28th January 2013

The GB & NI Indoor Combined Events teams travelled to Valencia in Spain for the Annual fixture against the Czech Republic, France, The Netherlands and Spain for seniors and against France and Spain for U23s and U20s.  The team met with considerable success winning two of the age-group events and placing second in the other two and were runners-up to a very strong Dutch Team in the Senior Women’s event and placed fourth in the Senior Men’s event.

The team also had three of the individual winners from the six Age-Groups.

Senior Women

The team were led by England Indoor Champion, Karla Drew (coach: Toni Minichiello) who placed 5th with a score of 4068 which included best ever performances in 60m hurdles of 8.33 and 800m of 2:20.98. Jo Rowland (Ian Grant) followed closely behind in 6th place with a personal best score of 4000 which included best ever performances in 60m hurdles of 8.91, 5.67m in the long jump as well as indoor best performances in shot put (13.04m) and 800m (2:22.05).  Jade Surman (Femi Akinsanya) completed the scoring trio in 7th place with a personal best score of 3932 which included PBs in 60m hurdles (8.63) and shot put (12.48m). She was making a return to the GB & NI team after an absence of six years following a serious knee injury in 2007. The team went into the last event in 3rd place just 10 points ahead of the French team but with solid performances not only held the French at bay, but managed to overhaul the Czech Team to finish in second place.  Unfortunately, England Championships runner-up, Grace Clements (Julie Hollman) sustained an injury in the penultimate event and was unable to finish the competition.

U23 Women

With only three athletes and two to score in the age-group matches hopes were high of a good result in this match with Katy Marchant (Toni Minichiello) and Emma Buckett (Julie Hollman) who both represented GB & NI at the World Junior Championships in Barcelona in 2012. The team result was never really in doubt winning by 200 points. The individual contest had both girls in contention for the medals and going into the last event following a solid series of performances and Marchant needed to stay within three seconds of the French athlete to win the event. Buckett had also performed solidly throughout and finished only 44 points short of her personal best to take the bronze medal. The third member of the team was Jasmin Dotzek (Chris Bartram) who recorded the fastest 800m with her best ever run of 2:18.56, missed recording her best ever score by a mere 25 points.

U20 Women

Hopes were high in this age-group as the team led by Morgan Lake (Elson Lake) had the best results on paper.  They did not disappoint with Lake winning the individual competition with a score of 3961 points. The star of the team was Brogan Crowley, who added 206 points to her score from the England Championships, to place second and in the process complete a 551 point win over France.Danielle McGifford (Sharon Walls) finished in 4th equalling her best hurdles time of 8.62 and an indoor best of 2:32.25 in the 800m.

Senior Men

The team was hampered by the early withdrawal of England Senior Champion Michael Holden (Fayyaz Ahmed) following an injury in the long jump. However,John Lane (Toni Minichiello) finished 8th with a score of 5433, supported by Martin Brockman, 10th with 5366, and Ben Hazell,16th with 5147 points.

U23 Men

David Guest (Mike Guest) showed signs of the type of performance that had made him an outstanding junior as he fought strongly to move from second place with an exceptionally strong 1000m (2:38.49) to win with a score of 5433 to move to 14th place on the UK all-time U23 list.  Supporting him in 5th place was Jack Andrew (Chris Bartram) who equalled his best in hurdles before following Guest home in the 1000m. Unfortunately Daniel Needham (Trevor Painter) sustained an injury on day one and was unable to start the second day, having already recorded a best ever Long Jump of 6.98.

U20 Men

This age-group regularly produces a substantial number of individual event best performances and this was no exception as David Omoregie (Mike Guest) produced five bests in the seven events as he placed third with a best ever score of 5067.  David Hall (Paul Searing) was the other scorer with a best ever score of 4940, which included four lifetime bests and one Indoor best.  The team finished a credible second behind a strong Spanish team.

Senior Results – http://resultados.rfea.es/2013/resultados/pistacubierta/combinadas_senior.pdf

U23/ Junior Results – http://resultados.rfea.es/2013/resultados/pistacubierta/combinadas_pro_jun.pdf