Report by Arne Dumez

In the small cathedral City of Armagh, Northern Ireland, there is an oblong green square called the Mall. And every February, the fastest distance runners in the UK gather around the Mall to run a fast 3k (for the ladies) and 5k (for the men).

International teams from England, Scotland, Wales, France and further afield send some of their best to compete in what has become one of the fastest 5k races in the world. Not wanting to miss out, we entered most of our men who met the sub-16 5k qualifying mark. But of our original ten-man roster, only six survived injury to make the flight over to Belfast. After a meal and a welcome speech from the Lord Merr, the Bels engaged in a ‘killing time’ exercise which included napping, snacking and stretching the legs around the race course. Finally, it was show time. There was a common theme to the pre-race chatter – the boys wanted sub-15min clockings.

Three of our six claret and gold vests adorned relatively new recruits. Euan Campbell and Will Stockley joined us from St Mary’s University last summer. Known for their blisteringly quick times over the middle-distance events, they wanted to adjust their 5k times to be more in tune with their respective 800m and 1500m PBs. Callum Stewart, who has so impressed over the mud this season, was also feeling looking to break the 15min barrier. Judging by his top 50 at Parliament Hill and his regular top 20 places in the Surrey League, this didn’t strike anyone as overly-ambitious. Coach Matt Welsh and TM Steve Gardner also made the trip with 2:59/km splits in mind. Matt had recently secured a 31:24 PB in Wales at the Speedway 10k after great runs in Telford and Leeds. Steve has been doing his shifts in the XC races as part of an intense marathon block. While he is, without doubt, a 14-min 5k runner, it remained to be seen whether all those miles would have clogged up his legs a bit. Just a bit further back was TM Arne Dumez who has also been scoring well for the team in XC this year but can’t honestly say he’s in sub-15min shape. He was just hoping to get stuck in, enjoy the race and hopefully go home with a PB.

The boys had been warned of the frantic start, but nothing could have prepared them for the stampede that broke out just seconds after the horn went off. After a fairly week horn sound to start the race, Aldershot’s Josh Grace stumbled on the front line and was eaten up by the pack behind him. What followed was more akin to a Tour de France peloton pile-up, with runners behind him first managing to hurdle the floored body but gradually succumbing to pushed, trips, falls and stampedes as the runners piled in.

Euan, Will and Callum managed to stay clear of the carnage to get away safely. Steve, Matt and Arne were not so lucky. While Steve and Arne managed to get up relatively quickly, Matt got crushed underneath several runners (including Arne) and noticed a serious limp in his stride when he tried to go again. He pulled off the course and decided to cheer on his teammates instead. A bit further up Will’s race wasn’t going according to plan either; he made the hard call and pulled out too.

Results

Euan Campbell – 14:52 PB
Callum Stewart – 15:05 PB
Steve Gardner – 15:14 PB
Arne Dumez – 15:42 PB

The race was won in 13:42 by Aldershot’s Adam Clarke, and some 150 runners ducked under the 15-minute mark.

Overall, the squad gathered four PBs and two DNFs. It’s not exactly what they had hoped for, but the guys have taken it in their stride. It’s part of the game. Despite the frustration of the start line stampede, the Armagh 5k has to be commended for its organisation, with airport transfers, meals and accommodation laid on by Armagh AC in collaboration with the local authorities. It really is no wonder the field has been growing exponentially since its inception! Our runners were treated like the real deal from the minute they landed to the minute they left. Many thanks to the organisers for their great work! We will absolutely return next year… if we don’t decide to head to Monaco instead, that is.

Race video