6 and 4 stage relays

Anyone got any photos from the last two legs?

No probs Dave - at least you post under your own name. I just think it's a bit pathetic that people slag other people and clubs off when they obviously don't know people!

Hope your training is going well.

Not certain that my post was really slagging off, given the situation as explained by the nice Mr Mulvee.

Slagging off, as known on these boards,would in your case probably consist of examining your racing programme and suggesting it needs review. I didnt do that, and I dont intend to.

If someone was slagging you off it might be better not to know who it is - they might be important, then what would you do ?

You say you dont read this board much, well have a look at the current argument between 2 well known NZ athletes then you will know that you havnt been too harshly treated.

Just forget it - all i was saying was that if people started to post under their own names it would make things alot easier.

I was happy with my run, i'm happy at Belgrave and now im just going to go and concentrate on my training and leave you to make comments about people that you probably dont even know.

Next time you fancy an argument on a message board just bang your head against a concrete block a few times, its more fun.

Agree with you totally on that point. I always post under my own name. If you have something to say you should be willing to take the consequences.

Also- I think I'm the one that mentioned your move from WSEH to Belgrave last page. Didn't once mention money or any other reason, just that rather than you running for Belgrave as a junior it was WSEH as you have to admit a fair number of Belgrave's runners do.

Best of luck for next season, was very impressed with that Watford BMC win, sounds like you lot at Belgrave have a really good team spirit going!

Team spirit? Have I heard you right? I've never even heard of this Phil Wicks fella! Anyway, apparently the lad can run a bit!!

Belgrave had some bad luck in the build up to Saturday’s race, but you have to give it to Newham – awesome!

The problem that Belgrave has in regard to not having as many under 20’s as seniors is the same as many cubs, especially London clubs. It is that inner city kids do not want to do athletics (sprinting aside). Most of these kids have never even seen a school playing field. They are more interested in throwing fireworks and scratching their names into bus windows, which I’m sure you will agree are wonderful hobbies! The result is that it is very difficult to recruit. However, what you get is a lot of people at the age of 20ish who either leave Uni’ and come to London to work and look for a central club or who want to join a club that is successful because they want to win medals before they miss their chance. Poaching is not necessary. The result is a dichotomy of joiners with no juniors on one hand and lots of high quality young seniors on the other. I’m not sure how any club solves this, least of all a club in central London.

Well done Saturday Dave. That calf injury you picked up at the 12 Stage relays is healing up nicely. Another few years of treatment and Whalley can look out!

Well if you want to look at how you do this I suggest you go down to one of the tracks where athletes from 'inner city' clubs train, such as Woodford Green, Enfield, Blackheath, Herne Hill, Ealing & Southall, Shaftsbury etc....' your argument doesn't hold up, at all.

Here they will have club members who are dedicated to groups of kids, often that group will consist of 20 athletes, and if the coach is lucky one of them might progress to a decent standard at senior level, this is what is called 'groundwork' and 'developing your own athletes'. Unfortunately it involves a lot of thanless hours and dedication with little publicity or reward. On the other hand you could just wait until these athletes reach 20 and then sign them up for one of the 'superclubs' which are slowly eroding athletics at the club level. As the number of athletes in the sport falls it does not make sense to have clubs with 2 teams in the top ten at national competitions, it merely dilutes what is already a poor standard at the sharp end.

Shame you weakened a reasonable argument with your last sentence. First, there is no club with 2 teams in the top 10, neither can I ever recall there being one. Second, placing the meagre talent in a small number of big clubs concentrates the standard, it doesn't dilute it.

Ok then, no club should have two teams of 'recently aquired' shall we say athletes in the top 20. I fail to see how having 10 clubs with 2 teams in the top 20 would make things better than having 20 teams with the talent more evenly spread, his would create opportunities for more athletes to sample good level competition and possibly, heaven forbid, allow them to run for a club local to them. If the top 6 guys in the country joined one club it would make a mockery of inter club comps, and we are not that far away from that happening.

How do you quantify 'recently acquired'? (I also don't think that the term 'acquired' is very suitable to apply to athletes who are capable of making their own decisions). Some clubs may have new athletes, but I think it is worth remembering that clubs signing athletes is what is helping keep some athletes in the sport.

Only the winning team was predictable on Saturday and after that it was all to play for right up to the last leg when Rob Whalley turned up and ran away from me!! I can't remember such an interesting 6 stage in my 5 years at Belgrave. Also, if you look at Newham's team, they had the European silver medallist, a past gold medallist at the commonwealth games and several GB representatives. Who wouldn't want to be in the same race as these lads?

Finally, why does any of this affect you so badly? Either you want to run or you don't. People like Chris Davies turn up and run fantastically even though his team relies on him to get anywhere near the top ten. He doesn't complain about people moving to other clubs and he hasn’t bothered moving himself. There is some sort of innate belief that people should not be allowed to change clubs and seek medals and it is ridiculous. Provided you want to try and break into a great team I say you should take the risk, the challenge to get in the 6 men who make the team could be just the motivation needed to improve. And if you don't want to move and you feel a great loyalty to your club then that is fantastic as well, stay there and do your best to get your club as high up the rankings as possible. Either way, why does it bother you so much?

Can somebody please tell me what relationship Nike have with the road relays? They clearly seem to sponsor the events, but I'm mystified as to what this actually involves...

they probably just pay to get the numbers printed and supply some tape and flags. Doubt if it's much else - shame as they could easily afford to stump up some decent prize money

I suspect there are costs involved in staging the event that are not covered by entry fees. The park will charge, then there are tents, bus, toilets, barriers, tape if you have to buy it, entry/results database, officials, car park attendants etc

By having Nike sponsor the event the organisers can either break even or even generate a modest profit without charging the entered clubs too high a fee.

Lets forget the bloody relays now. Who will win this weekend at Birmingham. My money is on Tickner if he runs.

agree Dave.

The other poster is mistaken I think - standards would be higher if you had 20 clubs with 12 decent runners - it creates competition to make the team, rather than knowing as long as you can put one foot in front of the other you're in. How does the sport benefit from 60 teams going round where half the runners are doing 20 minutes? This is a national championship.

I don't know what it cost to enter teams for the national but it's a bloody fortune to enter the midlands - and most clubs end up entering more teams than they run so the Midlands AAA is quids in.

Does anyone know if the teams for the Ekidens and any Euro Cross preselections have been announced yet?