SEAA Men's 6-Stage Road Relay, Rushmoor Arena, nr. Aldershot
AFD's hopes Dented! SEAA 6-Stage title retained
Above: David Anderson, Martin Dent, Will Cockerell, Jonathan Blackledge, Stephen Sharp, Paul Freary - delighted to hold onto the Ian Logan Memorial Bowl. Photo by Pat Mead.
What a cracking race this turned out to be. Favourites according to Athletics Weekly, we were never out of the first three, but having broken away to the tune of 1:19 found ourselves under severe attack from Aldershot's outstanding international Chris Thompson who gave his team a 5 second advantage going into the last stage. But there was still an ace up the Belgrave sleeve in the form of Martin Dent who calmly ran his own race, reeled back the AFD man in a short space of time and then set about opening up a 40 second winning margin.
A tactical opening 3k saw Steve Sharp comfortably settled in the pack after a bang on the knee the previous day had put his run in jeopardy. No trouble on the day though, and as Harrow's Adam Bowden led the field into the first takeover followed by the Beagle's Ian Grime, Stephen gave us the start we wanted, chased home by Havant's Tim Watson. New man Adam Leane made an auspicious debut in Belgrave colours as he opened up for the Cs with 6th and how pleasing it was to see Charles Herrington out on the race course again - on this occasion for the Bs.
Scheduled to run second leg, Richard Ward had called in sick during the morning. But when selection had already been so tight, there was no hesitation as Jonathan Blackledge, just 2 weeks beyond his 19th birthday, was called up from the Bs. Jon continued his relentless progress as he lopped over half a minute from his previous best for the course to move the Bels up to 2nd. Thames Hare & Hounds had come through to grab a 19 second lead thanks to Phil Sly but our young Belgravian gave everything to deny Bedford's Huw Lobb the second spot.
Paul Freary now took the opportunity to move our colours into a half minute lead as an unfit Larry Matthews slipped back down the field for Thames and Bedford consolidated their second place. Ominously Aldershot were now forging through the pack but Belgrave supporters had no fear now of relinquishing the title, especially as Dave Anderson was up next.
Preparing himself for an appearance over 10k in the AAA Championship the following week, Dave was known to be in good form. A sub-18 clocking went by the board as he was just a little too ambitious over the opening lap but our lead went up to well over a minute. Hassan Raidi, pleased with his outing in the Great North the previous week but still a little stiff in the calf muscles, set fastest time for the Bs.
Standing in the takeover zone, Will Cockerell was happy in the knowledge that we held a clear lead - but waiting next to him and wearing Aldershot's red and green was a young man who had every intention of turning the race upside down. Chris Thompson's first lap was timed in an amazing 8:30 as he ripped into the Belgrave lead. The gap continued to come down around the second circuit too, and half a mile from the finish AFD went ahead. Will's a fighter though, and although "Thommo" had the locals leaping up and down, there was little in it as the scene was set for the final act.
As we've already described, Marty had it covered. Running with that assurance that we have come to expect since we first met him last February, the lead went up ... and up ... and the Ian Logan memorial Bowl was ours to look after for another year. Martin's time was 1 second inside our club record for the stage - previously held at 17:54 by Spencer Barden - and our overall time was also our best - by 9 seconds.
But the drama wasn't quite over. Bedford were staging a huge revival as Van Hest ran second fastest time of the day to tear up the final slope and pip Aldershot on the line.
1 Belgrave H 1:49:47; 2 Bedford &C AC 1:50:27; 3 Aldershot F&D AC 1:50:28; 4 Newham & Essex Beagles 1:52:57; 5 Medway & Maidstone AC 1:53:19; 6 Thames Hare & Hounds 1:53:42; 15 Belgrave H 'B' 1:57:18 (3rd B team); 70 teams finished; 93 teams started.
A - S.Sharp (3) 18:16; J.Blackledge (2) 18:29; P.Freary (1) 18:24; David Anderson (1) 18:00; W.Cockerell (2) 18:45; M.Dent (1) 17:53.
B - C.Herrington (18) 18:55; R.Alsop (25) 19:48; S.Marwood (23) 19:37; H.Raidi (15) 18:41; W.Lynch (16) 20:15; J.Browne (15) 20:02.
C - A.Leane (6) 18:29; M.Humphrey (36) 20:58; R.Marcus (47) 22:35; Don Anderson (54) 23:56.
Fastest: C.Thompson (Aldershot F&DAC 17:21; G.van Hest (Bedford &CAC) 17:27; M.Skinner (Blackheath &BH) 17:49; M.Dent (Belgrave) 17:53.
Restored from the club's earlier website, belgraveharriers.com, and published here as originally written.