Dumez spotted from a safe distance through the foliage on a beautiful morning in Battersea Park.

Here we are, another virtual race match report. Lockdown is still upon us and, while we are all itching to get out on the track, it’s hard to deny that doing these solo TTs can be - dare I say it - fun.

(That’s if you ignore all the watch-pausing ‘Strava w*nkers’ and grown adults whinging to get 2s taken off their time.)

This time, we ran the British Milers Club’s Virtual Mile TT in memory of Sir Roger Bannister, the first man to break 4mins for the iconic mile distance. We weren’t quite that fast, but we did put down some cracking time to commemorate Sir Rog.

Arne Dumez - 4:36

Battersea Park, London

Since his last club outing for the Virtual Road Relays in April, TM Arne has been busy working from home and clocking consistent training in isolation. Regardless of the virus, it had been his plan to transition to shorter distances this summer after over a year of racing 5k or more.

Speed has never been his forte, but with the help of coach Matt Welsh he had been putting in solid speed sessions over the past few weeks. This was his chance to test the legs. By chance, he happened to find co-TM Steve Gardner on his bike in Battersea Park right before the start of his effort. Staying more than 2m apart at all times, Steve turned on the GoPro and off they went.

Christian Smith - 4:39

Kenilworth Road, Coventry

Nutritionist Christian has spending his time lecturing remotely and helping athletes with their diets. He has also been impressing us since his first appearance for Belgrave in the mob match against Herne Hill where he clocked a solo 15:44 5k around the Arsenal Stadium. He followed that up with a 15:45 in Coventry for the road relays just two weeks later. He was no less impressive for the mile. His 4:39 (with a 4:36 ‘fastest mile’ in the Strava breakdown) put him as high as 20th overall in the early standings and once again demonstrated to his teammates that he is a force to be reckoned with. Almost as impressive as his ability to find a perfectly straight mile-long stretch of road… Don’t disappear after the lockdown, Christian! We need you out on the track for us! There is plenty more where that came from.

Andrew Simpson - 4:50

The beach, Hove

Father of one of our promising juniors, Max, Andrew has been a staple of our men’s squad throughout the XC season. Despite the fact that he was seemingly training for a 60Mi ultramarathon the last time we heard from him, his 4:50 mile on the beachfront convincingly shows us the beach bum has got more tricks up his… sleeve. Gosh, imagine if he ran all 60 of those miles at that pace…

David Walsh - 4:51

Dundalk, Ireland

After a series of extremely gutsy XC performances for his new club over the winter, Irishman Dave was keen to return to the track in the spring and put in some quick times over the middle-distance events. Sadly, now stuck in Ireland, he had to make do with a road mile to quench his thirst for lactic. Everything was looking great for Walshey until his Garmin got too close to his car, connected to his phone via Bluetooth and gave his wrist a buzz. Most certainly hurting like hell with only .3Mi to go, Dave (wishfully) thought that was the auto lap going off. Unfortunately, he stopped for one or two seconds before realising he wasn’t done. Hence the slight difference of opinion with Strava here. Nevertheless, a fantastic run, Dave!

Dylan Mitchard - 4:58

Battersea Park, London

I said this about Dylan last time, and I’ll say it again: the man just cannot stop setting PBs since he put on a claret and gold vest. Coincidence? I don’t think so. He’s on a roll. Back on hallowed ground where he dipped under 17mins for the first time in the 5k, he smashed out his first proper mile effort in just under 5mins. We’re thinking of calling it the Mitchard Mile. Keep training smart, Dylan, and we’ll have you dipping under 4:30 in no time. Just bear in mind you can’t use that strategic downhill start on a track, ok?

Ben Hurley - 4:59

Bushy Park, London

“First time under 5mins in over 20 years!”, texted Ben on Wednesday evening. As you can see, he left it to a very tight finish with that half second saving him from the dreaded 5:00.0. He did have a whole meter of elevation gain to contend with though, so we’ll give him that. With altitude conversions this is basically worth a 4:11.7 (if my maths check out). “Looking forward to running round and round an oval”, he added. We are too, buddy. We are too.

Andrew Cumine - 5:04

Greenwich Park, London

We haven’t really heard from Andrew at all recently. He’s one of the darker horses in our stable, an enigma, a myth, a whisper… But then there is always that nagging feeling that he’s not far away, ready to put a leg forward for the team. Well, voilà! The Scotsman returns with a 5:04 mile. It may not be our fastest effort, but check the time on that bad boy - how many of you would have run a 5:04 mile that early in the morning?! Yeah, didn’t think so.

Liam George - 5:10

County Dairy, Northern Ireland

After weeks off running with a nasty injury, Liam chose this of all races to make his comeback. Even for a true 800m specialist like Liam, a road mile is a brutal event regardless of how long you spent injured beforehand. Keeping a close eyes one the cows surrounding him, the St Mary’s lad gave it the beans he had in him on the day. After all, he had only put in a few sessions in the buildup to this and wasn’t sure how to pace it. For a first one back, 5:10 is a very solid run. Much more to come!

Patrick McDougall - 5:11

Hampton, London

Okay, so we had a real dilemma here. Once again - ONCE AGAIN - Mr McDougall and Alex Mills are tied and battling it out over fractions of a second. And we love it! So, Patrick has been nursing his grumbly left achilles back to some health and was gunning for some V50 scalps out in Hampton on Wednesday evening. Check the results below for his final result on that front (and while you’re at it, peep those 2m elevation gain). What we think is more important though is that we have one of our most loyal and committed Bels back in action. Not only is he an undeniable, unflappable, unflinchingly enthusiastic asset to our team, he’s also one of our key committee members. It’s great to have you back, Pat. Keep doing what you do.

Alex Mills - 5:11

Battersea Park, London

Alex had been staring down April 26th up until London Marathon got postponed a few weeks ago. His whole training had geared up towards a 26.2Mi slug through the city streets, but now he fancied a go at just one of those miles. So he popped out of his house, walked the full 2mins it takes him to get to the park (and yet, he’s still always late somehow) and smashed out a 5:11. It’s worth bearing in mind that Alex has always had the worst luck with GPS readings in Batts. It always reads a good 20-30m off anyone else’s recordings and yet Alex is the furthest from a ‘Strava wanker’ that anyone could be. Be like Alex.

Rob Norville - 5:33

South Norwood, London

Finally, a race Rob can’t be late for! Beautiful. Traditionally an 800/1500m specialist, Rob has been smashing his base training over the winter and working on his endurance skills. His mile attempt was just the first part of a meaty session consisting of 1Mi hard, 3x9mins… hot damn! Not a bad effort at all, Rob. Keep that up for a few more weeks and you’ll be ready to rock and roll when real racing starts up again.

James Morris - 6:07

Battersea Park, London

James was disappointed not to dip under 6mins for this one. His elapsed time was 6:07 but his distance was also 1.62km so he really could have cropped that down to the 6:02 it really was, but James isn’t that kind of guy. He’s not one of those ‘Strava wankers’ we’ve heard so much about recently. In fact, James is one of our hardest working and reliable runners. After years of focusing on the marathon distance, he started giving the shorter stuff a serious try last year. He has since pushed hard in the XC races and started working on his speed with the help of coach Welsh. When that marathon engine gets equipped with fast legs… oh, boy.

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