3 February 2008

Team Bristol had looked certain for the top spot throughout this weekend’s Indoor City Challenge semi-final, at Cardiff’s UWIC athletics centre, however, it was Team London North who triumphed, taking the lead through the last five events of the competition.

Team Bristol placed second and Team Cardiff third, both automatically qualifying for the final, while Team London South progress as best runner up.

The last minute surge from Team London North, was heavily influenced by Nadia Williams, who wowed spectators with her triple jump performance. Williams smashed her personal best and went far beyond the UK Athletics Power of Ten national target of 12.85m, to place her top of the 2008 national rankings. Her outstanding jump of 13.44m also gained her the coveted ‘Female Performance of the Match’ prize, an adidas kit package worth £500, awarded by the event management team.

An outstanding performance from Scott Rider (Team London South) in the shot put set the levels high in the early stages of the competition. The physical education teacher from London got a new ICC record, broke his indoor personal best and achieved the UK Athletics national target. His effort of 18.54m earned him the ‘Athlete of the Match’ award for his city. The tall Londoner said he felt he had a lot more to give and that hopefully it would come through at Sheffield next week where he will compete at the World Trials and UK Championships. 

Team Cardiff’s Joe Thomas had a truly spectacular win in the 800m. In this extremely competitive event he strategically backed away from the push and shove of the first lap, choosing to bide his time towards the back of the pack. ‘I started to move up with two laps to go but still I didn’t want to be at the front, I felt in control.’ In the last 200m Thomas began to move onto the shoulder of Damien Moss (Team Oxford) then continued to power past him on the home straight to take victory.