28th January 2010

Action Round-Up

 

28 January 2010

Summer Down Under Wheelchair Track Meet, Canberra, Australia 20 January

In the Summer Down Under Series three British athletes were competing, David Weir (unattached), Mickey Bushell Birchfield U23) and Shelley Woods (Blackpool & Fylde), with some encouraging early season performances. The highlight being Mickey Bushell just failing to break the world record for 100m of 14.69 due to a following wind of 2.1. However, his time of 14.25 suggests that when the conditions are legal, the record will be his as he also defeated Beijing Gold Medallist Josh George by around four metres.

The highlights were: T52/53 100m – Mickey Bushell 14.25 (2.1) defeating Paralympic champion Josh George (USA). T54 100m – David Weir 14.77 (1.6) finishing runner-up behind rival Marcel Hug (Switzerland) 14.62. Women’s T53/54 1500m – Shelly Woods 3:40.63 finishing in second place just behind Amanda McGrory (USA) 3:40.52. David Weir was back out for the T53/54 1500m and finished in third place 3:05.49 behind winner Marcel Hug (Switzerland) 3:04.96 and Richard Colman (Australia) 3:05.27. The T53 200m saw Mickey Bushell in top form again 26.22 (-0.1) defeating Josh George (USA) 26.68 for the second time. Shelley Woods finished in third place in the T54 800m in a close finish 1:56.78 behind winner Christie Dawes (Australia) 1:56.05 and Gunill Wallengren (Sweden) 1:56.77. Mickey Bushell was competing once more in the T53 800m and finished in fourth place 1:50.56 behind winner Josh George (USA) 1:40.12. David Weir finished in the runners-up spot in the T54 800m 1:37.70 just getting edged out by Marcel Hug (Switzerland) 1:37.54. Shelley Woods finished in third place in the T54 400m 1:00.19 behind Manuela Shar (Switzerland) 58.28 and Gunill Wallengren (Sweden) 59.59. The men’s T53  400m saw Mickey Bushell claim third place 53.67 behind winner Richard Colman (Australia) 49.51 and Josh George (USA) 51.12. David Weir finished in first place in the T54 400m 48.85 with David Nicholson (Australia) in second place 49.24. In the women’s T52/53/54 5000m Shelley Woods finished in second place with 12:05.22 behind Christie Dawes (Australia) 12:04.85.

Summer Down Under Wheelchair Track Meet, Sydney, Australia 24 January

In this meeting Shelley Woods finished in third place in the T54 400m 60.47 behind winner Manuela Shar (Switzerland) 59.42 and Gunill Wallengren (Sweden) 59.47. In the T54 800m Shelley Woods finished in second place in section two 1:59.21 behind Edith Hunkeler (Switzerland) 1:55.33 and in the T54 1500m she finished in third place 3:39.96 with Hunkler again taking the victory 3:39.57. The T54 5000m saw her also finish in third place 12:31.99 behind Amanda McGrory (USA) 12:30.97 and Christie Dawes (Australia) 12:31.27. Mickey Bushell took the victory in the T53 100m 15.24 from Joshua George (USA) 15.85 and in the T53 200m he finished runner-up 27.52 behind winner Richard Colman (Australia) 26.71. In the T53 400m he finished down in fifth place 53.70 with victory going to Richard Colman again 50.49 and in the T53 800m he finished in sixth place 1:48.94 with victory yet again going to Colman 1:41.97. In the T54 800m section three race, David Weir took the victory 1:37.71 from Josh Cassidy (Canada) 1:37.89 and in the T54 1500m race he took third place 3:04.08 with victory going to Kurt Fearnley (Australia) 3:04.04. In the T54 5000m he finished in second place 10:29.44 behind winner Marcel Hug (Switzerland) 10:29.12.

Summer Down Under Oz Day 10k, Sydney, Australia 26 January

The 10km event was won Kurt Fearnley (Australia) 21:13 with David Weir just four seconds adrift in second place 21:17 with third and fourth placings also being given the same time. Mickey Bushell was down in 22nd place with 25:11. In the women’s event Shelley Wood finished in third place 24:47 only one second behind the winner Edith Hunkeler (Switzerland) 24:46 with Amanda McGrory (USA) being given the same time.

All three British athletes will go from Australia to compete in Dubai at the Al-Ain International in February.