"Black and yellow" - Unfortuntely for us green and white was the order of the day.

It's been a while since my last blog entry, mostly because I was busy with teaching and trying to get back to some level of fitness. I have represented Newham and Essex Beagles twice in the last 3 weeks. In that time we won the Southern Road Relays in Milton Keynes. It was a great day as it came down to the very last leg which Calvin Goodwin won for us. Calvin is a 400m runner so 5k is a long way for him and he did great as did everyone else.

The National Relays were held in Birmingham on Saturday. Bob Smith worked hard to get a strong team out and had to make a few last minute alterations! In the week leading up to the race there was a load of nonesense on eightlane.com about Newham and how we operate. I obviously am not an Essex boy but this is now my home club while I live in England, the level of commeradery is as high as my home club in Ireland, and I have been with Ennis Track for years. Every so often we are introduced to new people who are turning out for us, but that is normal, people join Newham because they want to win. The same reason people join Belgrave or Birchfield or Tipton Harriers.

Thankfully it is a minority who write that rubbish online, as during my leg of the relay on Saturday there were lots of shouts of "C'mon Newham!" from people who didn't recognise me but recognised the vest. Unfortuntely we just came up short and finished second. James Shane put in a great last leg but it wasn't to be. To be honest initially the feeling was dissapointment that we hadn't won. But there will always be "ifs and buts" when you lose, but at least we won a medal.

I would like to wish everyone competing in the Marathon next week good luck. You are all nuts! Matt Jiggins, Kairn Stone, Lee Merrien, Stew Ellerby, Pat Prendiville and my good friend from home Padraic O'Flynn. Any one else I have forgotten good luck too!

This is Padraic discussing with Eluid Kipchoge the importance of powerful quads, he likes talking about quads.

I am now preparing my stuff to go on a 3 week trip altitude training trip in Font Romeu, France. Hopefully this can be a good springboard for Track Season.

Photos and training reports will follow.

Talk soon

Chesser