11 August 2012

Brett Morse (coach: Vesteinn Hafsteinsson) momentarily swapped London and the Olympics for Birmingham and day one of the McCain Jumps & Throws Fest, making the long journey north well worthwhile as he came away from Alexander Stadium with victory in the discus.

Just six days earlier Morse had sent 80,000 people at the Olympic Stadium wild as he stepped into the circle for the London 2012 men’s discus competition, finishing his qualifying group in 16th with 58.18m meaning he missed out on joining Lawrence Okoye in the final.

Although he could only manage a best of 58.02m in Birmingham, it was enough for Morse to finish top of the pile, with Zane Duquemin (John Hillier) and Simon Cooke (Andrew Neal) finishing second and third respectively.
And after getting back to winning ways with his 2012 season winding down, Morse is looking for more of the same next year and beyond.

“I am in the best physical shape of my life obviously with the Olympics being just a few days ago but I never came here looking for a big distance,” said Morse, who headed straight back to the capital for the London 2012 closing ceremony.

“I just wanted to come to the McCain Jumps & Throws Fest wanting to throw with my friends and have a bit of fun and end on a better note after the disappointment of the Olympics result.

“This season has taught me that I still have a lot to improve on, mentally and physically so I will go away now in training and try to do just that.

“Obviously next year is a huge year again because the next time the Olympics come around I want to be in the medals and in with a shout so hopefully I can get to the 2013 World Championships in Moscow and build from there.”

Eden Francis (Glenys Morton) herself had hopes of reaching London 2012 only for a knee injury to end her dreams ahead of the Olympic Trials, but the British number one put a smile back on her face as she won the women’s shot put with a best throw of 16.03m.

And it was a case of déjà vu as she was followed by Rachel Wallader (Geoff Capes) in second, the same top two as last year’s event, with teammate Under-20 Sophie McKinna in third.

But Francis wasn’t finished there as she climbed the podium again in the women’s discus, finishing with second thanks to a best throw of 53.33m as Jade Nicholls (Andrew Neal) took the victory with an effort of 55.08m, Kirsty Law (Jim Edwards) finishing third.

There was plenty for Andrew Sutcliffe (Julien Raffalli-Ebezant) to cheer about in the men’s pole vault as he recorded a new outdoor personal best of 5.46m to claim victory, holding off the threats of second-placed Max Eaves (Alan Richardson) with Gregor MacLean completing the podium in third.

Matthew Burton (Guy Spencer) was clearly buoyed by seeing his training partner Tosin Oke finish seventh in the London 2012 triple jump final for Nigeria as he leapt to long jump victory at Alexander Stadium with a best jump of 7.53m.

Daniel Bramble (Larry Achike) was 10cm further behind while Scot John Carr (Darren Ritchie) continued his comeback from a dislocated knee as he finished third.

In the women’s pole vault Sally Peake (Scott Simpson) was the only one to go over 4m, although she had to keep her nerve to do it as she cleared 4.01m with her third and final attempt to claim victory, forcing Mariette Terrisse (Allan Williams) to settle for second while former pentathlete Kate Cowley (Julie Hollman) finished third.

Edinburgh AC’s Lisa Ferguson (Peter Stanley) came up with a fantastic new personal best of 6.24m with her sixth and final jump to wrestle the win away from Jenny Pacey (Keith Fleming).

Pacey’s best sat at 6.16m with one final attempt and although she looked to have improved on that distance she was red flagged, while Dominique Blaize (Julie Hollman) settled for third.

And the last athlete to claim the top step of the podium was former UK number one Greg Beard (Mark Chapman) with an effort of 17.95m in the shot put, meaning Duquemin had to settle for the second step of the podium again, while under-17 athlete Kai Jones (Lukasz Barzyk) was third.