Road Running & Cross Country Team Results July - December 2000
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Louise Collier leads young "Belles" to a team win
2 December 2000, Women's Surrey CC League Race 2, Lightwater Country Park, Woking.
Louise Collier again led home the field in the League’s youngest age group – the under 13s. Her winning margin of 23 seconds over this shorter than normal course meant that for much of the race she was out of sight of the chasing bunch. Unlike the race at Tilford, however, this time Louise had team mates highly placed to back her up and with J.Massey in second place and Lizzy Hodges in fourth, the team scored a great win over Guildford & Godalming. As a squad they moved up into 3rd place overall behind Sutton & District and Dorking & Mole Valley.
The seniors didn’t have quite such a happy time with rivals Tania Sturton and Syreeta Stracey being the only two Belgrave runners to squeeze into the top 30. With only 10th team place on the day they slipped back down the league to 7th and now have a battle on their hands over the last two matches to ensure that they keep clear of the relegation zone.
Senior Women
1, D.Lee (Thames H&H) 22:36; 2, A.Fletcher (Dulwich R) 22:38; 3, A.Ridley (Woking) 23:43; 25, T.Sturton 26:32; 28, S.Stracey 26:44.
Teams: 1, South London 59; 2, Thames H&H 79; 3, Herne Hill H 104; 4, Dulwich R 108; 5, Woking 108; 6, Ranelagh H 130; 7, West 4 162; 8, Holland S 164; 9, Epsom & Ewell H 185; 10, Belgrave 186.
Under 13 Girls
1, L.Collier (Belgrave) 9:34; 2, J.Massey (Belgrave) 9:57; 3, Z.Shannon (Dorking MV) 10:00; 4, L.Hodges 10:03.
Teams: 1, Belgrave 21; 2, Guildford & G 39; 3, Dorking MV 57; 4, Sutton & D 58; 5, Ranelagh H 92; 6, Epsom & Ewell H 93.
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Thames Hare & Hounds pegged back in the Park
18 November 2000, Surrey CC League Race 2, Petersham, Richmond Park
Richmond Park was at its wettest with the Ranelagh Harriers’ regular course having to be adapted to avoid some of the flooded stretches. As the rain came on again it was heartening to see a good bunch of young runners set out around Sidmouth Wood and Queen Elizabeth’s Plantation. Team Managers Kim and Paul Collier had gathered a full team of young runners together for the Under 17/Under 15 race (all our lads being under 15) and had two more for the Under 13s. Their efforts were well rewarded with two 2nd places in the team races with young Jamie Kirton leading the team home. With half the league now gone Belgrave now lie 2nd in the oldest age group and 3rd in the youngest.
The seniors had the huge task of trying to pull Thames Hare & Hounds back after their devastating win at Brockwell Park. There were plenty of men on hand to do their best with no fewer than 27 names listed by the time the sodden declaration sheet was handed over.
Lee Hurst was among the early leaders as the field set of in the direction of White Lodge but on the return from the loop four men had broken away - Gary Staines (SLH) and Sam Haughian (Hounslow) accompanied by our own Yacin Yusuf and Yitbarak Dinku. Yacin had turned out after changing his plans to run in the European qualifying race the next day at Margate while Yitbarak was having his first race in 10 months: we were glad to see both of them! Non-scoring Richard Ashe was close behind while Lee and Paul Freary were running together with 18 year-old Richard Ward, running his first Surrey League race in claret & gold, keeping an eye on them.
Setting out again, the positions were pretty much unchanged. A whole posse of Thames men came through together in the ‘teens but with five men in the 20s to back up our high-placers a win looked safely on the cards. Richard Hayman was not looking too comfortable but those “toughies” Rob McHarg, Will Cockerell and Joachim Wolf were running strongly with Norwegian Knut Hegvold also making an impression.
At the finish Hounslow’s Sam Haughian was an easy winner but the broadest grin came from Yacin who kept a one second margin between himself and our life-member Gary Staines. Yitbarak was so impressive in his first race of the season and he has every intention of improving on his 4th place in the races to come. As normal a blistering sprint gained Will Cockerell an extra place just inches before the finishing funnel was reached and another to run way above expectations was Phil Carstairs who had great pleasure in pushing the “Skipper”, not having a happy run, back to 10th scoring position.
Ten men home in 39; a pleasing win and 64 points pulled back on our rivals. Another one like that after Christmas and the final race would promise to be exciting.
Senior and Junior Men
1, S.Haughian (Hounslow) 28.12; 2, Y.Yusuf (Belgrave) 28.16; 3, G.Staines (SLH) 28.17; 4, Y.Dinku 28.43; 5, R.Ashe (n/s) 28.47; 10, L.Hurst 29.24; 11, P.Freary 29.25; 14, R.Ward (U20 n/s) 29.46; 21, R.McHarg 30.18; 25, W.Cockerell 30.29; 28, J.Wolf 30.46; 29, K.Hegvold (n/s) 30.49; 31, R.Hayman 30.52; 34, M.Nicholls (n/s) 30.58; 40, P.Carstairs (M40) 31.18; 42, R.Alsop 31.24; 63, E.Lemenager 32.24; 72, M.Kazimierski 32.48; 77, M.Webb 32.58; 79, B.Barton 33.06; 83, P.Smoothie 33.13; 91, W.Lynch 33.43; 94, S.Connor 34.00; 104, A.Jowett 34.32; 121, A.Cowmeadow 35.33; 129, J.Mather (M45) 36.08; 134, J.Skilbeck-Nelson (U17) 36.46; 158, R.Bale (M50) 42.05; 162 finished.
Teams: 1, Belgrave H 195 (2nd in league); 2, Thames H&H 259 (1st); 3, South London H 278 (3rd); 4, Herne Hill H 303 (4th); 5, Aldershot F&D 479 (5th); 6, Ranelagh H 571 (6th); 7, West 4 H 585 (7th); 8, Borough of Hounslow 660 (8th); 9, Croydon H 765 (9th)
Under 17 Men and Under 15 Boys.
1, T.Russell (U17 Hounslow) 16.30; 9, J.Kirton (U15) 18.01; 13, P.Cowling (U15) 18.49; 16, R.Collier (U15) 20.18; 17, R.Gemmill (U15) 21.18; 18, J.Macrae (U15) 21.47.
Teams: 1, Croydon H 36; 2, Belgrave H 73; 3, Borough of Hounslow 88; 4, Ranelagh 106; 5, South London H 114; 6 Herne Hill H 138.
Under 13 Boys
1, P.Humphrey (SLH) 18:18; 5, J.Colman 19:59; 6, S.Chalkly 20:36.
Teams: 1, Croydon H 47; 2, Belgrave H 95; 3, Herne Hill H 100; 4, South London H 113; 5, Borough of Hounslow 120.
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Thin on the ground
11 November 2000, South of Thames “Junior” 5 miles Cross-Country, Lloyd Park.
On a day of cold rain with the wind battering the runners and turning the spectators’ umbrellas inside out we were not sure that we’d be able to turn out four men to make up a team but not only did we achieve that, we ended up not so far off the medals. Policeman Rob Harding turned up in spite of being “on nights” and Jerome Curtat, now living in Paris but on a flying visit to London to see his brother, had thoughtfully brought his kit with him.
South London’s Stuart Major was in a class apart and took an early lead which rapidly grew until he was lost to sight by the main field. Our own Joachim Wolf led the Belgrave line-up and after a mile or so he was placing 4th with Rob leading the rest of the team in the early 20s. With the exception of Warren Lynch, however, the conditions took their toll on our lads over the second circuit with Joachim encountering stomach problems and Rob and Jerome drifting back somewhat. Long distance man Warren seemed to revel in the circumstances. The further the race went, the stronger he looked. Another couple of laps would have suited him fine and we relished the thought of seeing how he would tackle 9 miles of Parliament Hill mud in January!
1, S.Major (South London H) 28:45; 2, M.Boyle (Herne Hill H) 30:21; 3, J.Headley (Kent AC) 30:36 … 7, J.Wolf 31:04; 15, W.Lynch 32:50; 25, R.Harding 33:43; 36, J.Curtat 34:37; 92, H.Corbett 38:09; 133 finished.
Teams: 1, Kent AC 32; 2, South London H 54; 3, Herne Hill H 65; 4, Belgrave H 83; 25 teams closed in.
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Back to the engravers!
04 November 2000, Reigate Priory Men’s 6 x 2.5 miles & Women’s 3 x 2.5 miles CC Relays, Priory Park, Reigate.
A sunny day in Reigate’s Priory Park was a welcome change from the recent stormy weather. Three full Belgrave teams were in action and the Belles set the ball rolling in the first race where Tania Sturton clocked the fastest Belgrave time on the initial stage. Her 9th place was maintained by Debbie Hearn and Syreeta Stracey to the finish.
As last year’s champions our men had returned the winners’ shield, freshly engraved, but were not too certain about being able to take it home again, especially when three of the A squad became unavailable at the last minute as a result of niggling injuries, etc. Kevin Quinn was desperate to run but knee pains meant that there was a strong possibility of him having to “shut off” power during the race – so down to the Bs he went. Our A squad contained not one of the six who ran so well in the previous week’s National Road Relay and, moreover, only one man from the previous year’s winning Priory team.
South London’s Robbie James took the initiative on stage one and built up a huge lead over Brighton & Hove who were being chased by two Belgrave men who were racing neck and neck to get into the top three. Eighteen year-old Frenchman Fabien Bernard-Gaudin, still without first team eligibility, led around the park and into the straight but Joachim Wolf had no intention of leaving things that way and closed him down to squeeze the A team ahead by inches at the takeover.
SLH’s challenge faded on stage two as the red vested Brighton men took control. Our own Najibe Hliouat, running more consistently and getting better very time out, worked hard and moved into second but the order changed again on stage three when Boxhill’s Paul Hayward not surprisingly got the better of Cap’n Roger, just back from honeymooning in Australia.
Brighton were 28 seconds ahead of the Bels. going into the second half of the race and with ‘super vet’ Nigel Gates their next man, no doubt were hoping to increase that margin. But Kevin Nash, our sole survivor from the team of ’99 had other ideas. It had been another week of 100 miles for ‘Gnasher’ but it didn’t seem to slow him any and while Gates pulled Brighton further away from the main body of the field our boy closed in on him until the gap was just 13 seconds with two laps remaining.
With the next team, Boxhill, now nearly two minutes behind, Will “Billy the Kid” Cockerell showed great confidence by moving up and forging a small lead. Back came the Brighton man during the desperate descent down that treacherous gully but Will opened up again and stormed the final part of the lap to give Andy Brown a 10 second advantage.
Now, with a raft of 1:50-1:51 800s under his belt, no-one doubted Andy’s ability to deliver a winning kick should the situation arise but we were rather hoping that it wouldn’t get that close. In fact it didn’t. Two and a half miles is somewhat further than our man is used to racing he was able to increase our lead by a further 8 seconds by the finish. Dave Taylor obliterated the day’s previous best times with a charge that took Herne Hill from 5th to 3rd but on this occasion we were far enough away to avoid even feeling the draught.
Back to the engravers again!
Men’s results
Teams: 1, Belgrave H 84:39; 2, Brighton & Hove 84:57; 3, Herne Hill H 85:10; 6, Belgrave ‘B’ 92:28. 34 teams started; 30 teams finished.
Fastest: D.Taylor (Herne Hill H) 12:43; P.Hayward (Boxhill R) 13:21; K.Nash (Belgrave H) 13:22.
Belgrave runners:
A Team – 1, J.Wolf (3) 13:59; 2, N.Hliouat (2) 14:12; 3, R.Alsop (3) 14:19; 4, K.Nash (2) 13:22; 5, W.Cockerell (1) 13:59; 6, A.Brown (1) 14:48.
B Team – 1, F.Bernard-Gaudin (4) 13:59; 2, K.Quinn (4) 14:25; 3, S.Connor (6) 15:23; 4, A.Barden (6) 15:41; 5, D.Anderson (6) 16:41; 6, J.Skilbeck-Nelson (6) 16:19.
C Team – 1, A.Jowett (16) 15:45.
Women’s results
Teams: 1, Arena 80 52:09; 2, Arena 80 B 52:17; 3, South London H 52:39; 9, Belgrave H55.46; 25 teams started; 23 teams finished.
Fastest: C.Hoyte (Arena 80) 16:01; L.Williams (Arena 80) 16:37; A.Best (Crawley) 16:58
Belgrave runners: 1, T.Sturton (9) 18.00; 2, D.Hearn (9) 19.33; 3, S.Stracey (9) 18.13.
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Surely those National Medals are going to come soon!
28 October, National 6 x 5.5 kms Road Relay Sutton Park, Sutton Coldfield
On a day when Sutton Park was blasted with tree splitting winds and driving rain we overcame a disastrous start to get up to 6th – one minute and one second away from bronze – and hang on to our unofficial title of leading Southern Club – just! Drifts of sodden autumn leaves were plastered to the roadway to make the footing treacherous and in these conditions, with winds gusting to 60 mph and the linked metal railings along the course getting bowled over, individual times meant very little when compared to those of earlier years. Stages two and three probably had to face the worst of it but generally it was felt that the circumstances added around 30 seconds to what would normally be expected. The Belgrave FILA tent made its debut and what a good job it did even if, during the post race tea and cake ritual, the whole team had to hold on to the roof to stop the claret and gold pavilion taking off and heading for Lichfield.
With just 30 minutes left before the start and the team manager taking initial steps in a team reshuffle, our two first leg runners arrived, having been held up on the motorway due to the conditions. Jason Lobo had been suffering from a cold the previous week in Ireland but he had run so well there on the opening leg that we felt sure he would give us the start we needed. Poor old Jason! Everything conspired to hit him at once – the late arrival, the head cold, the previous weekend’s two races … After staying in the bunch for the first half of stage one where he was only 6 seconds off the lead, he then found himself running into big trouble and had to suffer the indignity of streams of runners overtaking him as he grimly made his way to the finish. “If it hadn’t been a relay I would have dropped out,” was his comment after he’d sent Charles Herrington on his way. An opening 39th place was not what we were looking for in our bid to get near the medals.
Charlie is working back to full fitness after the stress fracture that kept him out of action for half of the summer. Not only did he pull back seven teams and duck under 18 minutes – no mean achievement on this day – he also moved up on a whole posse of runners ahead of him to give Lee Hurst the task of picking them off. Back after a break from running, Lee duly obliged and although not happy with his time, a final position at least near to the top ten began to look possible.
One man who is in much better shape than the same time last year is Spencer Barden. Taking things steadily up the hill he then used the wind to its full advantage and blasted through the field before taking another “easy” spell and then turning it on again for the finish. Result: equal 6th fastest of the day and a time more than ten seconds faster than 1999. The rest of our guys who ran last year were between 30 and 60 seconds slower! It was a perfect run for Spenny. We had planned that he might pull us into 3rd spot at this point – and had all other things been equal he may well have done it.
Yacin Yusuf followed up by taking another five places and for the first time we went into the top ten and overtook our local rivals Thames Hare & Hounds right on the line with one stage remaining. How the slightly built Yacin managed to keep going in the gale is a marvel. It was all up to Alaster Stewart now and he didn’t disappoint with one of his best ever runs around the circuit. Two more teams fell to his stride and with a thumbs up sign as he passed our supporters at the tent in the finishing straight he, and we, were delighted with our final position.
So, time to reflect: the autumn road relays were over and we had progressed well. Second best in Surrey, 4th best in the Southern with the Surrey victors behind us, 6th best in the country with every one of the Southern clubs behind us.
Teams: 1, Morpeth H 1:44:14; 2, Tipton H 1:44:21; 3, Birchfield H 1:46:35; 4, Binglry H 1:47:08; 5, Salford H 1:47:28; 6, Belgrave H 1:47:36.
Fastest: 1, M.Hudspith (Morpeth) 16:42; 2, I.Hudspith (Morpeth) 16:47; 3, R.Whalley (City of Stoke) 16:49; 4, M.Palmer (Westbury) 16:56; 5, N.Jones (Tipton) 16:59; =6, S.Barden (Belgrave H) and C.Davies (Telford) 17:03.
Belgrave Runners: J.Lobo (39th) 18:34; C.Herrington (32nd) 17:57; L.Hurst (24th) 18:29; S.Barden (13th) 17:03; 5, Y.Yusuf (8th) 17:40; A.Stewart (6th) 18:03.
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22 October 2000, Lisburn AC 5 km races, Lisburn, Northern Ireland.
Dash for the cash
The top runners from the previous day’s relay were all invited to take part in the Invitation 5 kms. After sizing up the opposition (mostly Belgrave) Morgan made a pretty shrewd move by opting instead for the open race and he proved too much of a handful for our own Kevin Nash who nevertheless ran a good race with a powerful finish to gain second.
The invitation event bore a striking resemblance to an old fashioned Belgrave club championship with all six of our relay runners in the small line-up. The weather was by now cold, gusty and rainy as Yacin Yusuf, the smallest man in the field, took the pack off the highway and into the park. Nothing changed really until the last of the four circuits when Spencer took off like a scalded cat in his dash for the cash. Yacin held up well to stay ahead of the rest as Belgrave runners took the bulk of the prizes.
Open Race: 1, M.Morgan (Finn Valley AC) 15:01; 2, K.Nash (Belgrave) 15:11; 3, A.McCullough (N.Belfast).
Invitation Race: 1, S.Barden (Belgrave) 14:40; 2, Y.Yusuf 14:51; 3, G.McClernon (Willowfield) 14:53; 4, P.Freary 15:01; 7, A.Stewart 15:17; 8, J.Lobo 15:22; 9, R.McHarg 15:24.
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Irish eyes were not the only ones smiling when the winning Belgrave team collected their prizes at Wallace Park, Lisburn. Rob McHarg, Paul Freary, Alaster Stewart, Yacin Yusuf (crouching), Jason Lobo and Spencer Barden enjoy being Irish Road Relay Champions. Photo by Leo Coy.
Road relay runners strike a winning note
21 October 2000, Lisburn AC’s 6 x 3.3 kms Road Relay inc. Irish Champs., Lisburn, Northern Ireland.
This was the 40th running of Lisburn AC’s relay and the local club’s organiser Glen Grant had managed to persuade FILA and the Lisburn Borough Council to sponsor the event and turn it into something really special. Teams were invited from the Republic of Ireland, Scotland, England and Wales and the event also incorporated the Athletic Association of Ireland’s Championship. The men’s relay was just one event on a two day program that featured 13 races and the total prize money available was no less than £10,000. Above all the organisation by Glen and his friendly crew was superb; our thanks to them for terrific weekend.
When our team gathered in the hotel lounge the evening before the relay there was much deliberation regarding the running order, additionally complicated by the fact that Messrs. Lobo and Freary had turned up with colds. In the end the consensus was that we would turn out our men in order of increasing strength. With that matter resolved, minds then turned to the prediction of individual and team times and after the runners turned in for the night it soon became noticeable that those whose cerebral machinery had been most thoroughly lubricated with Guinness came up with the fastest clockings! All seemed pretty certain that we would win.
Saturday afternoon and a superb autumn day with the bluest of skies saw 21 teams set out around Lisburn’s Wallace Park. Each stage took in three circuits of a 1.1 km course which could easily be bisected by the fitter spectators. Among unfamiliar team colours Jason Lobo’s claret and
gold vest was immediately identified as he followed early leader Fisher of Willowfield. Clonliffe’s Noel Cullen burst ahead on the second circuit but Jason, whose job was to bring us home in the top half dozen, was settled into the chasing bunch and far from a simple top six place, handed over to Rob McHarg in 2nd with a time that stood up as our fastest until the final stage.
Clonliffe now increased their lead. They had turned in two of the day’s quickest times but Finn Valley also came into contention thanks to a fine run by the tough Mark Morgan who battled past our own Rob.
Yet another hot run came from Clonliffe on stage 3. Finn Valley dropped back down the field behind a rock steady Alaster Stewart, only for North Belfast to scoot past and gain 2nd, 10 seconds behind the leaders. The Bels. were now 22 seconds off the pace while Scotland’s Cambuslang Harriers had moved up to 4th, just 6 seconds further adrift.
Fireworks! Throwing aside his pre-race plan to increase pace on each circuit, Paul Freary set about the men in front by clocking our two fastest lap splits to that point and then hanging on for dear life. Belgrave moved ahead for the first time but Paul’s final tour of the park was painful as he followed those two 3:10 splits with a 3:27 - our slowest of the day! He’d done the damage though and with four stages gone the Bels had 4 seconds in hand over Clonliffe and 5 seconds over North Belfast - and what a finish we had to come!
A smoothly running Yacin Yusuf opened the lead up to 28 seconds on his stint and with Spencer Barden running the fastest of the day, our advantage was over one and a quarter minutes by the time Spen raised his arms aloft at the race end. Regular winners of this event, Annandale Striders, came into the picture for the first time to get second and win the Irish Championship but the Maxwell Cup was now destined to bear a new name for the first time - Belgrave Harriers!
Teams: 1, Belgrave H 58:06; 2, Annandale Striders 59:25; 3, North Belfast AC 59:29.
Fastest: 1, S.Barden (Belgrave) 9:20; 2, J.Ferrin (N.Belfast) 9:27; 3, N.Cullen (Clonliffe) 9:34 .
Belgrave Runners: J.Lobo (2nd) 9:40; R.McHarg (3rd) 9:51; A.Stewart (3rd) 9:48; P.Freary (1st) 9:47; Y.Yusuf (1st) 9:40; S.Barden (1st) 9:20.
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Weston & Collier in good form
14 October 2000, Women's Surrey CC League Race 1, Tilford,
Forceful running came from Rachel Weston who led home the “Belles” at Tilford. Both Tania Sturton and Syreeta Stracey backed up well and as a result the team came home 5th – considerably better than last year’s initial position of 8th. Short of runners for the best of reasons – marriage and pregnancy – we may still find that we can emulate last winter’s final position of 4th in the league.
Louise Collier was outstanding in the under 13 event. It was the shortest race of the day but her winning margin of 47 seconds was the largest in all of the races. What a shame that young Lizzy Hodges was unable to run through illness. In nearly every race this summer past Lizzy has been just those few seconds behind Louise and the pair of them could form the basis of a really powerful team in the next few years.
Senior Women
1, D.Lea (Thames HH) 20:06; 2, C.Pauzers (Herne Hill, W35) 20:13; 3, C.Evans (South London) 20:29; 7, R.Weston 21:02; 21, T.Sturton 23:00; 30, S.Stracey 23:27; 42 D.Hearn 24:49; 43 K.Dillane 25:08; 64, C.Eastham 27:19; 69, N.Mills 28:13.
Team: 1, South London 45; 2, Herne Hill 60; 3, Thames Hare & Hounds 115; 4, Ranelagh 117; 5, Belgrave 127; 6, Woking 131; 7, West 4 154; 8, Holland Sports 159; 9, Epsom & Ewell 203; 10, Dulwich Runners 233.
Under 13
1 L Collier (Belgrave) 12:37; 20 K.Burns 15:12.
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Up and coming runners make their mark
14 October 2000, Men's Surrey CC League Race 1, Brockwell Park
Admittedly we had already decided that this winter our priority races were to be the Southern and National Relays and Cross Country Championships and that we wouldn't let efforts to retain the league divert us from these races, but at the last minute the team manager was frantically trying to round up some extra men when it appeared that we were going to be much shorter of runners than previously anticipated. As it happened we didn’t do so badly although Thames Hare & Hounds grabbed a lead which will be very difficult to pull back.
Herne Hill’s ever-present Dave Taylor, individual winner last winter, soon showed his intentions by opening up a lead which stretched to nearly a minute by the finish. For the Bels, after one lap, Yacin Yusuf and Paul Freary were handily placed at the front of the chasing pack with a whole bunch of claret and gold vests around the 20s. A revitalised South London Harriers were being led by their Captain Stuart Major but it was already clear that Thames were the team in charge.
Going out again Major seemed to be getting the better of Freary and Yusuf who were battling with SLH’s James and Sykes with the leading Thames men also in close order. Soon, however, an ill-looking Yacin seemed to be drifting back and half a mile from the finish paid the penalty for partaking of a pre-race tuna and sweet corn sandwich – and pulled out.
Up the penultimate hill Paul Freary gained enormously and as they turned a to drop down again the Belgrave man eased right up to Major’s shoulder and seemed to be biding his time before striking out for second place but 200 metres later it was the figure in the SLH vest that had broken away by 15 metres with two more of his club mates lining themselves up for an attack on our Vice-Captain.
Now up that final drag to the finish and as white vests gained on Paul, so he gained on Stuart Major – and took him within a few metres of the finish line.
New member Fabien Bernard-Gaudin, only 18 years old, had a terrific run to gain 13th place but as an unregistered athlete could not score for us. This young Frenchman is studying at Westminster College and will be in London for a couple of years. Not far behind came Richard Hayman running his best ever race and at only a few days past his 21st birthday another great prospect.
Will Cockerell raised his game to a new level. Last winter he was the only man who scored in all four league races – usually coming home in the late 30s – and here he was on the verge of getting into the teens. A big effort came from Joachim Wolf, finishing within two seconds of training partner Rob McHarg, and outstanding efforts weren’t restricted to the scoring ten either as Adrian Jowett ran like a man possessed to put four Belgravians behind him.
It was good to see seven young Belgrave Harriers in action with Gary Mabbutt leading our young team home. Both our under 17 and under 13 teams equalled the seniors' position of 3rd.
Senior Men
1, D.Taylor (HHH) 23:55; 2, P.Freary (Belgrave) 24:53; 3, S.Major (SLH) 24:55; 13, F.Bernard-Gaudin (n/s U20) 25:28; 18, R.Hayman 25:43; 21, W.Cockerell 25:56; 22, R.McHarg 25:59; 23, J.Wolf 26:01; 30, N.Hliouat 26:21; 32, A.Stewart 26:31; 41, C.Dickinson 26:58; 63, M.Kazimierski 27:54; 65, B.Peeters (n/s) 28:04; 69, P.Carstairs 28:16; 78, J.Rogers 28:34; 91, A.Jowett 29:09; 93, W.Lynch 29:22; 94, S.Connor 29:22; 95, A.Luce 29:24; 107, A.Cowmeadow 30:35; 133 finished.
Teams: 1, Thames H&H 190; 2, South London H 301; 3, Belgrave 303; 4, Herne Hill H 362; 5, Ranelagh H 438; 6, Aldershot F&D 468; 7, West 4 H 617; 8, Borough of Hounslow 666; 9, Croydon H 750.
Under 17 Men and Under 15 Boys
1, T.Haughian (Borough of Hounslow) 13:50; 6, G.Mabbutt (U15) 14:21; 11, J.Kirton (U15) 15:26; 13, E.Rimdap (U15) 15:46; 15, P.Cowling (U15) 15:56; 17, R.Collier 18:49.
Teams: 1, Borough of Hounslow 47.5; 2, Croydon H 55; 3, Belgrave H 62.
Under 13 Boys
1, D.Humphrey (South London H) 15:23; 6, J.Coleman 17:26; 11, P.Mabbutt 18:56.
Teams: 1, Croydon H 38; 2, Herne Hill H 78; 3, Belgrave H 104.
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Upward trend continues
30 September 2000, Rushmoor Arena nr. Aldershot, South of England 6 Stage Road Relay
The upward trend in our running fortunes continued at Rushmoor Arena, near Aldershot, when the club managed to finish three teams in the South of England AA 6-Stage Road Relay Championship and claim our best ever team performance in the event. And while the ‘A’ squad were just out of the medals, the Bels. second team made their presence felt by being the first ‘B’ team home in 14th – a position that our first team have only ever beaten once before. With a third team mostly made up of new members and two-thirds of a ‘D’ team also in action, the future is beginning to look distinctly exciting.
Borough of Hounslow AC were back in force for the event, going to the lengths of wearing t-shirts bearing the legend “The Boys Are Back In Town”, dying their hair in club colours of blue and white and wearing face paints of the same hue. They just had to win dressed like that and from Sam Haughian’s initial leg, apart from a 'blip' on stage two, they just went further and further away. Behind them the order chopped and changed until the Thames boys surprised by forcefully claiming 2nd on stage four with the always-strong Aldershot team moving into 3rd at the same point. The Bels. gradually saw off the challenges of London Irish, Blackheath, Cornwall, Southampton Runners and South London and 4th place at the end was about what we expected.
Charles Herrington set the race up nicely by placing 7th on the opening stage among teams that were mostly never going to go the whole distance at that level but the rest of the team, although occupying the race positions we were expecting, were all about 20 seconds down on predicted times. All have a lot more fitness to find yet – which is no bad thing at this stage of the season; we have a long way to go.
Rob McHarg ran himself into the ‘six’ that will compete for Belgrave in the Irish Road Relay Championships in three weeks time and two who impressed greatly in the ‘C’ team were the French U20 steeplechaser Fabien Bernard-Gaudin and Norwegian Knut Hegvold.
Teams: 1, Borough of Hounslow 1:50:39; 2, Thames Hare & Hounds 1:51:59, 3, Aldershot F&D 1:52:26; 4, Belgrave ‘A’ 1:53:43; 5, London Irish 1:54:34; dq, Southampton Runners 1:55:04; 6, Shaftesbury Barnet 1:55:15; 7 Bedford & County 1:55:24; 8, Blackheath 1:55:28; 9, South London 1:56:15; … 14, Belgrave ‘B’ 1:57:48; 31, Belgrave ‘C’ 2:02:55; 66 teams finished.
Fastest: D.Taylor (Blackheath) 17:41; M.O'Dowd (Swindon) 17:50; 3, C.Thompson (Aldershot F&D) 17:50; 4, B.Whitby (Boro' Hounslow) 17:51.
‘A’ Team : C.Herrington (7) 18:25 ; R.Alsop (10) 19:26 ; Y.Yusuf (6) 18:49 ; R.McHarg (6) 19:15 ; P.Freary (5) 18:47 ; A.Hutchinson (4) 19:01 .
‘B’ Team : N.Hliouat 20:02 ; K.Nash 19:30 ; K.Quinn 19:36 ; J.Wolf 19:51 ; R.Hayman 19:38 ; W.Cockerell 19:35 .
‘C’ Team : P.Carstairs 20:28 ; F.Bernard-Gaudin 19:30 ; M.Byansi 20:26 ; B.Peeters 20:23 ; K.Hegvold 19:37 ; W.Lynch 22:31 .
‘D’ Team : E.Lemenager 20:45 ; J.Mather 23:11 ; D.Anderson 22:03; A.Jowett 23:33.
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Solid Surrey Silver
09 September 2000, Wimbledon Park, Surrey County AA 6 x 3 miles Road Relay
You couldn’t ask much more for the start of the “winter” season – twenty senior runners, a veterans team, a nice crowd of spectators and a general feeling that good times lie ahead. Well, alright, a win would have been nice, but all credit to a South London Harriers outfit that turned out their strongest team to carry the day. The Bels. broke the old course record – but SLH had already scorched home over 2 minutes ahead.
Several of Belgrave’s Surrey team were in far from the best of shape, Roger Alsop and Alaster Stewart just about overcoming injury, Yacin Yusuf only recently returning to running after sickness and Graham Adams and Jim Estall both having had low key summers and it was a similar story among the non-Surrey men where even Paul Freary has a fair amount of fitness to reclaim – even though he only just missed Alsop’s Belgrave best of 14:23 from 1999.
Cap’n Rog. enjoyed the first event of his stag weekend, going some 15 seconds faster than anticipated to bring the Bels home to 3rd on stage 1, while Rich. Hayman was only 10 seconds behind for the ‘B’s. Meanwhile South London had grabbed a lead they were never to relinquish and Reigate Priory were in second.
Twentyone year-old Kevin Quinn was in sparkling form on stage 2 to chop a minute off his best time round the course (he has recently recorded personal records of 1:56 and 3:59 on the track). Steve Clarke for the ‘B’s went past him up the hill but Kev was in no mood to give way and came back at his club mate once at the top. Steve’s time was Belgrave’s second fastest of the day but both runners had to give way to Herne Hill’s Boyle.
Stage 3 and an out of condition Yacin Yusuf pulled the Bels back to 2nd while Rob McHarg advanced the ‘B’ team’s cause by going into 3rd. Up front Gary Staines set the day’s fastest. It was good to see “Gerry” Adams back in the team with a solid run but Joachim Wolf took 2 seconds out of him to put the non-Surrey men just 7 seconds down.
Veteran Jim Estall gained a little ground on the leaders on the penultimate stage and handed over to Alaster Stewart whose run was another good effort after an injury-plagued summer. An unfit Simon Elliott struggled for the ‘B’s on stage 5 and Herne Hill moved into third. Paul Freary set the fastest Belgrave time of the day to try to get the ‘B’ squad back into the frame and although he caught up two whole minutes, he ran out of road with a seven second gap remaining.
Now for three weeks of solid work before tackling the SEAA 6-Stage at Aldershot on September 30th.
Senior Men: 1, South London H 87:11; 2, Belgrave ‘A’ 89:17; 3, Herne Hill 91:38; 4, Belgrave ‘B’ 91:45; 5 Boxhill R 93:53; 6, Thames H&H 96:53; 12, Belgrave ‘C’ 17:19; 20 teams started, 16 teams finished.
Fastest: G.Staines (South London) 14:09; M.Boyle (Herne Hill) & S.Major (South London) 14:14; P.McTigue (South London) 14:21; 5, P.Freary 14:24; 6, R.James (South London) 14:25.
Veteran (M40) Men: 1, South London H 63:15; 2, Thames H&H 15:47; 3, Hercules Wimbledon 65:39; 7, Belgrave 74:15.
Fastest: G.Jerwood (Herne Hill) 15:07.
Belgrave Teams:
‘A’ (Surrey) - R.Alsop 14:44; K.Quinn 14:42; Y.Yusuf 14:47; G.Adams 15:10; J.Estall (M45) 14:58; A.Stewart 14:56.
‘B’ - R.Hayman 14:54; S.Clarke 14:38; R.McHarg 14:50; J.Wolf 15:08; S. Elliott 17:51; P.Freary 14:24.
‘C’ - W.Lynch 16:47; J.Skilbeck-Nelson 17:30; M.Webb 15:49; W.Horbaczewski (M40) 19:05; B.Peeters 16:02; D.Anderson (M40) 17:19.
‘D’ - R.Harding 16:15; P.Coughlan 17:02.
Veterans - J.Mather 17:16; A.Binda 16:22; R.Bale 20:07; J.Wasbrough 21:30.
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Belgrave Nonsuch 4 x 2.2 miles relay
06 July 2000, Nonsuch Park
For the fourth consecutive year Belgrave notched up a win in this annual jaunt around Nonsuch Park near Cheam in Surrey - and for good measure the Bels. also won the prizes for the top veteran team.
International distance star Dave Taylor of Herne Hill led the field from the start and was 25 seconds ahead of Belgrave's Junior Galley at the first takeover. Junior confessed to having "not done a lot in training recently" but his clocking was the eighth fastest ever around the course with those seven faster times being shared by only four men. Junior's reward was a 3000 metre steeplechase spot in the following Saturday's British League team. Taylor's time was a super 10:15 and he turned out again for Herne Hill on the last stage to run another scorcher - 10:18.
On stage two Kevin Quinn reduced his best ever by 9 seconds to take the lead from the men in Red & Black and the lead was extended further by an unfit Alaster Stewart to give anchor man Will Cockerell a huge advantage. The team time was the second fastest ever.
The race was sponsored by Bill Law's company Encomech Ltd. and organised by Dave Denton. Bill is Belgrave's joint British League Team Manager.
1, Belgrave H 43:33 (J.Galley 10:40, K.Quinn 10:46, A.Stewart 10:58, W.Cockerell 11:10); 2, Guildford & Godalming 46:12; 3, Herne Hill H 47:48; ... 8, Belgrave H Veterans 49:51 (H.Corbett 13:15, A.Binda 12:00; J.Mather 12:40; D.Anderson 11:56); 46 teams finished.
Restored from the club's earlier website, belgraveharriers.com, and published here as originally written.