SEAA Men's 12-Stage Road Relay, Milton Keynes
Above: Young guns go for it. Phil Wicks (left) was fastest of the day on a long stage and Jonathan Blackledge (right) was fourth best on the short lap . Photos by Steve Wicks.
Bels lose an exciting SEAA 12-Stage race
Going into this race we knew we’d be short of a winning team. A “stag do”, house moving, marathon training, Scottish Relays, Irish Relays … you name it and all had combined to ensure quite a different look to our line-up. It was felt that it would be most unlikely that we’d continue our winning streak … maybe we wouldn’t medal at all. In reality it turned out to be one of the most exciting races we can remember as our super fast short-stagers interleaved with lesser-known long stage men who had gladly answered the call. We shifted some of our power runners forward with the idea of letting them run, as far as possible, the stages they wanted, giving them the chance of chasing runners without covering huge gaps - they responded with fastest laps of the day.
Shaftesbury Barnet Harriers were solid all the way through, taking the lead on the opening leg and holding it to the end – apart from stage ten when an audacious "Wardy" stole a break of half a minute. We were up and down the field like a yo-yo in the early part of the race until Phil Wicks put some distance between the Bels and their pursuers.
Each lap was 146 metres shorter than normal, due to building works in the regular takeover area. The Milton Keynes wind … well, we always say that it’s windy in this corner of the world but on this occasion it was something else. The net result was that even though the course was short, the times were more or less the same as normal.
Malachi Byansi - a revelation
Malachi Byansi’s progress over the last year has been a revelation. This man has been in our C teams at MK! A best of 26:30 in 2001 had been followed by a worst of 29:10 in 2004. Mal was delighted that a way into the A team opened up for him this time and his 24:53 to give us 9th at the end of the opening lap, instead of a predicted 15th-20th, was our first thrill of the day. Kojo Kyereme had grabbed a handy 5 seconds advantage over Dave Mitchison for the Beagles up at the front and we were just under a minute in arrears.
The intention had been for Shugri Omar to bring us up to around 10th on the first short stage but with that objective already achieved and with the competition on this leg weaker than normal, he took the Bels into 2nd spot and we were just 17 seconds off the pace. Pete Willis was another keen to show what he could do in the A squad – but where it all went right for Malachi, it all went wrong for Pete! Crossing the finish line a full minute later than he was expected, it was “pull off the vest and sit disconsolate on the kerb-side” time. The wind had killed him. But we’ve all been there and Pete will bounce back. For the Bs James Fairbourn deserves a special mention for his positive run.
Phil Wicks - an unbelievable 23:20
Funnily enough, our team position was exactly what we had expected with a quarter of the race over and, entering the fray somewhat earlier than normal, we had a little run of superstars lined up next to redress the balance. After a career at the shorter middle distances that has brought him runs in the 1:45 and 3:38 region, big Neil Speaight is moving up. A super 5 miler at Alsager has shown his potential and the spring road relays are a further stepping stone along his route to 5,000m races on the track.
Neil took out seven men ahead of him, failing to catch Wells City by only two seconds, but Shaftesbury still had a two minute advantage – what could "Wicksy" do about that. Plenty! Running for the north London club, Richard Willis is no slouch. It’s doubtful that he had any knowledge of what was going on behind him for he saw no opposition throughout his run – 7th fastest of the day – but Phil Wicks was stirring up a hurricane, halving that lead and setting a time of Cullen-esque proportions – 23:20 – unbelievable. And by the time Jonathan Blackledge had done a similar job on the following short leg, the Shaftesbury lead was down to just ten seconds at half distance.
Tom Ellacott now had the unenviable job of trying to hold our position. Although unable to keep close to Shaftesbury’s James Trapmore, the gap to third place, opened up by Jonathan to well over four minutes, was something that we felt we could defend to the end and Tom’s solid but lonely run was just what we needed.
"Sharpy" - fastest short stage
Now it was time for "Sharpy" to have a crack and, piling on the pressure, the gap came down to 23 seconds as Stephen ran what turned out to be the fastest short stage of the day – 16:13. Our fourth long stage debutant now made his entrance. Padraic Buckley’s athletics cv. shows that he’s run for Leevale AC in Ireland, Iona College in the USA and has even had a spell with Tipton Harriers. Padraic has come back to running after a lot of soccer – and are we glad he has! Initially he gained on the man ahead but on that infamous part of the long stage that has thrown our men before (Charlie Herrington, Alaster Stewart), he went off course, only to be brought back by the urgent shouts of our supporters. It was only a loss of five or six seconds but the impetus was lost and now they hit the wind. But it was good running from Padraic and there were only 48 seconds between Shaftesbury and the Bels. The Beagles were gradually securing third spot for themselves, although keeping an eye on Woodford Green in 4th and Bedford in 5th.
Into action now came Richard Ward with a mere three weeks of training behind him after another injury-enforced lay-off. Maybe he could narrow the gap a little … The team manager’s day dreaming was interrupted by a phone call from out on the course: “Richard Ward’s gone ahead … and the Shaftesbury man isn’t responding." This information was relayed to a nervous looking Skipper as he prepared to take on the graveyard shift yet again. … Another phone call: “We’re 20 seconds clear,” and before long "Wardy" was in sight and Will Cockerell was away in the lead … and half a minute had gone before Shaftesbury’s black and white stripes hove into view. Was this enough? Surely, after our thoughts of failing to get into the frame, we couldn’t win it?
Just two seconds in it
Orlando Edwards was three and a half minutes faster than our Will in the National Cross Country Championships and soon he was eating into the Belgrave advantage. Inevitably they came together and the Shaftesbury man pushed to go away – Will clung on. Will pressed on the pedal – but they still remained locked together. Edwards surged – and a little daylight opened. The gap became five, six seconds – but it wasn’t over, for as Shaftesbury’s leader swept around the final corner and into the take-over straight, a flash of a claret and gold was seen over his shoulder – Will was closing! Just two seconds in it after four hours of running.
A baptism of fire for Alex
Eighteen year-old Alex Bodin had been placed on last leg in the thought that the gaps would be massive by now whether we were 5th, 3rd or (dream on) the leaders. As both runners set out, Belgrave and Shaftesbury’s supporters joined in urgent conversation: “What’s your man gonna do?” “Well, he’s about 15 minutes for 5k but we don’t know how fit he is.”
Young Alex ran a mature leg. He must have been nervous but he handled the situation perfectly and ran a time exactly as predicted. A great job by him, then, but it was too big an "ask" on this occasion as the Shaftesbury man ran 28 seconds quicker. What a baptism of fire, though, and an experience that will stand him in good stead for decades to come.
Congratulations to Shaftesbury
Congratulations to Shaftesbury Barnet Harriers … and now we have two weeks before the National.
For the first time at Milton Keynes we failed to finish a B team; in fact only three teams did – and as a result, with none of them being placed high enough, no Southern B teams will go to Sutton Park. One record we haven't lost though - we have never failed to medal in nine outings at MK.
A Team: M Byansi (9) 24:53; S Omar (2) 16:43; P Willis (10) 27:05; N Speaight (3) 16:14; P Wicks (2) 23:20; J Blackledge (2) 16:19; T Ellacott (2) 26:17; S Sharp (2) 16:13; P Buckley (2) 25:53; R Ward (1) 17:22; W Cockerell (2) 26:12; A Bodin (2) 17:42.
B Team: M Humphrey (40) 28:40; D Mason (36) 18:34; J Fairbourn (37) 27:54; A Marek (32) 19:50; J Kimaiyo (32) 26:37; J Webb (29) 18:51; D Anderson (35) 32:24; 8 D McMillan (38) 24:19; P Coughlan (38) 38:03; team dnf.
Teams: 1 Shaftesbury BH 4:13:43; 2 Belgrave H 4:14:13; 3 Newham &EB 4:15:34; 4 Woodford GwEL 4:17:36; 5 Thames H&H 4:21:52; 6 Aldershot F&DAC 4:22:03; … 37 teams finished.
Fastest legs
Long stage (7,826m). 1 P Wicks (Belgrave) 23:20; 2 S Plummer (Woodford GwEL) 23:55; 3 K Kyereme (Shaftesbury BH) 23:56; 4 D Mitchison (Newham &EB) 24:01; 5 M Draper (Windsor SE&H) 24:02; … 20 M Byansi 24:53.
Short stage (5,356m). 1 S Sharp (Belgrave) 16:13; 2 N Speaight (Belgrave) 16:14; 3 K Gerrard (Newham &EB) 16:15; 4 J Blackledge (Belgrave) 16:19; 5 D Smith (Tonbridge) 16:34; … 7 S Omar 16:43; 25 R Ward 17:22; 36 A Bodin 17:42.