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Mike arrived at St. Augustine's Hall in the summer of 1998, joining VPH on
the 21st of June. He had a solid background of road running and augmented
his fitness with cycling and swimming. He made his debut for the Club at
Blackheath in the Assembly League recording a solid 19-53 for 5k before
succumbing to shin splints. Mike's next appearance for the Club was at
Eastway where he ran 20-42, a time he was eventually to beat by three
minutes. Mike's first appearance over the country came at the Ware Cup,
where he came home 19th as the VPH team finished a distant 2nd place to
Eton Manor. However, fortunes were to rapidly improve for both Mike and the
Club. Mike made his first appearances for the Club's 'A' Team in the
Chingford League at Trent Park and Victoria Park before winning his first
Club Championship Medal, a bronze, in the Club 20. Mike followed this up
with an improvement of 46 seconds for the Blackheath 5k and a new pb for
the marathon with 3-07-23 at London. After the marathon Mike made regular
appearances in the SML 'B' team picking up two wins in the 'B' string 5000m.
The winter season of 1999/2000 saw Mike firmly establish himself as a key
member of the club's cross country and road running team, with regular
appearances in league and championship races which saw him hacking a great
chunk off his Eastway pb. Mike's long term targets at the beginning of that
season included a sub-3 hour marathon, sub-30 minutes 5 mile and sub 18
minutes 5k, all of which he comfortably achieved over the next few years.
Mike's main target that season was the marathon and considerable hard work
that winter saw him again winning a bronze medal in the Club 20, improving
his previous best by seven minutes despite having taken a wrong turning
whilst holding 2nd place. Mike's report of this race in VPH News, and his
unfortunate navigational error, makes splendid reading, providing an
insight into the psyche of the long distance runner and Mike's ability to
laugh at himself. This indication of tremendous form was proved at the 2000
London Marathon as Mike ran evenly and strongly to smash his pb by almost
12 minutes, recording an official time of 2-55-41 for 817th place,
comfortably leading home a very good contingent of fellow Harriers.
After the marathon Mike took a very short break while he organised a fund
raising jumble sale for the Club but he was soon back competing on the
track including appearances in SML in 4x400m and 4x100m relays. Mike was
also a key member of that year's championship winning VPH 'B' Team in the
Assembly League.
The 2000/2001 season saw further progress as Mike chipped away at pbs from
5k to 10 miles. Mike finished just out of the medals in the 10M road and
7.5M & 10M XC championships as the Club continued to make enormous strides
in terms of quality and quantity. However, come the Club 20 he was back in
the medals, winning another bronze, running alone for the last 19 miles.
Mike's London Marathon of 2001 saw a steaming first half, with a 39 minute
opening 10k and a halfway split of well under 1-25. Sadly, he wasn't able
to maintain this pace, suffering badly over the last six miles. However,
Mike's consistency over the whole season saw a further move up the Boswall
League standings with a solid fourth place finish which went largely
unnoticed at the time but which was merely a taste of things to come the
following season.
In terms of his prematurely ended running career with Victoria Park
Harriers and VPH & THAC, Mike's crowning glory was his win of the Boswall
League in 2002. This involved a range of quality performances throughout
the season including a pb at Eastway, regular appearances in the Chingford
League 'A' Team and coming home 2nd for the Club at the National Cross
Country Championships in Bristol. Mike's most memorable race of that season
was probably his hard fought silver medal in the Club 20 where he threw
down both gauntlets and challenged the rest of the field to follow.
Blasting through half way at a pace close to his 10M pb showed Mike's
willingness to push himself to the limit, helping him to discover what he
was capable of. The 2002 summer season saw Mike take his excellent
endurance onto the track where he was a regular performer for the SML 4E
Team, setting a new pb at 5000m. He also recorded an excellent 63-34 for
the extremely challenging Orion 10 for a notable 16th place finish.
Unfortunately, Mike's running form was ruined by serious illness due to an
infection centred upon his ankle. This saw Mike hospitalised and then
unable to race for several months. On his comeback in November 2002 Mike
slotted straight back into the groove scoring for the 'B' team at Eastway
and then Higham's Park with a Paula Radcliffe-style sock making its first
appearance to help counter the swelling round his ankle, one of the
after-effects of his illness. Mike followed these runs with an 'A' team
appearance at the Middlesex Cross Country Champs but an astonishingly
impressive performance came a month later at Mike's spiritual home, the
Club 20. Despite so much missed training, Mike won an excellent bronze
medal beating his silver medal-winning run of the previous year by 8
seconds. Next up for Mike was the Physical Shield road relay where he
anchored home the 'B' team, his last competitive appearance in club colours.
The last time that most of us saw Mike was at the Open 5 where he was
helping the event to run smoothly. I can't count the number of times Mike
had helped out at events, especially acting as an extremely reliable
timekeeper for track events when his steady hand and cool head come to the
fore. As well as his running and social input into the Club, Mike also
served on the VPH Committee as a General Member making a range of
constructive suggestions on those long cold evenings in the Committee Room.
Mike's influence upon the training habits of many VPH&THAC members cannot
be underestimated, certainly I learnt as much from Mike as he did from me.
RJN
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| Club Championship Medals |
| Boswall League - Gold 2002 |
| 20M Road - Silver 2002; Bronze 1999, 2000, 2001, 2003 |
| 10M XC Bronze 2002 |
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| Team Medals |
| Chingford League Championship Winning Team 2002/3 |
| Assembly League 'B' Team Championship Winning Team 2000 |
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