01 July 2010

4th International Athletics Meeting – Tunis – 25-30 June 2010

Ola Abidogun, victorious in the opening event of the UKA Disability Athletics Challenge Series in Knowsley, Liverpool in May, set the standard for Britain’s Paralympic athletes at the 4th International Athletics Meeting in Tunisia with a bronze medal and Commonwealth Games qualifying time of 11.59 – only marginally outside his lifetime best of 11.51 – against strong opposition in the men’s T46 100m.

Female sprint duo Jenny McLoughlin and Bethy Woodward were also impressive, the pair, who both clocked PBs, finishing first (14.68) and second (15.10) respectively in the T37 100m.

Also winning sprint gold on day one of the high quality competition was five times Paralympian and 2010 Paralympic World Cup 200m gold medallist Tracey Hinton, who, alongside guide runner Darrell Maynard, secured a brilliant victory in the T11 100m in a season’s best of 13.37.

Completing the first day of action, Thomas Green – after a two hour wait – finished third in the men’s F32/51 Club event with 24.26, Tunisia’s Paralympic champion and World Record holder Mourad Idoudi taking the victory with 32.85.

On day two of the competition, McLoughlin and Woodward stepped up to the T38 200m finishing second (30.68) and third (31.31) respectively after a domestic battle over the final 50m. The race was won by Tunisia’s Sonia Mansour in 28.94.

There was disappointment for Thomas Green who was unable to compete to his full potential following an extensive delay in proceedings due to controversy over the use of his discus throwing grip, but back on the track, Abidogun put in another strong performance to finish fourth in the men’s T46 200m in a significant new lifetime best time of 23.46.

Trafford Grand Prix Open, Stretford, 30 June 2010

Showing she is gradually regaining fitness, World Championships silver medallist Lisa Dobriskey (Coach: George Gandy) ran 4:08.97 when she finished sixth in a mixed race at Stretford in an open meeting. Her time moves her from 11th to fourth in the Power of Ten rankings.

Rebecca Craigie, the Aviva England World Trials Championships bronze medallist, ran a personal best 4:22.52 to go third in the POT Under 20 rankings, but this was outside UKA’s standard of 4:18.00 for the World Junior Championships.

Results on http://www.thepowerof10.info/resultsfiles/2010/36319_12658_01072010081926_TraffordOpen290610.xls

Reims Meeting 30 June 2010

Olympic bronze medallist Tasha Danvers (coach Dan Pfaff) completed her first 400m hurdles race for a year.

Her time of 56.44 moves her into third in the Power of ten rankings and in Europe’s top 20 for the year despite having recently ruled herself out of Barcelona contention.

Confirming this is now one of Britain’s strongest events, World junior medallist Meghan Beesley (Coach Nick Dakin), who is improving fast at 20 years of age, set a new personal best of 56.65 to go fourth on the rankings.

World champion Phillips Idowu (coach Aston Moore) finished second with a 17.14 mark, close behind Cuban Alexis Copello (17.24).

Phillips’ started consistently with marks of 17.06, 17.14 and 17.02 but passed rounds 4 and 6 and had a no jump in the fifth, His best for the year, which tops the Power of Ten rankings, is 17.48 in Rio de Janeiro

Samson Oni, who tops the Power of Ten High Jump rankings with a 2.31 indoor mark, jumped 2:18 for sixth place.

Results on http://lna.athle.com/asp.net/espaces.news/news.aspx?id=74225

Watford BMC Gold Standard 30 June 2010

At Watford the Aviva England U20 championships and  World Junior Trials 1500m winner Ronnie Sparke (coach: Richard Thurston) ran a personal best of 3:46.15 to go fifth on the Power of Ten U20 rankings for 2010. The UKA standard for the World Junior Championships is 3:44.0. Trials runner-up Ryan Saunders improved his personal best to 3:46.56 to also go into the top 10.

Results on http://www.britishmilersclub.com/bmcstorydisplay.aspx?storyid=564