Belgrave Harriers will race in the National Athletics League’s Premiership for the first time in a decade next season, having battled their way up the pyramid with two successive promotions.

The claret and gold machine arrived in Liverpool knowing that promotion was on the line. Through hammer wind and tumbling rain, Belgrave put in a ferocious team effort, with some athletes entering unfamiliar events in order to drag the club over the line.

There are too many athletes to individually credit in this report. This is a good thing - we do not underestimate the difficulties that many clubs face in getting athletes to the start line, sometimes on the other side of the country.

But everyone who competed on August 5 knows that they played their part in returning one of the country’s most historic clubs to the top flight. “It was some squad for one squad,” team co-captain Orna McGinley said.

In the sprints, Sam Ige’s fine season reached the climax it deserved, with a demonic 10.65s enough to win the men’s 100m and 21.53s sufficient for gold in the 200m as well. Ciaran McGuire was the first ‘B’ scorer in the men’s 100m. The boys would then win the 4x100m, edging out Tonbridge by just 0.13s.

Miriam Glassner, meanwhile, finished third in the women’s 100m hurdles, while Holly Aldridge was the second ‘B’ scorer. Holly would go on to finish third in the 400m hurdles.

Over in the women’s 400m, Sian Harry blew the field away with a storming 54.79s effort, before playing her part in taking the silver medal in the 4x400m. Alix Vermeulen was third in the women’s 1500m. Zoe Macdonald placed fourth to finish top in the ‘B’ standings for the event.

In the field, Mikael Lurot took third in the men’s long jump. Lilly Lea claimed second in the women’s javelin, with Jodie Albrow recording the second ‘B’ score with a fifth place finish.

A special mention for distance runner Rob Kelly who twinned his steeplechase duties with the shot put - and didn’t come last.

Promotion would also not have been possible without the huge support from our officials and coaches who turned out en masse at every fixture, ensuring not only that we secured maximum officials points but also had invaluable tactical advice on hand, teaching many an old dog new events!