raising an arm to signal his pleasure as he crossed the line in 56th. Paul had recovered from his mid-race bad patch and if anything was coming back at Al at the finish. Every one of the rest of the team ran well. Veteran Phil Carstairs was not pleased with his race after recently having the beating of a less than fit Roger Alsop but he was only 20 places off his position of the previous year. Meanwhile, Will and Roger had knocked spots off their previous best National runs, both of them improving with every running of the race.
A strong Shaftesbury Barnet team comfortably took the Finch-Wayte trophy for top Southern club away from us but our 8th team place was a terrific performance. If we can continue to place in the top ten on a regular basis then there are certainly going to be times ahead when we can raid the awards table.
At nine to score good old Don Anderson stepped into the breach. Don has run more Nationals than anyone else in the club with around a dozen to his name in claret and gold and good few more in his Surrey AC vest. The official results showed that we were also placed 8th at nine to score but the judges must have misread the number of someone from another club and instead of taking Don’s position, gave us a ninth man home some 250 places earlier. We should really have been 9th team.
Tania Sturton ran a good race to put herself up in the first third of the Senior Women’s field but it was a shame that she had no-one else to back her up. Debbie Hearn was also a lone Belgrave runner in the Under 20 Women’s event. Wouldn’t it be great to go to a “National” one day and see full Belgrave teams in all age groups – male and female.
Senior Men
1, M.Openshaw (Birchfield H) 36:52; 2, S.Haughian (Boro Hounslow) 36:54; 3, W.Farquharson (Mansfield H & AC) 37:30; 49, L.Hurst 39:43; 56, A.Stewart 39:55; 64, P.Freary 40:04; 147, R.McHarg 41:54; 161, R.Alsop 42:05; 165, W.Cockerell 42:10; 194, N.Hliouat 42:33; 201, M.Byansi (n/s) 42:43; 279, P.Carstairs 43:47; 832, D.Anderson 51:30; 1227 finished.
Teams (6 to score): 1, Bingley H & AC 162; 2, Tipton H 175; 3, Morpeth H &AC 233; 4, Leeds City 303; 5, Shaftesbury Barnet H 320; 6, Salford H & AC 377; 7, Bedford & County AC 469; 8, Belgrave H 628; 9, Sale H Manchester 704; 10, Altrincham 715; 107 teams closed in.
(9 to score) 1, Tipton H 362; 2, Morpeth H & AC 657; 3, Salford H & AC 707; 4, Shaftesbury Barnet H 806; 5, Leeds City AC 822; 6, Bedford & County AC 972; 7, Notts AC 1631; 8, Belgrave H 1665; 9, Altrincham AC 1883; 10, London Heathside 2228; 37 teams closed in.
Senior Women
1, L.Yelling (Bedford & County AC) 28:08; . . . 113, T.Sturton 35:10; 336 finished.
Under 20 Women
1, J.Potter (Charnwood) 18:02; . . . 76, D.Hearn 23:07; 99 finished.
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It's Division Two for the "Belles"
17 February 2001, Women’s Surrey C.C. League, Race Four, Lloyd Park, Croydon.
Debbie Hearn ended the season as the leading Under 20 with Syreeta Stracey placing 4th among the seniors but it’s division two for the Belles next season.
1, A.Fletcher (Dulwich) 22:46; … 22, S.Stracey 26:13; 39, D.Hearn 28:03; 58, C.Eastham 31:13; 60, S.Couzens 31:55; 61, H.Oriba 31:41; 68 finished.
Teams: 1, South London 45; 2, Herne Hill 54; 3, Ranelagh 95; … 9, Belgrave H 189; 10 teams closed in.
Final league positions
Under 13 Girls
1, Dorking & Mole Valley 39; 2, Sutton 36; 3, Guildford & Godalming 30; 4, Belgrave H 24; 14 teams took part.
Under 15 Girls
1, Ranelagh 31; 2, Hercules Wimbledon 22; 3, Kingston & Poly. 20; … 8, Belgrave H; 11 teams took part.
Senior Women
1, South London 38; 2, Herne Hill 36; 3, Thames H&H 29; … 9, Belgrave 10; 10 teams took part.
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"Sweatshop" Surrey League title returns to Thames H&H
23 scorers throughout the winter – but it’s 3rd place overall
3 February 2001, Surrey Cross Country League Division One, Race Four, Farthing Downs, Coulsdon.
We won’t bore you with too many details of illness and injury but suffice it to say that the fourth and last race in the Surrey League series for 2000-2001 gave a few more runners the chance to get into the scoring ten and the final tally showed that no fewer than twenty-three athletes had been on the score sheet throughout the winter. And we've had another twenty-three in Surrey League action who didn’t get into scoring positions this time round. With a broad base like this, regular success has just got to come along.
Thames Hare & Hounds consolidated their position at the top of the league with a third win while the Bels. could only make fourth on the day. Both South London and Herne Hill Harriers closed right up and the final result showed that while Thames were clear winners, a mere 20 points covered the next three clubs after all four matches and 20 miles of racing. Third place overall was our lot. Just 7 points fewer (we could have found them in two-dozen different ways) and we would have held on to second place.
Vice-Captain Alaster Stewart arrived at Heathrow on a jet from Hong Kong at 5am on the morning of the race to lead the Belgrave contingent home. He got the better of Cap’n Roger on the second circuit and both of them were keen to keep ahead of Phil Carstairs, celebrating his recently acquired veteran status with some terrific form. It was great to see Steve Clarke back in the team again after four or five months of problems; likewise “Gerry” Adams, away from the action for a similar period. They don’t come any grittier than Charlie Dickinson who, at nigh on 53 years of age, scored in his third out of three league runs this winter.
Down in the basement, West 4 Harriers were delighted to remain in the premier division after promotion from division two last season, while Croydon Harriers face relegation and Borough of Hounslow AC are expected to leave the League altogether to tackle the Chiltern League in forthcoming years as a combined Windsor, Slough, Eton & Hounslow outfit.
1, D.Taylor (Herne Hill) 28:09; 2, G.Staines (South London) 28:16; 3, M.Boyle (Herne Hill) 29:32; … approximate scoring positions, subject to confirmation … 23, A.Stewart; 25, R.Alsop; 27, P.Carstairs; 31, S.Clarke; 43, M.Kazimierski; 47, M.Webb; 50, G.Adams; 52, E.Lemenager ?; 53, S.Connor ?
Teams: 1, Thames H&H 194; 2, Herne Hill H 208; 3, South London H 275; 4, Belgrave H 382; 5, Aldershot F&D; 6, Ranelagh H; 7, West 4 H; 8, Croydon H; 9, Borough of Hounslow.
Final League positions:
1, Thames H&H 762; 2, Herne Hill H 1146; 3, Belgrave H 1153; 4, South London H 1166; 5, Aldershot F&D; 6, Ranelagh H; 7, West 4 H; 8, Croydon H; 9, Borough of Hounslow.
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South of England Championships
27 January 2001, SEAA Cross Country Champs., Parliament Hill
So much for targets. For our men’s team this event was to have been the first of four events that we were to concentrate on. Our league campaign and winning streak in the South of Thames were forfeited for – a team position three places lower than last year.
Paul Freary, who lives 10 minutes from where the Northern Championships were being held, drove 200 miles each way to hit the Hill hard to go over the top in second place. He’d not been going as well as he’d have liked in training recently but after struggling on the first lap, after that powerful start, fought his way back and was satisfied with a place in the top 20.
It was another great run from Jason Lobo, who lives even closer to the Northern venue than Paul but travelled south to put himself to the test over that famous Parliament Hill mud. It was a morass, so thick in places that runners could hardly pull their feet out of it and yet here we had a 1:45 800m man coming home in 19th spot and ribbing Paul that he might have had a go at him if he’d not thought that it might upset him to see a half-miler come sailing past after 15 kilometres. Every one of the rest of the guys ran well, particularly Phil Carstairs who placed a best ever 62nd and would have been higher still but for a fall.
Teamwise, it was a chance missed. Thames Hare & Hounds were awesome with 6 in 44 – and they won the South of Thames the previous week and will almost certainly take the league as well.
Erica Fogg backed up her Surrey County run with another fine effort and with Tania Sturton and Syreeta Stracey in action we weren’t so far away from a full team. Fabien Bernard-Gaudin had to pull out of the Junior Men’s race; he broke a toe before Christmas and his recovery was not as complete as he had thought.
Under 13 Girls. 1, C.Browning (Aldershot F&D) 13:24; 68, L.Collier 16:42 171 finished.
Senior Women. 1, H.Yelling (Borough Hounslow) 33:58; 55, Erica Fogg 41:36; 79, T.Sturton 42:52; 151, S.Stracey 46:57; 327 finished.
Under 15 Boys. 1, A.Humphries (Southend) 18:38; 196, J.Kirton 25:40; 219, R.Collier 27:52; 229 finished.
Under 20 Men. 1, A.Sherman (Swindon) 31:21; F.Bernard-Gaudin dnf.; 86 finished.
Senior Men. 1, N.Francis (Shaftesbury B) 52:13; 2, S.Haughian (Boro Hounslow) 52:14; 3, J.Downes (London Irish) 52:15; 18, P.Freary 55:33; 19, J.Lobo 55:43; 62, P.Carstairs 58:35; 119, M.Byansi 61:11; 125, L.Catley 61:20; 209, M.Kazimierski 64:53; 252, W.Lynch 66:16; 894 finished.
Teams: 1, Thames H&H 129; 2, Highgate H 181; 3, London Irish 264; 9, Belgrave 547; 73 teams closed in.
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South of Thames win streak comes to an end
20 January 2001, South of Thames C.C. Championship, Roehampton.
After three consecutive team wins in this championship, and in spite of the fact that the race was held on (almost) home turf, the magnificent Dewar Shield found new keepers for the next twelve months.
It was a difficult situation. It would have been great to have extended our winning streak, and we certainly had enough men left who had not been barred from the event, but in the middle of a five week run of races something had to go - and this was it.
Steve Zealy was our only legitimate runner, in 62nd spot, but right up the front second-claimer Richard Ashe carried our colours to an outstanding win - although as a guest his name did not feature on the SoT result sheet. Fabien Bernard-Gaudin, still awaiting clearance to score for us, suffered a similar fate.
1, R. Ashe (Belgrave gst) 33:02; 2, A.Weir (Thames H&H) 34:23; 3, B.Reynolds (Thames H&H) 34:34; 12, F.Bernard-Gaudin 36:02; 62, S.Zealy 39:42; 177 finished.
Teams: 1, Thames H&H 39; 2, Boxhill R 95; 3, Guildford & G 177; 13 teams closed in.
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Sparse turnout for Women's League
13 January 2001, Women’s Surrey C.C. League Race Three, Lightwater Park.
It was back to Lightwater for match three in the series. The race was scheduled to have been held in Richmond Park but the authorities deemed that with so much wet weather recently, the Park was likely to be damaged by the feet of so many harriers.
It was a very sparse turnout from our seniors who placed last on the day and now seem destined for division two again. After three matches the Belles lie in 9th place, although a good turn-out for the final race could save the day.
Things looked brighter in the younger age-groups, however, and both the under 13 and under 15 teams finished up in second place with Jessie Massey and Lizzie Hodges filling the two runners up slots in the younger race.
Senior Women.
1, A.Ridley (Woking) 23:02; 2, A.Fletcher (Dulwich) 23:13; 3, A.Critchlow (W4H) 23:19; 32, D.Hearn 27:31; 44, C.eastham 31:04.
Teams: 1, Herne Hill 67; … 10, Belgrave 240.
Under 15
1, L.Marland (Herc.Wimb) 12:29; 4, G.Bennett 13:27; 9, S.Comley 14:23; 13, L.Walter 15:08..
Teams: 1, Ranelagh H 37; 2, Belgrave 54
Under 13
1, Z.Shannon (Dorking MV) 9:33; 2, J.Massey (Belgrave) 9:42; 3, L.Hodges (Belgrave) 9:53
Teams: 1, Dorking Mole Valley 33; 4, Belgrave 85.
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Hammered at home !
13 January 2001, Surrey CC League Race 3, Wimbledon Common
With a huge absentee list we were always going to be up against the task of keeping close to, or even stealing a few more points away from, Thames Hare & Hounds, in our quest to retain the Surrey League title. Four top Belgrave runners were taking the chance of overseas or international standard competition, work commitments pulled away another four, injury accounted for two and communication breakdown took out a couple more. Still we lined up twenty-three men; and didn’t they battle magnificently to get us into 2nd place on the day. Frankly though, Thames were in great form and took full advantage of our weakened state.
Our second year of running on the new course revealed a few delights that we hadn’t expected: drifts of dried leaves in the woods hid a black porridge of the most glutinous variety. Even the team manager got a taste of this as, at the end of the day, he found himself the guardian of a pair of the most horrendously slimed Reeboks left behind by a Belgrave runner who couldn’t bear to put them in his kitbag.
Jason Lobo led the team home with Rob McHarg continuing his patch of good form (3rd in the Berkshire Champs. the previous week). Twenty-one year-old Richard Hayman made another advance up the order to place 16th and a betting man might well be advised to have a few bob on Rick’s chances of spending next winter’s series in the top ten. The middle order troops did us proud, running way above expectations, and especially welcome were new men Lloyd Catley and Guy Lavender – first Surrey League runs from them and both in the “ten”. As “Our Will” was heard to say whilst savouring his curry, “We might not have won and the league may be slipping away but it was one of the best ever efforts from a Belgrave team.”
So, is it out of sight? We’d have to say that chances of lifting the title for 2000-2001 look very slim!
Very many thanks to all those who marshalled, marked the course, judged, timed and helped with results. Particularly well done to Don Anderson: having laid out the trail he then had to remark it after someone attempted to sabotage the event by neatly removing every flag and trace of tape over a whole section of the route. Thank goodness for mobile ‘phones enabling the sending of a warning to hold back the senior race while the track was remarked.
1, D.Naylor (THH) 27:12; 2, S.Major (SLH) 27:39; 3, J.Lobo (Bel) 27:43; … 13, R.McHarg 28:36; 16, R.Hayman 28:43; 24, W Cockerell 29:34; 28, G.Lavender 29:42; 32, B.Barton 29:52; 35, P.Carstairs 30:03; 46, L.Catley 30:29; 48, M.Webb 30:38; 49, C.Dickinson 30:40; 58, M.Byansi 30:57; 63, P.Smoothy 31:06; 66, E.Lemenager 31:09; 68, M.Kazimierski 31:13; 71, B.Peeters 31:21; 87, S.Zealy 32:22; 96, R.Harding 32:41; 103, S.Connor 33:07; 104, A.Binda 33:11; 107, A.Cowmeadow 33:21; 134, F.Gasper 35:53; 138, H.Corbett 37:21; 140, P.Cross 38:18.
Teams: 1, Thames H&H 119; 2, Belgrave 273; 3, Herne Hill 273; 4, South London 312; 5, Aldershot F&D 515; 6, Ranelagh 545; 7, West 4 581; 8, Croydon 686; 9, Borough of Hounslow 791.
After three matches and with one more to go: 1, Thames H&H 568; 2, Belgrave 771; 3, South London 891; 4, Herne Hill 938; 5, Aldershot F&D 1462; 6, Ranelagh 1554; 7, West 4 1783; 8, Borough of Hounslow 2117; 9, Croydon 2201.
How nice to see a Belgrave vest leading home the Young Athletes' field. James Skilbeck Nelson had a good lead over the next man and with a full complement of Youths and Boys we took the team race by a convincing margin. Paul Graham, second Belgrave lad home, also impressed. He was lying second when going off course due to the missing flags and by the time he was back on the route had lost two places. Over the last 12 months he has become a representative of Suffolk County at Walking, Track running and Cross-country. Brother Andrew, also a race-walker, headed our Colts' team.
Under 17: 1, J.Skilbeck-Nelson 17:15; 4, P.Graham (U15) 17:41; 6, G.Mabbutt (U15) 18:11; 10, P.Cowling (U15) 19:18; 12, R.Collier (U15) 20:24.
Teams: 1, Belgrave 135; 2, Croydon 56; 3, Herne Hill 119; 4, Ranelagh 123; 5, Borough of Hounslow 124.
Under 13: 1, P.Humphrey (SLH) 17:49; 4, A.Graham 20:17; 8, P.Mabbutt 23:39.
Teams: 1, Croydon 35; 2, Belgrave 96; 3, South London 113; 4, Ranelagh 114; 5, Borough of Hounslow 117.
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Low key at Lloyd Park
6 January 2001, Surrey Cross Country Championships, Lloyd Park.
Again we were unable to produce a strong presence for the County Championships. Hopes were high for a good placing in the youngest girls’ age group with Louise Collier having been in fine form in recent league races. On this occasion she was not at her best and when shaken by a severe slip, came out of the race altogether.
There were high hopes that Richard Ward would be able to duplicate his win of last year in the junior men’s race but the redoubtable talent of Reigate’s Ed Prickett prevailed. Richard is likely now to be switching his attentions to indoor track races before returning for the road relays. Running in the combined junior and under 17 women’s race Debbie Hearn placed 16th overall but only just missed the medals, being fourth junior to the line.
Our women’s team picked up bronze medals last year but from that squad only Tania Sturton was back on the course this time and filled exactly the same place – 25th. Up ahead new member Erica Fogg, yet another Dave Lucas trained athlete, showed that she is going to be a great asset to the team – when it gets together again – by running home in 10th place.
Shortly before the senior men’s race it had looked as if Belgrave were not going to be able to start a team with only four runners and spectating Don Anderson on the course with 10 minutes left before the pistol was due to be fired. Then Lloyd Catley arrived for his first ever run in Belgrave colours and Don was coerced into his kit to complete the six. Just as the runners were lining up Malachi Byansi arrived and with no warm up at all, joined the field to give us seven on the start line.
Herne Hill’s Dave Taylor continues to dominate cross country events in Surrey but in this Championship he did not have it totally his own way. In muddy conditions Taylor, Belgrave’s Kevin Nash and South London’s Stuart Major broke away early with Staines of South London not far behind. Kevin was totally focused on the race and for a while, as Major dropped back, it was the Belgrave Harrier who tended to be showing ahead as mud and water flew up from the leading pair’s flying feet.
Unfortunately a slight niggle in Kevin’s lower back, which had already caused him to cut short a training session during the week, flared up again and on the second of the three circuits Taylor prised open a gap which grew to about 20 seconds. Both runners were still going away from the rest of the field where all sorts of drama was taking place. Major fell; Staines and Herne Hill’s second scorer Boyle came through; Staines then had a stomach problem and dropped back alarmingly before finally making sure of a bronze medal at the very end of the race.
Our own Roger Alsop, short of training as a result of various injuries in recent months, started steadily and progressed through the field for a satisfactory 21st at the end. Malachi and Lloyd were within a few places of each other for most of the race. Both are gradually gaining fitness but in the end it was Mal who proved the strongest with Lloyd drifting back until he found himself under attack from Erwann Lemenager who was having a great run. It was good to see Steve Zealy back in action for the Bels. again – the 13 years since he formed part of our National team seem to have flown!
Men (12km) 1, D.Taylor (HHH) 42:39; 2, K.Nash (Belgrave) 43:07; 3, G.Staines (SLH) 44:25; 21, R.Alsop 47:57; 32, M.Byansi 49:19; 41, E.Lemenger 50:25; 43, L.Catley 50:32; 60, S.Zealy; D.Anderson; 184 started.
Teams: 1 South London 59; 2 Herne Hill 65; 3 Boxhill 95; 4 Thames Hare & Hounds 170; 5 Belgrave 184; 10 teams closed in.
Under 20 Men (8km) 1, E.Prickett (Reigate) 29:35; 2, R.Ward (Belgrave) 31:15.
Under 15 Boys (4km) 1, M.Leslie (AFD) 15:43; P.Cowling and R. Collier ran but positions not know.
Women (8km) 1, K.Jenrick (Highgate) 34:13; 10, E.Fogg 37:58; 25, T.Sturton 40:32.
Under 20 and Under 17 Women (4.8km) 1 C Best (Craw, U17) 21:21; 16, (4th U20) D.Hearn 25:53.
Under 13 Girls (3.25km) 1, D.Christmas (Crawley) 14:11; L.Collier dnf.
Restored from the club's earlier website, belgraveharriers.com, and published here as originally written.