MERELY alphabetical and of no significance at all was Dale Garland’s response to being listed second on the Great Britain 4 x 400m team list announced yesterday for the European Championships.

He is simply relieved just to be named in the five-strong relay squad after his recent disappointment at the trials in Sheffield.

‘My run at the weekend got me in,’ he said yesterday, 48 hours after setting a season’s best time on the back of a week of no training as he sought to rid himself of the remnants of a chest infection.

His first place at the Midland Counties Open at the National Indoor Arena in Birmingham in a season’s best 47.25sec. lifted him to sixth in the national rankings and into the team he has served so well at the previous two European Championships.

Having won silver and gold for Team GB previously, he is naturally keen to clinch a hat-trick and thinks he has a chance of making the starting four.

‘Other than [Richard] Buck I’ve got more experience than the others.’