6 and 4 stage relays

when you brave enough to bring ur bird along wardy maybe you comments should be kept quiet. im assuming you have been with a bird and freary don’t count!!!

I would like to clarify what has been said by my Belgrave colleagues. Never would I admit to e-mailing two rejects like Wardy and Steve, I don't even have their addresses and any suggestion that I would send 20 e-mails a week is scandalous, you would think I don't have a job to be doing!

In response to the fella on here questioning people’s reasons for joining a club I will also give my reason because there appears to be some misapprehension about Belgrave's members which bores me considerably. I left Newcastle (at the time I was a member of Elswick Harriers) and moved to London 6 years ago. At the time Elswick did not enter the National relays and I had previously ran the fastest short stage at the Northerns without even getting a chance to run the National. We also did not compete in a National track league. This was no fault of Elswick’s they were a small and very proud club which I still support hugely, they simply did not have the young members who could put the club on the map (although a few years after I left Ryan McLeod started to emerge as a junior).

When I came to London I started training with Alan Storey at Kingsmeadow and met a few of the Belgrave lads who were in the group. I made it clear that I would be interested in joining a National league club who were running the relays and Belgrave fitted the bill. I then met Alan Mead, who was one of the most welcoming, courteous and understanding team managers I have ever met. He applied no pressure, offered no money and made no guarantees; all he did was tell me about the club. I am educated enough to make my own mind up and lucky enough not to have to consider finances when choosing a club.

The club has never paid me and has not, to my knowledge paid anyone else, either to run or to win. But what the club has done is provided me with a good group of mates who I see when I can and stay in touch with regularly, excellent support in terms of team manager and great tea and cakes made by Pat Mead after a race. Anyone who knows me will know that I run purely for enjoyment and I wouldn’t stay in a club that didn’t give me that.

However, one thing I will say is, I am not against people who change clubs for money and in fact I don’t blame them. We are in an age when living cost is very high and the ability to be a full time athlete is very low. I run for enjoyment because my work demands me to be flexible enough to miss training and take clients out at the drop of a hat, but that is my choice. Anyone who is willing to commit themselves to athletics and anyone who is aiming to reach the top should be able to go anywhere they want to get the financial support they need to be able to do that, and if that support comes from a club then they should go for it. There is no reason for us to be so adverse to professionalism, this attitude is choking the sport. Rules which prevent people from changing clubs with relative ease and the negative attitude towards those who go for it anyway are part of the reason many young hopefuls have turned their back on the sport and gone and found a job and a local pub.

I’ll see you lads on Saturday when me, the Graffin’s, Paul Evans, Gary Staines and Justin Chaston will be taking on all comers.

You forget the most important thing...

Will the goat be there?

You're right Steve I should have kept quiet, please don't let your lovely wife hurt me. Pretty please.

The goat goes everywhere with me, it's the reason that I don't have to worry about financial incentives when joining a running club, I'm pimping it out at 10 quid a pop!

I would like to clarify what has been said by my Belgrave colleagues. Never would I admit to e-mailing two rejects like Wardy and Anderson, I don't even have their addresses and any suggestion that I would send 20 e-mails a week is scandalous, you would think I don't have a job to be doing!

In response to the fella on here questioning people’s reasons for joining a club I will also give my reason because there appears to be some misapprehension about Belgrave's members which bores me considerably. I left Newcastle (at the time I was a member of hillingdon) and moved to London 20 years ago. At the time hillingdon did not enter the National relays and I had previously ran the fastest short stage at the southerns without even getting a chance to run the National. We also did not compete in a National track league. This was no fault of hillingdon they were a small and very proud club which I still support hugely, they simply did not have the young members who could put the club on the map (although a few years after I left peter Pan started to emerge as a junior).

When I came to London I started training with Terry Noad at Hayes and met a few of the Belgrave lads who were in the group. I made it clear that I would be interested in joining a National league club who were running the relays and Belgrave fitted the bill. I then met Alan Mead, who was one of the most welcoming, courteous and understanding team managers I have ever met. He applied no pressure, offered no money and made no guarantees; all he did was tell me about the club. I am educated enough to make my own mind up and lucky enough not to have to consider finances when choosing a club.

The club has never paid me and has not, to my knowledge paid anyone else, either to run or to win. But what the club has done is provided me with a good group of mates who I see when I can and stay in touch with regularly, excellent support in terms of team manager and great tea and cakes made by Pat Mead after a race. Anyone who knows me will know that I run purely for enjoyment and I wouldn’t stay in a club that didn’t give me that.

However, one thing I will say is, I am not against people who change clubs for money and in fact I don’t blame them. We are in an age when living cost is very high and the ability to be a full time athlete is very low. I run for enjoyment because my work demands me to be flexible enough to miss training and take clients out at the drop of a hat, but that is my choice. Anyone who is willing to commit themselves to athletics and anyone who is aiming to reach the top should be able to go anywhere they want to get the financial support they need to be able to do that, and if that support comes from a club then they should go for it. There is no reason for us to be so adverse to professionalism, this attitude is choking the sport. Rules which prevent people from changing clubs with relative ease and the negative attitude towards those who go for it anyway are part of the reason many young hopefuls have turned their back on the sport and gone and found a job and a local pub.

I’ll see you lads on Saturday when me, the Graffin’s, Paul Evans, Gary Staines and Justin Chaston will be taking on all comers

Lazy b*stard!

Steve - why did you nick Dave's life story when yours is much better, I wanted to read the moment you first met Maria (in the Woolpack) - are the rumours that she was working at the time true?!?!?

Do you know if Father Xmas going to be there on Saturday Dave?

Get me a tuft of his beard lads.

Why are Kris Gauson and Greg Billington not even in the Belgrave 'B' team? I think they would be good enough

Sorry but can`t give out any team information.

I'm guessing that this is an attempt to fish for whether or not they will be on either of our teams.

In any event, we will run the best lads available on the day... and Wardy on the C-team to make up the numbers!

so billington and gauson will be in the teams then because they are certainly good enough.

More importantly, where have the last 24 hours worth of e-mails gone? We have lost a whole page of this board!

How do you know they are good enough if you don't know who our team is? Just wait until Saturday and you will find out, it isn't far away now.

All that banta lost forever. Shocking.

My guess is that someone has reported it to the moderator on the grounds of several parts of it being borderline homophobic and racist, and thus it's deleted. No bad thing given some of the comments tho' Dave Anderson's pithy joke on his office dimensions was a witticism worth preserving.

So lets get back to the predictions:

My top ten (probably in this order)

NEB

Belgrave - then a big big gap

and bronze medal wide open between:-

AFD

Wells

Alty

Bedford

Birchfield with 3 or more Africans

(YES 5 Southern clubs in top 7)

rest of top 10

Morpeth

Blackheath

Notts

Any comments from the gravy boats, sorry meant gravy BOYS.

I'm so excited about tomrrow

i need my burger and donuts

You are gay.