Silver for vets, solid showing from seniors at Southern 4/6-stage replacement service
A solid showing at Milton Keynes ensured the men and women received invites to the national 4/6-stage road relays next month - but the senior sides were outdone by a flying V40 men’s squad who came home with a silver medal.
l-r: Will Cockerell, AJ Elsadig, Lawrence Burton, Jonny Neville, Nick Buckle, Conall McNally, Sam Gebreselassie, Steve Gardner, Ben Hurley, Ewan Somerville, Patrick McDougall, ‘Turbo’ Tommy Taylor, Charlie Dickinson, Dave Walsh, Adam Roeder. Not pictured: Phil Wicks
The official SEAA southern 6-stage was cancelled at short notice due to health and safety issues at crumbling Crystal Palace. Belgrave Harriers would like to put on record its gratitude to Mike Boucher of AFD and all at Milton Keynes AC who organised this unofficial replacement service at extremely short notice.
Our runners enjoyed good weather and good spirits all round, although both senior teams suffered from injuries and other withdrawals that meant both ‘A’ teams were some way off where we’d expect to be in terms of finishing positions.
Men’s A
Club legend Phil Wicks was given the unenviable task of setting off on leg 1 - the first time he’s taken that position and “not one I’m in a hurry to repeat,” he’d later say. But we needed someone of Phil’s quality at the start to make sure we weren’t too stranded for the rest of the race, and he handed over to Nick Buckle in 21st - not bad considering eight of the 10 fastest legs of the day came from first leg runners.
Buckle, ever dependable when called upon despite a minimalist approach to training recently, did well to only bleed three places before handing over to late call-up Steve Gardner on leg 2.
Steve, still frustratingly far off his best after nearly a year out with long covid, ran a full minute slower than he did on the same course in Spring 2019, but still managed a net gain of one place from 24th to 23rd.
Conall McNally on leg 4 ate another two places before handing over to our quickest runner on the day, Sam Gebreselassie. He was arguably wasted on leg 5 with runners well spread out by this point, and despite hurling us another three positions up the rankings thought he’d probably left a bit too much in the tank by the end.
Turbo Tommy Taylor, such a gutsy runner, contributed our third quickest leg on the day to see us home in 17th place. It was his first proper race since July and we’re thrilled by how much he’s improving every time we see him in full flight.
Men’s B
AJ Elsadig on his second appearance in claret and gold.
Our B-string was a combination of reliable engine roomers (thanks Chris Warren!) late replacements (thanks Lawrence Burton for bailing us out in MK for the second time in two months!) and exciting new talent. Jonny Neville has absurd range and huge promise ahead of cross country season; AJ Elsadig showed great raw pace when it came to his final 300m and loved the team battle. Adam Roeder found it tough on the day but is improving with every Battersea session.
But undoubtedly the most exciting - certainly interesting - prospect of the day was Ewan Somerville. He ran the B-string’s quickest leg of the day, has improved his 5k PB from 20:16 to 16:19 in the space of one year, and you only have to rewind three years to see him clocking 11.5 for 100m, 22.6 for 200m and 51.4 for 400m. Tantalising to see how that converts with more endurance training under his belt.
Men’s C
One Will Cockerell, there’s only one Will Cockerell. But unfortunately that’s five Will Cockerells short of a full C team.
Men’s V40
l-r: Patrick McDougall, Frank Hurley (team manager), Ben Hurley, Dave Walsh, Carlos Casal.
The story of the day was the brilliant silver medal for the V40 men, who finished their fourth and final leg ahead of the B’s fourth man.
Patrick McDougall, actually a V50, brought the vets back from leg 1 in second place and it’s there they would stay for the rest of the afternoon thanks to remarkably consistent runs from Ben Hurley (17:41), Dave Walsh (17:23) and Carlos Casal (17:45). Well done silver Bels, and good luck at the marathon next weekend Carlos.
Women’s A
Unfortunately, between the first race being cancelled and the MK race being announced, several Belles had made other arrangements and what with illness and injury the three teams entered for Crystal Palace were reduced to just one at Milton Keynes, and this included a very late replacement, new member Lydia Gallyer-Barnett, who only volunteered to run the first leg on the morning of the race.
l-r: Lydia Gallyer-Barnett, Charlie Dickinson, Rachel Brown, Lizzie Goldie-Scot
Despite having only joined the training group for the last two weeks, Lydia ran a very respectable first leg finishing in 22nd place. She handed over to Lizzie Goldie-Scot who is now thankfully back running and in the team after many months of injury. Lizzie gained three places before Rachel Brown took over on the third leg. By this time the gaps were very large but still Rachel managed to pull back another three places for our fastest run of the day, 18:17 for the slightly long 5km course.
It was also nice to see Alice Reed back in the team after a year back at Warwick University where she gained a PGCE. She is now back in London starting a teaching career. Alice ran another excellent leg and we had the satisfaction of seeing her sprint past the Herne Hill runner on the track just before the finish.
The Belles finished a very satisfactory 14th.
RESULT
Belgrave, 14th 77:54.
1. Lydia Gallyer-Barnett, 20:48, 2. Lizzie Goldie-Scot, 20:19, 3. Rachel Brown 18:17, 4. Alice Reed, 18:30.