The most outstanding
year in the long history of the club was completed with another victory, as our
men’s cross country team secured the British entry in the European Club’s Cross
Country Championships, which will be held in Bilbao on 7th February
2010. The run-off to decide the top British cross country club formed part of
the European Cross Country Trials at Sefton
Park, Liverpool
on Saturday. Most of the top British cross country runners were there seeking
selection for Britain
in Dublin in
two week’s time, as well as the national club champions from Wales (Swansea
Harriers), Scotland
(Shettleston Harriers), and Beagles.
This was no run of the
mill qualification for Beagles as Glasgow
based Shettleston gave our guys their toughest examination of the year. Indeed,
we needed super performances from our four scorers to prevail. It was
competitive sport at its very best, and certainly one of the greatest
performances ever by a Beagles team.
With Mo Farah already
pre-selected for Dublin,
we travelled to Liverpool with six runners,
knowing that the top four only would score in a triangular match with Swansea and Shettleston.
The six to travel were Moumin Geele, Kairn Stone, Sam Farah, Nathan Riding, Lee
Merrien and Rory Chesser.The Scottish champions received a windfall 18 months
ago, with the arrival of four Eritrean asylum seekers. They’re all excellent
runners and Shettleston have wisely assimilated them into their ranks and
headed south of the border at every opportunity to test themselves against the
best teams in Britain.
All four – Tewelde, Mengisteab, Hagos and Woldemichael – were present on
Saturday, with good standard back up. Swansea
took pride in taking their chance as well, though their team looked less likely
to cause a problem to us – at least on paper.
Sefton Park was part waterlogged and part bog with a deep
leaf cover, and the weather on the day was cold but dry. The course comprised
of one small lap and three large laps – 9.8km in distance. Our main chance of
individual success lay with Moumin in his first race since mid October. Somali
TV were on hand to record the race and to carry out pre- race interviews with
Moumin and Mr Rob.
After the first small
lap, our worries were confirmed with Moumin and Lee in the leading group of 15,
with all four of Shettleston’s Eritreans. We were in trouble, but after the
first long lap, things were much tighter as Hagos had peeled off the back of
the leading group to be caught by Rory. Moumin and Lee were in the hunt at the
front of the field. Further back, Kairn had started sensibly, but Sam was
struggling to come to terms with the conditions underfoot.
Most spectators were
concentrating on the chase for individual honours amongst Britain’s finest, but
a serious race within a race was being played out, with the Shettleston lads
being receiving copious amounts of support from around the course. Mr Rob was
desperately trying to keep tabs on a rapidly changing team score, but with one
lap to go we had our noses in front as Woldemichael began to slip back and Rory
made ground. This was Rory’s second race in Beagles colours, having fractured
an elbow on the eve of the national 6 stage road relays. One week previously he
had finished 28th in the Irish trials, but a week is a long time for
a decent athlete returning to form, and he was now turning the screw in our
favour. Behid him Kairn had pulled in Hagos and was running a blinder.
So to the finish.
Moumin made his bid for individual glory with 600 metres to go, dropping Wicks,
Vernon, Tewelde
and Whitby in
the process. But Mike Skinner refused to let go, and grabbed a one second win
in one of the tightest finishes imaginable. With Moumin second, and
Shettleston’s Tewelde 6th, we looked to Lee Merrien next. This is
tempting fate, but when Lee turns out for Beagles, we win. He was disappointed
to just miss out on a place in Dublin
for Britain,
but 9th was a good run and, most importantly from the team’s point
of view, he’d beaten Mengisteab by one place. Next home was Rory (26th),
catching Woldemichael with 80 metres to go to take us close to our goal.
Finally, Kairn48th,
despite a fall on the last lap. Sam finished 88th, and Nathan ran
nicely for 133rd. closed the door on the gallant Shettleston team with a fine
It really couldn’t
have been much closer. Full marks to all at Shettleston – they must have been
disappointed to miss out, but they were very sporting and dignified at the end,
and we look forward to competing against them in the future. All that was left
was a happy journey home, interspersed by Moumin’s club record for pit stops on
the way home from a race – he’d been drug tested after the race; it took a long
time; he had to drink a lot to pee…once he started, he couldn’t stop. Shame
that Somali TV weren’t on hand to see some of his sprints to the loos at the
various motorway services we visited.
