27 July 2014

At long last the athletics is underway at the Commonwealth Games, with the men’s and women’s marathons taking place on the streets of Glasgow before the attention turned to Hampden Park for the first track & field session of the Games.

Quite fittingly it was a Team Scotland athlete who was first across the line in the men’s race, which kicked off at 9am followed by the women’s race 30 minutes later.

The men’s race produced an major upset as Australian Michael Shelley ended the African dominance of the event to take victory in a personal best of 2.11.15 along the wet but fan lined streets of Glasgow. First Brit home was Derek Hawkins (coach: Robert Hawkins) who himself just missed out on a personal best. He moved through well in the second half of the race to finish ninth, and afterwards commented:

“I really enjoyed it, it was quite blustery out towards Bellahouston Park which made the second part quite tough but the crowd support was unbelievable. The second half of that second lap they were just so loud they managed to pull me through to the end. They were so loud.”

Just one place behind in tenth was the much talked about Steve Way of Team England, who smashed his personal best and the British Vet 40 record with his 2.15.16 clocking.

“I’m absolutely delighted – this is the best day ever. Running is normally second place to my wedding day but I’m going to have to say that this one matches it. My wife Sarah won’t mind I think because all my top goals were top ten, PB and a British record and I’ve managed all three so I’ve couldn’t have hoped for a better day.”

In the women’s race, it was again Scotland followed by England as Susan Partridge (Steve Jones) and Louise Damen finished sixth and seventh with times of 2.32.18 and 2.32.59 respectively. After looking like she might get a medal for much of the race, Partridge commented:

‘It was an unbelievable experience. Of course it would have been great to get a medal. But the way it was going it wasn’t going to happen today. I ran a reasonable race, I put myself in the right positions to take advantage of any openings, and I tried to go with people when they were trying to drop me. So I’ve no regrets. There’s nothing I felt I did wrong.”

It was Team England’s Bethany Woodward (Jared Deacon) who secured the first British athletics medal at the 2014 Commonwealth Games, smashing her lifetime best to clinch silver in the women’s T37/38 long jump with a second round effort of 4.00m. The 21 year old, who’s principle event is 400m hasn’t been long jump for long, so was delighted with the result.

"That’s way above my expectations. I was relaxed and excited coming in because it’s not my principal event but I knew I had a big jump in me. Once I got that four metre jump in the second round it settled me down and I started thinking, I can do this. I was just praying I’d hold onto that silver medal and thankfully I did. I’ve only been long jumping for five months and there is a lot to learn and rhythm is a big part of it.”

The final event of the evening provided us with the only other final on day one, as twenty four men lined up on the far side of the track for the men’s 5000m. It was a fast race from the off, despite being littered with surges from the Kenyan trio and New Zealand twins Jake and Zane Robertson. Sitting towards the back of the main pack for the majority of the race were Andy Vernon (Nic Bideau) and Tom Farrell of Team England as well as local favourite Luke Caldwell (Robert Russell).

This is how things remained until a huge injection of pace with 600m to go. Caleb Ndiku showed why he is the best 5,000m runners in the world, covering the last lap in 54 seconds to run out a convincing winner. Another man renowned for a fast last lap is Vernon, and he showed that pedigree again to move through to sixth, one place ahead of teammate Farrell, with Caldwell ending up thirteenth. Post-race Vernon commented:

"That was better than expected because my last six weeks haven’t been great; I’ve been reduced to doing a lot of biking and cross training to try and keep fit after two injuries.  So I wasn’t coming here in 13.11 shape, but I’ve run my second fastest time ever, so I’m really pleased.”

There was a similar reaction from Tom Farrell after his first senior championship:

“It was a typical championship race, exactly what I expected. To be able to run just a second slower than my season’s best [13.22] out here today is really good; to be able to do that in a championship, I can’t complain. I was looking for a top eight finish, but I just wanted to have a positive experience, so I’m really pleased with seventh in the Commonwealth and that I performed well in an England vest, in front of what is almost a home crowd.”

Round one of the men’s and women’s 100m followed the first Hampden medals, and it all went very much to the script. Adam Gemili (Steve Fudge) was the quickest man out of all nine heats, delighting the crowd with his 10.15 effort. In the following heat there was a routine second place finish for Richard Kilty (Rana Reider) whilst the final Team England athlete Harry Aikines-Aryeteey (Reider) was made to wait after finishing third in his heat. His time of 10.33 was plenty quick enough though and he joins his teammates in tomorrow’s semi-finals.

Post –race, a smiling Adam Gemili said:

“I just wanted to qualify outright and the best way to do that is win your heat. I tried executing the first half of the race and then ease it down in the second half and I believe I did that. I’m feeling in good shape so we’ll have to wait and see. It’s about execution, so if I do that right, I should be good."

"The atmosphere is mental. As a big football fan, there’s a big history in this stadium so to come out here and experience it is absolutely crazy. To train here yesterday and then to come out here to the reception I got, there is no better feeling."

Team Northern Ireland also had two men in round one, but a false start for Leon Reid (James Hillier) ended his chances. He’ll be back for his specialist event, the 200m, later in the week. 10.66 wasn’t enough for Paralympic 200m champion Jason Smyth either.

In the women’s event, again the Team England trio of Sophie Papps (Dan Cossins), Asha Phillip (Christine Bowmaker) and Bianca Williams (Lloyd Cowan) made light work of qualification with a third and two second place finishes respectively. Williams was fastest of the trio thanks to her 11.37 clocking as she chased Kerron Clement of Jamaica all the way to the line.

It was agonizingly close for Rachel Johncock (Leon Baptiste) of Wales though, with the youngster missing qualification as a fastest loser by just 0.02 seconds. She’ll be back for the relay though later in the week.

The women’s hammer qualification was the event with the most British interest on day one of athletics, and Sainsbury’s British Champion Sophie Hitchon (Tore Gustafsson) set the tone, needing just one throw to surpass the automatic qualification mark of 65 metres.

“That’s what I planned on doing! Training has been going really well and getting out of the stadium and resting up before tomorrow was always the main aim. It’s nice to get it off your mind as the pressure builds with the more throws you have to take.”

Ahead of tomorrow evening’s final, the Team England athlete added:

“I’d really like to come away with a medal and seeing as I’m throwing well, that’s the main aim for the competition.”

Delhi silver medallist Carys Parry (Adrian Palmer) was the next of the Brits to progress with a first round of effort of 64.72m seeing the Welsh woman through.

"I had in my head I would do one big throw, so I was unsure whether to even take the second throw. My second throw was a little off so I didn’t bother with the third because I was comfortably through. It’s exciting, I’m feeling confident and in good shape so let’s see what happens tomorrow."

In the end all seven British athletes progressed to tomorrow evening’s final. They included Scottish trio Susan McKelvie (Lorraine Shaw), Rachel Hunter (Chris Black) and Myra Perkins (John Pearson), who got a rousing reception as the first Scot to step out into Hampden Park during Glasgow 2014. There were also final births for Sarah Holt (Pearson) and Shaunagh Brown (John Hillier) of Team England.

There was further field success in the men’s shot put, with two British athletes making it into the top twelve and progressing to the final. The first of those was Jersey’s Zane Duquemin (Hillier) who threw a season’s best of 18.90m in the third and final qualification round to progress

“I’m really pleased with that. It’s was a season’s best throw in the last round, and without that throw I wouldn’t have got through, so I’m pleased that I managed to put it together. I’ve been injured for nine days, only throwing again on Friday, so I just need to rest up and get a bit of treatment now and hopefully I’ll be alright for the final. I’m just going to go out tomorrow and give it my all.”

Joining him tomorrow will be Team England’s Scott Rider (Hillier), with the Sainsbury’s British champion also throwing a season’s best of 18.40m.

Elsewhere, there was safe passage for Team England trio Kelly Massey (Stephen Ball), Shana Cox (George Williams) and Margaret Adeoye (Linford Christie) in the first round of the women’s 400m. Massey ran 52.34 to clinch third in heat two, with Cox finish in the same automatic qualifying spot in heat 5. In the final heat, Adeoye went one better to finish second behind Jamaican Novlene Williams-Mills.