Some superb performances from Belgrave athletes and heroic short-notice volunteering from officials made the inaugural Belgrave Endurance Night a resounding success.

Eight races of six runners were the first at this distance on the track to be held in England since lockdown and required an unusual format in order to go ahead, with no spectators on the track and athletes only allowed within the arena perimeter during their races. You can view a full diagram of the measures put in place at the bottom of the page.

Belgrave in fine form

There were too many brilliant Belgrave performances (19 in total across eight races) to list them all here, but special mention goes to:

• Euan Campbell for the quickest Belgrave run on the night and a colossal finish to take 3rd place behind a rampant Trigwell-Pierce duo.

• Michelle Pearson for looking like a seasoned pro in her first ever track race, running 9:41 in a most entertaining race. At the end, she just missed the win by less than 2s.

• Her partner, Reece Edwards for dominating his race from gun to tape. The 2:16 marathoner kept a healthy 100m gap between him and the chasers until the final 100m when he was forced to deal with a savage attack from TVH’s Oliver Newton.

• Arne Dumez for a gutsy first time under 9mins. He got dropped by the leaders after 1000m, so he turned the final 5 laps into a solo TT. It took a fast last lap but he ticked that box.

• Will Johnson for embodying the Lockdown Burnup spirit on the home straight to fend off a menacing Patrick McDougall. They both walked away with a PB and a huge smile on their face. Good lads.

• Julien da Teresa for timing his move perfectly to win his first ever track race. That’s a nice 100% record. Coincidentally, his coach, Konstantinos Touse, also took the win in his race - they’ve got to be doing something right!

• Eoin Pierce (Newham and Essex Beagles) and Izzy Fry (Newbury) for finishing fastest man and woman on the night.

Overall, we counted 15 PBs among our Belgrave athletes so it is fair to say our runners have been making the most of lockdown. Great running by all!

Full results are now live on Opentrack and were uploaded on Power of 10 the following morning.

More importantly…

On behalf of all the athletes who have been so keen to put their lockdown fitness to the test, our heartfelt thanks to the officials and volunteers who gave up their time to make it all happen:

• Tony and Gillian Fairclough for driving up from Kent to referee and lend their vast experience.

• Mark and Sam Purser of Blackheath and Bromley for starting each race with a kind of punctuality that puts the military to shame.

• John Gladwin and Angus Butler for running the in/out gate operation with good humour and loud voices.

• Don Anderson and his crew for his photofinish and timing equipment and expertise - not quick to set up and take down but without it no one gets their Power of 10 entry.

• Charlie Dickinson and Mhairi Hall for their timekeeping and lap calling; and Charlie for his advice and assistance in getting the event off the ground in no time at all.

• Tony Ganio for his crucial role as athlete sweeper, clearing the track for the next race so efficiently that we ran ahead of schedule all night.

• The excellent Nigel Bramley for training his lens on our runners (and officials too, actually). You can find a full gallery of the event on Nigel’s website.

• Finally, Steve Gardner for putting all of this in motion and making it a reality.

This was a great night that did Belgrave proud and that, we hope, shows more clubs and venues that track racing can be done safely and (relatively) simply under these conditions.