SEAA Men's 12-Stage Road Relay, Milton Keynes

Bels on their toes - a fifth consecutive SEAA 12-Stage win

Is there anything more exciting than a 12-Stage road relay? Well, possibly, when one's favourite team have a nigh-on seven minute advantage. Maybe watching Milton Keynes' fabled concrete cows at their grazing would run it close! But get one thing straight, don't expect it to be like this at Sutton Park in less than two weeks time.

Don't know what it was ... runners off to Japan for the World Cross, runners in Algiers for the World Students' Cross, runners in Melbourne for the Commonwealth Games ... maybe it's because it was Mother's Day ... but whatever, a quarter of an hour before start time few people seemed to be about. In the end 42 teams made the complete journey - eight fewer than last year. The Bels were well up to par with a final time our fourth best ever - but there was no pressure from the opposition on this occasion.

The weather was blustery, becoming colder and with rain beginning to fall as the race ended.

Stage 1

Undoubtedly very fit, Andrew Swearman, had a nightmare run on leg one. Recently back from three weeks training in Kenya he'd gone through 10k in 31 minutes the previous week in the AAA Half Marathon before pulling out, having overcooked it. No worries, a mere 5 miles at that pace would do us nicely - but Andy got a bit caught up in Keith Cullen's slipstream and Karl O'Connell, running for the Bs, was in before him, having run a more circumspect opening section. Karl's run was our fastest ever B long stage outside of Justin Chaston's 23:55 - the year he showed up on holiday from the USA, unannounced an un-entered.

1 K Cullen (Highgate) 23:32; 2 Kojo Kyreme (Shaftesbury B 24:18; 3 A Moses (Reigate P) 24:39; 16 K O'Connell (Belgrave 'B') 25:47; 20 A Swearman (Belgrave 'A') 26:08; 48 M Taylor M40 (Belgrave 'C') 30:30.

Stage 2

When Andy didn't show up in the top 10, Will's heart rate went up a notch or two; when the top 15 were home and a Belgrave vest hove into sight - Karl's - the Skipper's pulse went into overdrive; and by the time he was away in 20th spot and 2 minutes 36 seconds down on the lead, his vital organs were screaming - and he'd barely started.

An absolutely cracking run followed. Over half a minute came off his best time for the lap as nine teams fell to the Cockerpillar and the deficit was brought down to just over two minutes.

Eighteen year-old Joe van der Toorn is training like a demon in his quest for a 1:50 800 metres this summer but he took time out to reduce his best time by a similar margin.

1 Highgate H (0) 41:31; 2 Shaftesbury B (0) 42:09; 3 Herne H (+3) 42:39; 11 Belgrave 'A' (+9) 43:31; 16 Belgrave 'B' (0) 44:18; 45 Belgrave 'C' (+3) 50:26.

Fastest: 1 G Amos (City of Norwich) 17:11; 2 W Chinhanhu (Poole) 17:15; 3 W Cockerell ('A') 17:23; 22 J van der Toorn ('B') 18:31; 38 C Dickinson ('C') 19:56.

Stage 3

Highgate hung on to their lead on stage three while the ubiquitous Jermain Mays brought Kent AC up to within a quarter of a minute of the lead with the day's second fastest long stage. But while Jermain is well known on the roads and tracks of the South, the Bels wheeled out a new face to bring us to the quarter distance. A Welshman named Jones with the initial "S" and designs on the marathon has got to be worth watching - and true to his moniker, Simon Jones burnt tarmac to go under 25 minutes. He's just had two weeks out due to a leg problem - so expect a bit more in two weeks time.

Only a minute and a half adrift now - and the Bs were also steadily rising; into the top twenty now, thanks to a strong run from another would-be-marathoner - Tom Hadfield - with a 24-miler written into his training diary the previous day!

1 Highgate (0) 1:06:50; 2 Kent (+6) 1:07:16; 3 Shaftesbury B (-1) 1:07:48; 6 Belgrave 'A' (+5) 1:08:25; 16 Belgrave 'B' (0) 1:11:04; 46 Belgrave 'C' (-1) 1:20:52.

Fastest: 1 J Mays (Kent) 23:57; =2 D Deed (Bedford &C) & P Sly (Thames H&H) 24:13; 4 S Jones ('A') 24:54; 19 T Hadfield ('B') 26:46; 45 C Smith ('C') 30:26.

Stage 4

Pete Willis had tried everything to ensure that he got an A team berth, trying to run away from Will in the National Cross, running a tough 5 miler the previous weekend in an attempt to impress - and he got his wish. After all this, imagine our joy, then, at seeing Pete clawing his way up the finish slope in 3rd place, having given absolutely everything! He was very hard on himself afterwards, having hoped to have run 15 or 20 seconds faster; but a timely reminder that the game is actually about trying to win the race and that he'd made a vast contribution to bring us up three more places to a position 47 seconds behind leaders made him feel better.

Jason Webb removed around 20 seconds from last year's time and was 15th fastest on the stage

1 Kent (+1) 1:25:22; 2 Highgate (-1) 1:25:38; 3 Belgrave 'A' (+3) 1:26:09; 17 Belgrave 'B' (-1) 1:29:46; 45 Belgrave 'C' (+1) 1:40:06.

Fastest: 1 S Hepples (Newham &EB) 16:33; 2 S Maxwell (Woodford GwEL) 17:24; 3 P Willis ('A') 17:44; 15 J Webb 18:42; 30 T Lines ('C') 19:54.

Stage 5

Another who's spent the winter injured was Hassan Raidi. Drafted into the dozen after a solid run at Eastleigh the previous week, Hassan has only had a few weeks of proper training behind him but nevertheless went well sub-25 to take us into a four second lead. Bedford's new signing Eddie Ernest-Jones - a Brit from the USA looking for a big marathon performance - was breathing down his neck and brought Tony Forrest's team up into the frame for the first time. With the Beagles slipping into third, the leading contenders were slotting into familiar roles.

Moving up to 16th, another marathoner, Warren Lynch, ran his fastest ever long stage on tired legs, having postponed his 30-miler until Monday. And what about Harry Corbett who took nearly three minutes from his previous best for the Cs.

1 Belgrave 'A' (+2) 1:50:57; 2 Bedford &C (+4) 1:51:01; 3 Newham &EB (+4) 1:51:55; 16 Belgrave 'B' (+1) 1:56:30; 44 Belgrave 'C' (+1) 2:12:02.

Fastest: 1 E Ernest-Jones (Bedford &C) 24:12; 2 H Raidi ('A') 24:48; 3 L Jones (Newham &EB) 25:03; 15 W Lynch ('B') 26:44; 46 H Corbett M45 ('C') 31:16.

Stage 6

With the Bels in front and some heavyweights to come, Stephen Sharp took on the role of chief "undertaker" and deftly went into action, knocking the first nail into the coffin-lid of this race. Clocking fastest short stage run of the day, Steve was hammering like a good-un until the end but was far from flat out, remembering that he had a race in Ireland coming up a few days later.

Last year's anchor man, Knut Hegvold, has been suffering from a foot injury, but it was great to see him on the road again, albeit around 40 seconds slower but picking up another position for the Bs.

1 Belgrave 'A' (0) 2:07:25; 2 Bedford &C (0) 2:09:06; 3 Newham &EB (0) 2:09:14; 15 Belgrave 'B' (+1) 2:14:50; 44 Belgrave 'C' (0) 2:34:20.

Fastest: 1 S Sharp ('A') 16:28; 2 T Snow (Woodford GwEL) 16:52; 3 L Cox (Aldershot F&D) 17:10; 11 K Hegvold M40 ('B') 18:20; 46 N Brown ('C') 22:18.

Stage 7

With a 1:41 advantage Tim Watson smoothly ran our third sub-25 long lap - his fastest ever. A period of training in South Africa has done our Royal Marine bandsman a power of good and a challenge from Newham's Kairn Stone had little effect. Wells City's Ben Tickner was fastest on the stage but could only bring the West Country men up from 10th to 7th.

1 Belgrave 'A' (0) 2:32:17; 2 Newham &EB (+1) 2:33:46; 3 Bedford &C (-1) 2:35:00; 16 Belgrave 'B' (-1) 2:43:30; 43 Belgrave 'C' (+1) 3:04:45.

Fastest: 1 B Tickner (Wells C) 24:15; 2 K Stone (Newham &EB) 24:32; 3 T Watson ('A') 24:52; 32 J Galley M40 ('B') 28:40; 40 R Poulter ('C') 30:25.

Stage 8

Seemingly a veteran of our relay teams, one has to remind one's self that Jonathan Blackledge is still only only 21. Another nail was driven home as Jonathan posted his third all-club all-time top 40 short stage clocking. Stephen Sharp might have the greatest National medal haul in history but if we can hold things together as a team, the "Kid" has a great chance of surpassing him one day.

And what a stage it was for short lap runs as Lee Greatorex ran his best ever for no less than 6th fastest on the stage. The Bs were an unprecedented 14th

1 Belgrave 'A' (0) 2:48:50; 2 Newham &EB (0) 2:52:15; 3 Bedford &C (0) 2:52:44; 14 Belgrave 'B' (+2) 3:01:52.

Fastest: 1 J Blackledge ('A') 16:33; 2 S Ablitt (Aldershot) 17:12; 3 S Herring (Bedford &C) 17:44; 6 L Greatorex ('B') 18:22.

Stage 9

In the form of his life, and having earned an under-23 international vest during the winter, Phil Wicks opened the lead up to a massive five minutes plus to become our fourth fastest ever on the long stage. Only legends Paul Evans, Marty Dent and Justin Chaston have beaten his 24:04.

But all this excitement was too much for the Team Manager who fell apart at this stage. Having given B runner Bruce Barton an incorrect number, Bruce correctly ignored the attempts of the marshals to send him on a short stage while poor Robert Norville, running for the Cs, should have run short stage 8 but ended up running the full monty; he didn't find out he was "going long" until half way round the lake! Sorry guys.

1 Belgrave 'A' (0) 3:12:54; 2 Bedford &C (+1) 3:18:13; 3 Kent (+2) 3:19:17; 15 Belgrave 'B' (-1) 3:30:33.

Fastest: 1 P Wicks ('A') 24:04; 2 N Pollock (Kent) 24:29; 3 J Ellis (Aldershot F&D) 25:27; 29 B Barton ('B') 28:41; R Norville ('C') 31:42.

Stage 10

With Paul Freary suffering from his previous week's Veterans' World Half Marathon victory, Tom Ellacott came into the team again. What a sub! His 18:00 was fourth fastest on the stage and the lead increased to getting on for six minutes.

1 Belgrave 'A' (0) 3:30:54; 2 Bedford &C (0) 3:36:15; 3 Aldershot F&D (+1) 3:36:45; 17 Belgrave 'B' (-2) 3:30:18.

Fastest: 1 M Ashton (Aldershot F&D) 16:34; 2 D Russell (Shaftesbury B) 17:53; 3 B Hope (Woodford GwEL) 17:54; 4 T Ellacott ('A') 18:00; 22 M Whiting ('B') 19:45.

Stage 11

The biggest task for Dave Anderson, setting out with a lead of well over a mile, was to work up enough excitement to give himself a "workout". With just under three months running under his belt since his return at the beginning of the year our Vice-Cap'n stormed the circuit to go fifth fastest Belgravian of all time, just a few ticks behind young Phil's effort. Heaven knows what he'll run around Sutton Park with another two weeks behind him.

A heavy fall out by the lake robbed Malachi Byansi of what probably would have been his best time.

1 Belgrave 'A' (0) 3:55:02; 2 Bedford &C (0) 4:01:49; 3 Aldershot F&D (0) 4:03:14; 15 Belgrave 'B' (+2) 4:17:28.

Fastest: 1 D Anderson ('A') 24:08; 2 A Morgan-Lee (Southampton R) 24:46; 3 K Murphy (Woodford GwEL) 25:14; 14 M Byansi ('B') 27:10.

Stage 12

A little excitement was generated on the final leg by Newham's Andy Robinson pulling back the Aldershot man to go into bronze medal position. Our own Wardy was on cruise control with Bedford's runner, in second, clocking an identical time and the winning margin remained a huge 6 minutes 47 seconds.

And still the Bs persisted. Mark Humphrey pushed to the end and their final placing of 14th would have made our A teams of the '90s very happy.

1 Belgrave (0) 4:12:38; 2 Bedford &C (0) 4:19:25; 3 Newham &EB (+1) 4:21:14; 14 Belgrave 'B' 4:36:13; 51 teams started; 42 teams finished.

Fastest: 1 A Robinson (Newham &EB) 16:44; 2 A Cross (Bedford &C) 17:36; 3 R Ward ('A') 17:36; 9 M Humphrey ('B') 18:45.

Fastest stages:

Short stage (5,506m): 1 S Sharp (Belgrave) 16:28; =2 J Blackledge (Belgrave) & S Hepples (Newham &EB) 16:33; 4 M Ashton (Aldershot F&D) 16:34; 5 A Robinson (Newham &EB) 16:44; 6 T Snow (Woodford GwEL) 16:52; 12 W Cockerell 17:23; 19 R Ward 17:36; 21 P Willis 17:44; 34 T Ellacott 18:00.

Long stages (7,978m): 1 K Cullen (Highgate) 23:32; 2 J Mays (Kent) 23:57; 3 P Wicks (Belgrave) 24:04; 4 D Anderson (Belgrave) 24:08; 5 E Ernest-Jones (Bedford &C) 24:12; =6 D Deed (Bedford &C) & P Sly (Thames H&H) 24:13; 17 H Raidi 24:48; 18 T Watson 24:52; 20 S Jones 24:54; 48 K O'Connell (Belgrave 'B') 25:47.

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