Senior Men's ECCA National XC Championships, Parliament Hill, February 24th 2018
The senior men end the winter with a sunny slog
author: Scott MillsAfter a brief spell at Nottingham’s Wollaton Park and Leicestershire’s Donington Park, the prestigious English Cross Country Championships returned to the capital's iconic setting of Parliament Hill.The ECCA's championship race is known for slogging it out through rainy weather and thick mud whilst navigating up and down hills for 12km. But this time the sunshine came baring down over the North of London where clubs from all over the country gathered to battle it out in the crisp conditions. Arriving as one of the race's most successful clubs, could the Bels add to their five Championship titles despite the painful absence of several big guns? The answer was not quite... However, the squad of nine gave it a fair crack!
As the gun sounded and the field charged towards the first hill, many runners came to a prematurehalt as thousands of athletes tried to pass through a soggy bottleneck, pretty much settingthe tone for the first half of the race.As he emerged from the congestion, Arne Dumez got it spot-on and started moving through the field after mouthing to team mate Alex Mills: ‘What the hell was that? This is ridiculous!’ only much more expletive.
Belgrave’s first man home was Nick Buckle who has gone from strength to strength throughout the cross-country season and held his own among some of the best runners in the country. Thundering down the home-straight in Mo Farah-esque style, Buckle was so focused on securing his 72nd place that he didn’t even notice the Belgrave Ultra’s of Matt Welsh, Sophie Harris, Ed Auden and Andy Fyfe roaring him to the line.Next across the line in claret and gold was the ever-reliable Paskar Owor, who opted not to wear the hat from the Surrey League fixture on Wimbledon Common, reportedly to minimise wind resistance. Although disappointed with his 122nd place finish, the former double Olympian still managed to improve on his 2017 Nationals result by 184 places.Suffering throughout the 2017 season with anaemia, Arne was certainly looking back to his best and in fine fettle after a great run to help the club cling onto their place in the Surrey League Division One. While he may have been several places down from his Wollaton Park heroics the previous year, he was still seen exchanging high fives with his fan club and screaming ‘last-lap burn up’ as he approached the home straight.
In his 20th consecutive National, Will Cockerell led by example, running a fantastic race, working his way through the field and in doing so placing himself 89 spots better than he did in 2017.When he wasn’t taking tumbles and doing knee slides that a footballer would be proud off, Alex Mills worked hard to get back up and soldier around the course closely followed by the improving Patrick McDougall, both of whom are preparing for the London Marathon.
Belgrave also saw great runs from Ted Oldman, Will Johnson and the legendary Don Anderson who also battled through the boggy, energy-sapping and undulating course.As the curtain closes on the cross-country season, the Belgrave engine room now looks to perform well in the Southern road relays on the 18th March as they prepare for what looks to be another exciting track season. 2,328 runners finished. Belgrave placed 39th out of 162 clubs.1. Adam Hickey (Southend AC), 2. Andy Maud (Highgate Harriers), 3. John Gilbert (Kent AC), ... 72. N Buckle 42:54, 122. P Owor 43:52, 421. A Dumez 48:12, 544. W Cockerell 49: 28, 610. A Mills 50:05, 673. P McDougall 50:46, 1141. T Oldman 55:21, 1473 W Johnson 58:46, 2161. D Anderson 1:11.