6th June 2010

Weekend Round Up

 

06 June 2010

On the eve of the selection on Monday for the Spar European Team Championships, leading British athletes posted useful performances for consideration, while others warmed up in style for the Aviva European Trials and UK Championships at the end of this month.

Five days after his UK road best, Mo Farah was the star athlete of last weekend with his win at the European Cup 10,000m. Meanwhile, a UK junior record from Jack Meredith and a world-class run from David Greene highlighted a plethora of GB performances in Oslo and league records were seen at the opening rounds of the domestic national senior leagues.

 

European Cup 10,000m, Marseille, France, June 5

Mo Farah (Ricky Simms) continued his inspired start to the summer campaign with victory in 27:28.86 against top European opposition. In only his second track 10,000m, the former European cross-country champion moved to third on the UK all-time lists behind Eamonn Martin (27:23.06) and Jon Brown (27:18.14).

After going through halfway in 13:52, he ran a negative split, including a 58-second last lap, to dip less than a second inside the time set by the resurgent Chris Thompson last month.

Farah’s performance came just five days after he won the Bupa London 10,000 in London in a UK road best of 27:44.

In the B race, Antony Ford (Stan Taylor) was the first Brit to finish in fifth in 29:21.90. Mike Skinner (Andy Hobdell) finished eighth in 29:44.75, Phil Nicholls (Steve Sharpe) was 10th in 30:00.90 and Mark Warmby (Gary Staines) took 12th in 30:15.34.

In the absence of Jo Pavey, who was a late withdrawal from this race, Freya Murray (Steve Jones) was the leading Brit in sixth in a PB of 32:23.44.

European cross-country champion Hayley Yelling (Conrad Milton) was 10th in 32:49.07, while Sonia Samuels (George Gandy) took 17th in a lifetime best of 33:08.89.

For fuller report see http://www.uka.org.uk/media/news/may-2010/05-06-10-euro-cup/  

http://www.marseille2010.com

  

IAAF World Challenege Meeting, Rabat, Morocco June 6

Martyn Rooney (Nick Dakin) finished in third place over 400m in 45.45 behind Jamaican Jermaine Gonzales 45.06 to move to second Pof10 and in the women’s 400mH Perri Shakes-Drayton (Christopher Zah) finished in the runners-up spot 56.03 to also go second Pof10 behind another Jamaican Kaliese Spencer 54.89.

http://www.iaaf.org/iwc10/results/eventcode=4448/

 

European Athletics Festival, Bydgoszcz, Poland June 6

David Greene (Malcolm Arnold) top of Pof10 and competing in his second world-class 400mH field in two days ran a season’s best of 48.96 in second place behind South Africa’s L.J. Van Zyl who was 0.09 seconds ahead and Rhys Williams maintained his good early season with a 49.96 clocking in fourth place. In the women’s event Eilidh Child (Stuart Hogg) ran a life-time best of 55.17 in taking the victory to go top Pof10. Other performances included William Sharman (George Maciukiewicz) 13.58 (-0.7) 110mH for fifth place, Chris Clarke 46.41 fourth in the 400m with Andrew Steele fifth 46.39 and Kris Robertson sixth 46.79, Joice Maduaka 23.44 (-0.4) seventh over 200m, a season’s best in tenth place for Claire Gibson over 800m 2:05.09 and a second spot for Kate Dennison (Steve Rippon) 4.50m in the pole vault with Henrietta Paxton finishing in fifth with 4.20m.

http://www.thepowerof10.info/results/results.aspx?meetingid=38660

 

Internationales Hochsprung Meeting, Viersen, Germany June 6

British athletes were involved heavily in the high jump with Martyn Bernard (Dan Pfaff) finishing in third place in a season’s best of 2.25m to go third Pof10 with Tom Parsons (Fayyaz Ahmed) in fourth on the same height and Samson Oni in sixth with 2.22m.

http://www.thepowerof10.info/results/results.aspx?meetingid=38658

 

England Athletics Combined Events Championships, Bedford June 5 & 6

The men’s decathlon was won by David Guest with 7727 points with Edward Dunford taking the runners-up spot with 7290 and Tomas Reynolds third with 7270. The women’s heptathlon saw Dominique Blaize take the gold medal with a seven event score of 5671 points from Louise Wood 5375 and Sophie Skinner 5284. In the U20 events Ashley Bryant 7342 took the U20 men’s title from Jack Andrews 7320 and Sam Sleap 6646 while in the women’s heptathlon Becky Curtis-Harris took the victory 4910 from Katy Marchant 4893 and Sophie Wilkins 4877.

www.thepowerof10.info/

 

IAAF Diamond League, Oslo, Norway, June 4

At a meeting which tends to be the most popular for Brits among the events on the IAAF’s premier series, the contingent produced some encouraging displays.

Swansea’s David Greene (Malcolm Arnold) equalled his season’s best performance in the 400m hurdles. The World Championships finalist started a lot less aggressively than he did in Ostrava a week earlier and finished strongly for third in 49.05 in a race won by world champion Kerron Clement.

Liverpool Harrier Michael Rimmer (Norman Poole) finished fourth in the 800m in a UK-leading time of 1:44.98, the second fastest clocking of his career. In a race won with a world-leading mark from Kenya’s David Rudisha of 1:42.04, Rimmer timed his finish well and was ahead of 2009 world silver medallist Alfred Kirwa Yego and European champion Bram Som of Netherlands.

Liverpool Harrier Jack Meredith improved his UK junior 110m hurdles record to 13.32 to move to equal seventh on the world junior all-time lists. The world youth silver medallist improved the UK under-20 record from 13.36. Enfield & Haringey’s James McLean finished fourth in a PB of 13.97.

Olympic 400m champion Christine Ohuruogu (Loyd Cowan) finished fourth in the 400m in 50.98 – just a tenth outside her Power of 10-leading mark.

Mark Lewis-Francis (Linford Christie) was sixth in the heats of the 100m in 10.24 (+1.2) but did not progress to the final.

Andy Baddeley (Andy Hobdell), a former winner of the famous Dream Mile, clocked 4:00.66 for 12th in this year’s race..

Meanwhile, Brits were in action in the non-Diamond League events too.

Celia Brown finished fifth in the 800m in 2:02.57, just ahead of Shaftesbury Barnet’s Marilyn Okoro (Ayo Falola), who took sixth in 2:02.80 in her first race of the season.

Morpeth’s Nick McCormick was the first Brit home in the 1500m, finishing fifth in a season’s best of 3:39.76. Kent’s Jermaine Mays was sixth in 3:39.84, just ahead of New Marske’s Ricky Stevenson, who clocked 3:40.31.

http://www.diamondleague-oslo.com/en/Live-StartlistsResults/Overview/

 

International Flanders Athletics Meeting, Oordegem, Belgium, June 5

A host of season’s bests were achieved by the Brits at this popul;ar Belgian meet.

Chris Baillie placed second in the 110m hurdles, running 13.63 (-0.7), with Gianni Frankis finishing third in 13.83. They move up to third and fifth equal on the Power of 10 rankings respectively.

Lee McConnell ran her quickest time of the year so far with 51.63 to win the women’s 400m. She remains in second in the Power of 10 rankings but closes the gap on Christine Ohuruogu.

Leigh Lennon improved on her time from the Loughborough International by a hundredth of a second when finishing eighth in the 800m to cement her fifth position in the  rankings.

There were plenty of other season’s bests from the British contingent: Richard Yates ran 50.81 to place second in the 400m hurdles, Ed Aston was fourth with a 1:48.21 in the 800m and Alastair Hay won the 1500m in 3:42.66.

http://www.thepowerof10.info/results/results.aspx?meetingid=36091

 

Weitsprung-Meeting der Weltklasse, Bad Langensalza, Germany, June 5

Jade Johnson jumped up to second on the Power of 10 long jump rankings with 6.39m. This was a one centimetre improvement on her performance at the CAU Inter-Counties the previous weekend but came this time with a legal following wind.

http://www.thepowerof10.info/results/results.aspx?meetingid=38648

 

Sparkassen Gala, Regensburg, Germany, June 5

Laura Turner (Linford Christie) moved clocked a season’s best 11.44 (-0.4) in the final of the 100m in a meeting that was attended by a number of Britain’s top sprinters. She moves up to equal third in this year’s UK rankings. Elaine O’Neill (Tom Crick) and Katherine Endacott also were fifth and sixth with 11.57 and 11.69 respectively.

James Ellington took victory in the 100m A race in 10.28 (0.1), narrowly beating Tyrone Edgar (10.29) into second.

There were also season’s best performances for Christian Malcolm (Dan Pfaff) and Marlon Devonish (Tony Lester) in the 200m. Devonish went to third on the UK rankings with 20.82 in finishing second, while Malcolm ran 20.89 (0.0) to win a separate race with his first 200m performance of the year. Leon Baptiste, who already heads the UK rankings, won section three in 20.79 (0.0), just ahead of Jeffrey Lawal-Balogun (Clarence Callender), who was third with 20.87.

The male sprinters teamed up to form two competitive 4x100m teams, which placed second and third. The quartet of Baptiste, Edgar, Devonish and Malcolm ran the quicker time of 38.80, but Lawal-Balogun, Craig Pickering (Malcolm Arnold), Elligton and Leevan Yearwood were not far behind in 38.89.

http://www.thepowerof10.info/results/results.aspx?meetingid=38649

 

BAL Premiership, Hendon, June 5

IN a discipline that has been among Britain’s greatest success stories this year, David Hughes moved to fourth on the Power of 10 rankings in the 400m hurdles with 50.35.

The former sprint hurdler, who moved up to 400m flat last season, continued with his excellent debut season at this discipline by coming within 0.35 seconds of the European Championships B qualifier on only his third attempt over the barriers.

In second place, the resurgence of Richard Davenport (Nick Dakin) gathered pace as he ran 50.71 – his fastest time for six years.

There were World Junior Championships qualifying performances for Daniel Pembroke and Deji Tobais. Pembroke was just short of his PB set last year when he won the javelin with 70.04m. Tobais, second behind Ryan Scott’s 10.37 in the 100m, clocked 10.48 (+1.1). Scott also set a PB in the 200m of 21.23.

Mick Jones set a world veteran record in the M45 category with 70.36m in the hammer behind Alex Smith (70.93m) and Mark Dry (70.85m).

Brett Morse (Nigel Bevan), the discus No.1 this year, continued his winning form with 59.19m.

 

BAL Division 1, Cardiff, June 5

Conrad Williams, one of the quartet who won silver medals from Britain at last year’s World Championships, was just 0.13 seconds outside his PB when taking the 400m in 45.76 just ahead of Robert Tobin’s 46.26  (Todd Bennett).

Moving to second on the UK rankings behind Michael Bingham, his league record time achieved the European B qualifier, while the A standard is 45.55.

Scott Overall clocked a winning 8:20.25 in the 3000m, the distance at which he represented Britain in the IAAF World Indoor Championships earlier this year.

Having been denied a World Junior qualifier by an illegal following wind at Loughborough last month, Kieran Showler-Davis was again thwarted a breeze – this time 2.0m/s against. He clocked 21.43 as he continued in his quest for the 21.10 needed, while he also won the 100m in 10.63.

 

BAL Division 4, Ashford, June 5

GB 4x400m relay runner Dale Garland won his seasonal debut 400m in 47.30.

 

UK Women’s Premier Division, Birmingham, June 5

Shot-putter Rebecca Peake and triple jumper Nadia Williams extended their leads at the top of the Power of 10 rankings. Peake threw 16.11m, while Williams went out to 13.29m.

Meanwhile, UK hammer No.1 Zoe Derham recorded 64.34m to come within a couple of metres of her season’s best.

Javelin thrower Laura Whittingham made it three times out of three over 50 metres this season with 51.68m.

Former UK junior pole vault record-holder Sally Scott (Steve Rippon) cleared 3.80m to place third in the pole vault.

Another junior, Shaunna Thompson, won the 100m with 11.79 into a strong headwind of 1.4m/s.

 

UK Women’s League Division 2, Cardiff

Sally Peake climbed to equal sixth on the Power of 10 rankings, adding a massive 40cm to her PB with 4.10m.

 

McCain UK Mountain Running Challenge, Kendal, June 6

Mercia’s Simon Bailey took victory by 15 seconds in 48:10 over the men’s 12km course with 2500ft of elevation and descent. Victoria Wilkinson won the 9km (1800ft) women’s race in 41:23 by seven seconds.

 

BMC Regional Races, Birmingham University, June 2

City of Sheffield’s Joseph Lancaster topped the Power of 10 800m rankings for under-15s when he finished second in the E race.

http://www.thepowerof10.info/results/results.aspx?meetingid=35636

 Watford Open Graded, Watford, June 2

Jessica Judd set a UK under-17 3000m best of 9:15.61 when she finished 10th in a mixed-gender race. The Chelmsford athlete was more than two seconds under the old mark held by Emily Pidgeon. The world junior qualifying mark is 9:15.00, but she is marginally too young to compete at that event. Behind Judd were notable personal bests from under-20 Grace Nicholls (9:33.63) and under-17 Ruth Haynes 9:40.19.

http://www.thepowerof10.info/results/results.aspx?meetingid=36372

 BMC Gold Standard Races, Stretford, June 2

Two athletes were marginally outside the qualifying mark for the IAAF World Junior Championships. Stuart Ross leads the Power of 10 rankings thanks to his second in his 800m in 1:48.72, while Harry Ellis’s winning 3:45.61 puts him behind Tom Farrell and Niall Brooks on the rankings.

Ross was just behind the rapidly emerging Mukhtar Mohammed (1:47.82), a former footballer who has improved his best from 1:53 this season and now stands at seventh on the Power of 10 rankings.

http://www.thepowerof10.info/results/results.aspx?meetingid=37430