A series of failings

Trafford Grand Prix, Stretford.
Attendees: Spering, Cross, Wright, Campbell (G).

By @TwitchinCalves

With Josh Spering being a late entrant to the competition there were now four athletes ready show their worth over two laps of the Stretford track. The car was fueled, and so was Gav Campbell, who had just been picked up from a 2-for-1 restaurant after being dropped off in the Nettleham chain just before breakfast, so they were ready to get underway. The journey there was full of conversations about how the performers were going to fair in the perfect conditions that Tuesday evening had in store for them. Confidence was high, especially from Beren Cross, ready to run sub-2, “even on a bad day”. These thoughts of the task ahead were, however, to be corrected later on as he admitted he’d found it much more difficult than he first feared.

Spering started the proceedings from the 4th lane in race one. After putting down 1:55 on his entry sheet, he presumed a quick start, and that was what he got. After having to overtake the athlete sharing the lane with him before the break, he found himself in a position as authoritative as Andy Dunderdale in one of Mark’s Tuesday/Thursday Sessions. This was quickly dismissed after two or three of the athletes steamed past him at the 200m mark. A first lap of 58 seconds would eventually equate to a last placed finish of 2:00.76, a time which by Spering’s current standard, is not brilliant.

Confident Cross was next up, and he did his work from lane one. He too was in a fast heat, and immediately was summoned to the back of the field. After running a 59 for the first lap, he looked strong to beat the 2minute barrier and finally accomplish that, which must seem now, as a lifetime ambition. Without splits, it is thought that Beren had dropped between 400m and 600m, as the last 200m of his race was by all accounts the quickest section of his race. He claimed to have sen the clock count up from 1:52 and tried to make full use of his lengthy limbs to reach the line, however, he eventually ran the time just outside of the 2minute mark (2:00.26) - an “unsatisfying personal best”.

Jacob Wright, designated driver, was in shape to run well over the 2 laps, and after running his last race back in May (a feat which saw him claim county champion status), he had high expectations from the Lincolnshire selectors, rumored to be at Manchester to watch the notorious athlete. Unfortunately it was another bad run from one of the Wellies athletes, who ran 0.3 seconds outside of his PB (2:04.69). It was also later reported that he was pulling out of Day 2 of the Banter series, to take place at Watford due to embarrasment, and the fact that Tom Straw was back in the country.

“Slowly but surely” were the thoughts of the already tired athletes in the run up to Gav Campbell’s race. He was almost certain to take run of the night, as some of the times in training he’d been producing were now on par with those of U13 athletes. His aims were to break the 2:10 barrier, but unfortunately having ran the first lap in a very comfortable 66/67, he was always going to have to run his arse off for the second lap to secure that time. His tactics were somewhat strange, one of which was to pull out into lane 2 to overtake the V60 athlete, only to decide not to. Coach Baddeley’s next move is to sort these Jack Cornwall-esque styles of racing out, and hope that one day fat Gav will run a respectful time.

Overall a disappointing start to the Banter Series, however, more to was follow at Watford from 3 of these courageous athletes..