18 June 2009

GB&NI’s World Championship contenders are in full flow touring the International circuit, driving standards against world class competition and clocking some great times along the way.

The latest meeting to force top GB&NI performances was the Golden Spike meeting, held last night in Ostrava. 

Among the Olympic athletes in attendance was World record holder and Olympic champion Usian Bolt. He lined up against Craig Pickering (Marshall Milton Keynes), who was recently drafted into the European Team Championships team.

It was no surprise that Bolt clocked the fastest time, 9.77, but with an illegal wind the fastest 100m this year did not count. Pickering grabbed second place running one of the best races of his career in 10.08 but that too was not recorded.

Over one mile, Andy Baddeley (Harrow AC) finished second crossing the line in 3:51.83. He was beaten by Haron Keitany of Kenya in 3:49.57.

In the frequent 800m Brit battle Marilyn Okoro (Shaftesbury Barnet) had the edge over fellow GB&NI team-mate Jenny Meadows (Wigan AC).

Okoro finished first in 2:00.21, Meadows followed in 2:00.48 in third place. Jemma Simpson (Newquay & Par) finished seventh in 2:00.87- her fastest 800m of the year.