25 August 2007

Men’s Marathon

In brutal conditions, Dan Robinson (Stroud & District AC) was a splendid 11th in the men’s marathon in 2:20.30. The race began at 07:00am in 81% humidity and though that dropped, the temperature rose steadily to 33 degrees by the time the race reached its closing stages.

Robinson improved on his finish from the 2005 World Championships by one position in the rather more benign setting of Helsinki. GB & NI’s other entrant, Peter Riley (Leigh Harriers) struggled, but battled gamely to the finish, placing 51st in 2:36.00.

Dan Robinson said: “It went pretty much to plan. It started quite steady to begin with and I just worked on it from there. It is incredibly satisfying because I have trained so hard. Dealing with the conditions has been difficult, but a dedicated training and being out in Macau really helped.”

Peter Riley said: “At 10 miles there was nothing in the tank. I just felt that my legs could not go, it was then a matter of doing what I could to finish the race.”

Women’s Heptathlon

Jessica Ennis (City of Sheffield) and Kelly Sotherton (Birchfield Harriers) are both well-placed after the first two of seven events.  Ennis lies second with 2222 points, with Sotherton fourth with 2147.  Olympic and World champion Carolina Kluft (Sweden) leads with 2273.

In the competition’s first event, the 100m hurdles, Ennis and Sotherton both clocked PBs on the super-fast Nagai Stadium track. Ennis gained 1129 points with the fastest overall time of 12.91 (0.1m/s), Sotherton was third fastest with 13.21 (1093 points).

In the high jump, Ennis’ best effort was 1.89m (1093 points), whilst Sotherton logged 1.86m (1054 points) after an early scare at 1.80m, where she failed her first two attempts.

Women’s 3000m steeplechase

Hatti Dean (Hallamshire Harriers) and Helen Clitheroe (Preston Harriers) were eliminated from the heats of the women’s 3000m steeplechase. Dean was 5th in heat 1 in 9:43.23 and Clitheroe was 6th in heat 2 in 9:45.59. Overall, it left Dean as fourth fastest loser, just one place shy of qualification for Monday’s final.

Afterwards, Dean said: “I just thought that if I didn’t go for it I would regret it. I know I did the right thing going out fast as the first heat is often the slowest. But I went out like I knew I had to and did my best.”

Clitheroe said: “I was doing well until the second last water jump, where I’m not sure what happened but I was put off my stride. It’s so annoying as I was feeling really strong at that point. I knew it was going to be difficult, it was only my sixth steeplechase and I’m still learning.

Men’s 100m heats

Craig Pickering (Marshall Milton Keynes), Marlon Devonish (Coventry Godiva) and Mark Lewis Francis (Birchfield Harriers) all progressed through the first round of the men’s 100m.

Pickering was second in heat 2 in 10.24 (+1.0m/s) to automatically progress to the second round, Devonish won heat 3 in 10.13 (-1.5m/s) and Lewis-Francis was second in heat 8 in 10.21 (-1.0m/s). Devonish was the fastest qualifier overall. 

Men’s 1500m

Andy Baddeley (Harrow AC) qualified comfortably for Monday’s semi-final of the 1500m with a sprint for home which saw him finish fifth in 3:39.60.

In an uneven paced race Baddeley left it until the final bend to make his move and ease into the top six and a qualifying place.

For more Championship news, results, timetables and photographs click here.