Delight, disbelief and then finally relief – the Team Bath AC men's squad suffered a the full range of emotions at the Midland Counties Road Relay Championships in Birmingham.
The team were overjoyed when Ewen Malloch brought them home in tenth place on the sixth and final stage around Sutton Park, representing not only their best result for as long as anyone involved could remember but also guaranteeing them a place in the national finals next month.
Their joy was shortlived, however.
"We were travelling home and Dan [Jones] got the results up on his phone only to find out that we weren't there," said club chairman Dave Coles.
Team Bath were in fact included in the results but as an incomplete team, with any record of Malloch having taken part wiped out by the software system used by Midland Counties officials.
Emails and a call by Coales on Monday morning helped to clarify the situation and, with much relief, 48 hours after their big moment was wiped from the record books Team Bath were rightfully re-instated.
"It was a great result for us to make the top ten for the first time in 20 years and shows the club is moving very much in the right direction," added Coales.
"In the past we have struggled to make the top 25 and qualify – not anymore. Having someone of Alex Carter's class to put on the first leg made a huge difference.
"Alex was a little disappointed with his run, but even on a bad day he was able to run 18mins 42secs over the tricky 5.8km course.
"Anupam Das put in a great performance in the middle of training for next month's Frankfurt Marathon. Anupam has been a great gain for the club since he joined last year.
"Our other sub-20 minutes man was Ewen, who showed his class by gaining the extra place we needed to get that top-ten finish."
Team Bath clocked an aggregate time of 1hr 57:39 in a race won by Coventry Godiva in 1:50.49. Teenager Carter was followed by Jones (20:04), Das (19:19), Tom Dudden (20:24), Coales (20:06) and Malloch (19:04)
Two Larkhall-based runners came home with silver team medals from the Masters event at Birmingham.
Alec Woods and Mick O'Doherty turned out for Bristol & West AC, with the former running 19:57 to lift his club from sixth to fourth spot on stage four. O'Doherty gained another place on stage five with 19:54.
