SEAA 12-Stage Road Relay, Milton Keynes

Bels take the honours at SEAA 12-Stage

Left: Phil Wicks, the new MK long stage
record holder (photo by Steve Wicks)

Below right: fastest short stage of the day
came from Dan Mulhare (photo by Leo Coy)

It being the last day of the financial year, the Bels took the opportunity to top up their bullion reserves, taking home twelve gold medals and the two fastest stage medals. Phil Wicks relieved legendary Highgate Harrier Keith Cullen of his long stage record, the B team qualified for the National event in two weeks time (they even won the spot team prize) and in winning the title for the seventh time in eight years the A team ran the second fastest overall time for the Milton Keynes hosted event. A successful day? Yes indeed; and it was a happy throng of Belgrave spectators and runners queuing four deep for tea and cakes at the tent afterwards.

Can we continue the winning habit at the National race in two weeks time? We certainly have a chance but Leeds City AC are on a hat-trick and will be very intent on achieving it. Several Midlands teams led by a resurgent Tipton Harriers will be eager to beat us … and from the South we cannot discount any of our rivals who will all surely be stronger in Sutton Park.

The start we wanted

It was back to the old full length course at Milton Keynes and Captain Sharp gave us the start we wanted, heading a small pack in third place behind a superb 23:39 by Windsor’s Ben Whitby. The B team needed to place in the top 25 by the end of the day if they wanted an outing at the National – and Knut Hegvold was right on the money, starting us off in … 25th.

It was first time into the A team for James Fairbourn on stage 2, pulled into the dozen when Hassan Raidi suffered a twisted ankle during the week. He wasn’t happy with his time but it was a pressure situation being shot at by fast rising teams and he gave way to only three while overtaking Winchester. Will Cockerell, deep into marathon training, celebrated his 199th race for Belgrave by holding on to fifth, losing out to City of Norwich who reached their zenith one place ahead of him while Basildon fell away. Windsor were now a minute and 36 up but were unlikely to be able to hold on for many more stages, while expected rivals Aldershot were a minute and a quarter ahead of us. Weakened (but never to be disregarded) Beagles and Bedford teams were in 7th and 9th half a minute in our wake. Pete Willis and Richard Stannard had each gained places for the Bs who were now 21st.

Aldershot went ahead on stage four but evergreen Mike Trees climbed a spot to fourth for the Bels. He was aiming at a 17 minute timing but had to give way a little on that target as he clocked a still very impressive 17:28. Shaftesbury Barnet climbed five places to third but the biggest riser was our own Hassan Raidi who had changed his mind about running the night before after trying his ankle out by winning the Regents Park 10k; he had accepted a slot in the Bs who were now 15th.

Big hitters

Now for the first of our big hitters in the middle order. Simon Jones soon pulled back Shaftesbury, whittled down the gap to Windsor, and coming back from the lakes moved the Bels into the lead, his 24:13 taking him into our top half dozen on the all-time list; great running and a boost after a couple of runs where he’d been looking for something special and hadn’t found it. A big rise too came for Bedford, without many of their stars but moving now into third.

A couple of days illness had followed Nick Goolab’s dnf at the World Cross Country Championships the previous week but he eased round the short lap in just over 17 minutes, increasing the lead over Aldershot who were now apparently well established in second – but Bedford had a trick up their sleeve on the next stage with Darren Deed who ran sixth fastest of the day to temporarily push AFD into third. And while Deed was hauling his club up the ranks, our own James Kelly was serenely cruising round and holding things rock solid at the front with second fastest time for the stage. Mal Byansi turned in a very useful leg for the Bs, building on the efforts of Landa Eguia and Matt Whiting, and now lurking in 17th.

Faster than anyone

What a pleasure it was to see Mark Pollard in full flow on stage eight. A full minute faster than anyone else on his leg our advantage was suddenly over two minutes and destined to stretch to an unbeatable margin on the next stage as Phil Wicks took over. Later claiming that he felt terrible and couldn’t believe how fast he’d run, Phil ran faster than anyone has ever run before on the Milton Keynes long leg, taking eight seconds off the record – a fabulous effort considering that he still felt the previous week’s 62:51 half marathon in his legs. There was no way that Aldershot were going to be caught for second now, thanks to a second best on the stage by Paul Rogers and with Andy Vernon still to come; but it was a bit more exciting for third where Woodford Green were just seven seconds down on Bedford.

Protecting a niggling calf problem Neil Speaight nevertheless improved our lead while the Bs were still holding things together in 20th thanks to Robert Norville, Ben Hurley and Dave Mason. Now, what could AFD’s Andy Vernon do on the last 8k leg of the day? Well, he certainly went for it, but it is doubtful that he ever saw more than a fleeting distant glimpse of our colours. Russell Dessaix-Chin was feeling under the weather and subsequently came down with a cold – so under these circumstances his 23:55 to equal Justin Chaston’s 4th best Belgrave time was truly outstanding. As for Vernon, there was no worry that he’d make substantial inroads into our lead, but what was his individual time, would it eclipse Phil’s new record? In fact, no; he was under the old mark but still four seconds adrift. Moumin Geele had also run a scorcher for the subdued Beagles but he couldn’t do more than cement fourth behind Woodford – and the final podium team positions had been set.

All wrapped up

All wrapped up for the Bels then but Dan Mulhare is not one to take things easy and was intent on securing a place in our National team. Was there ever any doubt? Anyway, he certainly made his point, ripping out a 16:27 timing that was fastest of the day.

It was time to relax and savour the moment – for some! Andrew Sentence was still out on the course for the Bs and he was followed by Mark Humphrey, once again entrusted with getting our second team home in a National qualifying position. No runner passed him, nor did he pass any. It was a lonely run but great was the support from the Belgrave faithful as he passed our tent on his way to the line – in 21st. Once again we will line up two squads in Sutton Park.

Many thanks to Don Anderson for driving the minibus and assisting with tent dismantling, Simon Jones and James Kelly for going beyond their running duties and collecting and delivering athletes, Pat Mead for catering and photographic work, Steve Wicks and Leo Coy for their photographs, and of course to all our loyal supporters who so enjoy these occasions.

1 Belgrave H 4:09:53; 2 Aldershot, Farnham & Dist. AC 4:13:47; 3 Woodford Green w Essex Ladies AC 4:17:28; Newham & Essex Beagles 4:17:52; 5 Bedford & County AC 4:20:35; 6 Herne Hill H 4:24:54; …21 Belgrave H ‘B’ 4:36:45; 46 teams started, 42 teams finished.

Belgrave ‘A’. S Sharp 24:45 (3); J Fairbourn (5) 18:07; W Cockerell (5) 25:43; M Trees M45 (4) 17:28; S Jones (1) 24:13; N Goolab U20 (1) 17:01; J Kelly (1) 25:13; M Pollard (1) 16:48; P Wicks (1) 23:08; N Speaight (1) 17:05; R Dessaix-Chin (1) 23:55; D Mulhare (1) 16:27.

Belgrave ‘B’. K Hegvold M45( 25) 26:47; P Willis (22) 18:09; R Stannard (21) 26:33; H Raidi (15) 17:18; L Eguia (17) 27:24; M Whiting (18) 19:06; M Byansi (17) 26:32; 8 R Norville (18) 20:02; B Hurley (19) 27:49; D Mason (20) 20:11; A Sentence (21) 27:44; M Humphrey (21) 19:10.

Belgrave ‘C’. P Marsh M55 (45) 31:35; C Smith (44) 20:37; W Lynch (43) 29:10; E Smith (44) 21:39; R Harding M40 (45) 33:58; C Dickinson M60 (44) 21:22.

Fastest short stages (5,506m): 1 D Mulhare (Belgrave) 16:27; 2 M Goose (City of Norwich) 16:31; 3 S Hepples (Newham &EB) 16:34; … 5 M Pollard 16:48; 9 N Goolab 17:01; 10 N Speaight 17:05.

Fastest long stages (7,978m): 1 P Wicks (Belgrave) 23:08 (record); 2 A Vernon (Aldershot F&D) 23:12; 3 M Geele (Newham &EB) 23:31; … 5 R Dessaix-Chin 23:55; 8 S Jones 24:13.

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