Debuting Bels Top 4 At The Masters

Although on paper our team looked spicy and carried high hopes, if you lifted the carpet there were some serious issues under there.  But all the more credit then to have made the long trip to test ourselves with the best from Britain, and only two clubs from England and one from Scotland could slay us.We started with one of the great pioneers of the 1990’s revolution in Paul Freary – our 4^th most prolific medal winner of modern times.  PF hasn’t donned the claret and gold for over eight years, so it was a warm and nostalgic moment to welcome him back into the team.  He knew his role was that of damage limitation and stuck to his task well for 23^rd.This set Alex Miller up well, who’s been mainly cross-training for weeks after a broken foot at Maidenhead.  No fewer than 11 bodies were swept into the sack to set Sharpy up nicely.  Stephen nearly doubles Paul’s tally of relay medals with 35, including 11 National Golds at Sutton Park.  An incredible feat, surely never to be bettered.  Despite his Achilles continuing to cause him agonies, and SS not being able to get on his toes at all, another five victims were claimed, and we’re so glad he ran, as he wanted to pull out midweek but knew he couldn’t.  What a trooper.If we were going to make an impression on Thames who were a minute up the way, it had to start with what we felt was an even-money bet between Nick Bundle and Matt Jones.  As it went the margin was 16 seconds – to Jones.  Fair enough, he’s flying, and Nick had a perfectly good run.Another supposedly even run followed, between me and Simon Molden, but I got absolutely roasted and the gap grew to over 2 minutes to the medals.  Sorry lads, anodyne stuff, and gave Paskar no reason to get out of gear three with us in no-man’s land.  Even a monumental run from the lion would not have been enough.So, with Thames having stormers right the way through, Cambuslang hitting it out the park, and Morpeth with a team from another planet – this was a classy affair.  With quite a few Belgravians seeing the figure of 35 looming on the horizon, this should be a race to enjoy for the coming years, not to mention the M45s where Thames took a dramatic win with the evergreen Andy Weir turning 3^rd into 1^st on anchor.1 Morpeth 1:31:55; 2 Ron Hill Cambuslang 1:34:06; 3 Thames H&H 1:34:30; 4 Belgrave H 1:36:35.  47 teams started, 38 finished.P Freary (23) 16:50; A Miller (12) 15:46; S Sharp (5) 15:54; N Bundle (4) 15:46; W Cockerell (4) 16:49; P Owor (4) 15:30.Fastest:  P Newton 14:31 (Morpeth); I Hudspith 14:40 (Morpeth); C Smith 15:05 (Morpeth).