26 May 2009

Farah Motors to record time
London, 25 May 2009

Mo Farah (Newham & Essex) ran a brilliant race at the BUPA London 10,000m with his third UK record of the year with a time of 27:50 on the streets of London. After a fantastic indoor season, Farah translated that form on to the roads for a gun-to-tape victory lowering the previous record by five seconds which has stood since 1984.

After twice lowering the indoor 3000m record this season, all outdoor distance records look well within his capabilities during the summer. The 26-year-old towed a world-class field, including Uganda’s Boniface Kiprop and Ukraine’s Sergey Lebid through a fast early pace, which was on schedule for a sub-28 clocking.

After 3km, Farah’s fast early pace had dropped the rest of the field with the exception of Samuel Kosgei from Kenya who was content to run in Farah’s slipstream. However, just before 7km, Farah finally dropped Kosgei and continued to pull away with his relentless pace to break the record on a moderately challenging course with the Kenyan clocking a useful 28:03. 

Mo has just returned from six weeks at a UKA Training Camp at altitude in Font Romeu in France and this clearly paid dividends. He said “"The crowd really helped. They made a big difference cheering all the way. Now I want to run well over the summer and keep moving on. My aim is to get the British 5000m record, but more importantly I want to run well in the big championships." Britain’s Phil Wicks ( Harriers) turned in another good performance to finish in fourth place 28:55, five seconds ahead of Boniface Kiprop of Uganda.

New Zealand’s Kim Smith was a run-away winner of the women’s race as she won by more than two-minutes. Hatti Dean (Hallamshire Harriers) came through strongly for second, passing the Olympic marathon champion Constantina Tomescu from Romania in the closing stages. British runner Justina Heslop (Clapham Chasers) finished in a fine fifth place in 34:43.

CAU Inter Counties

Bedford, 24/25 May 2009

HIGHLIGHTS from the first day included a season’s best over 200m for Shaftesbury’s Lee McConnell with 23.29 (-0.7m/s). Jeffrey Lawal-Balogun (Kent AC) won the men’s 100m with 10.46 (-1.3m/s) was just outside his PB of 10.4 while his team mate, Conrad Williams ran an impressive 46.01 which was a lifetime best.

Kerry Harty (Windsor, Slough, Eton & Hounslow) ran 16:21.59 to win the 5000m which was her best ever. Another to record a PB was Shaun Collins (Enfield & Haringey) in the 3000mSC with 9:12.47. In the women’s long jump Sarah Wellstead (Sutton & District) recorded a season’s best of 6.13m while U20 Lorraine Ugen (Blackheath & Bromley) set a new PB of 6.07.

In the men’s shot put, U23 Jamie Stevenson (Newham & Essex) was another to set a PB with a best of 17.50m. Laura Douglas, Sale, sent the hammer out to 63.17, which was less than a metre below her best.

The second day results included a 13.20m triple jump from  Shaftesbury’s Nadia Williams and an excellent performance from U23 Eilidh Child (Pitreavie AAC) who won the women’s 400m hurdles in a huge PB of 55.52, just 0.02 outside the UKA A standard for this summer’s IAAF World Championships in Berlin.

Brits find Brazil a hard nut to crack

Belém, Brazil 24 May 2009

RICK YATES (Trafford AC) improved substantially on his season’s best of 50.83 over 400m hurdles. Yates was fourth in 50.13 in a race won by Jamaica’s Isa Phillips in a world-leading 48.36.

In the high jump, world and Olympic finalist Martyn Bernard (Wakefield Harriers) improved his season’s best to 2.20m in a competition won by Jesse Williams, USA with a clearance of 2.33m.

New pastures for Meadows

Rabat, Morocco 23 May 2009

JENNY MEADOWS (Wigan AC) had a fantastic start to the season at the 2nd Meeting International Mohammed VI in Rabat, Morocco. The 28-year-old won the 800m in 2:01.78 and gave Olympic champion, Pamela Jelimo from Kenya her first ever defeat and also finished ahead of Yekaterina Kostetskaya from Russia who boasts a lifetime best of 1:56.67.

Olympic 400m champion, Christine Ohuruogu (Newham & Essex) finished runner-up over 200m behind Debbie Ferguson-McKenzie from Bahamas, clocking 23.27 to McKenzie’s 23.08. European indoor finalist Donna Fraser (Croydon Harriers) was fifth (23.88), whille Montell Douglas (Blackheath & Bromley) and Anyika Onuora (Liverpool Harriers) were seventh and eighth, clocking 24.38 and 24.55 respectively.

In the 1500m, world junior 1500m champion Stephanie Twell set a season’s best of 4:09.35 to finish in seventh place with her Aldershot, Farnham & District team-mate Emma Pallant just behind in a lifetime best of 4:09.96 which was her first performance under the 4:10 barrier.

After a good victory in Pavia, Harry Aikines-Aryeetey (Sutton & District) was disappointed to finish in fifth place in the 100m in 10.51 while Simeon Williamson (Highgate Harriers) failed to finish the 100m, before clocking a below-par 21.73 in the 200m.

Halle in a day’s work

Halle, Germany 23/24 May 2009

THE Halle Throwing Festival had many British athletes competing and the best performance by a British athlete was undoubtedly Sale athlete, Sarah Holt’s, UK U23 hammer record of 65.33m.

Birchfield’s Eden Francis was seventh in the shot put with a PB of 16.19m, which added seven centimetres to her previous best. She followed that up with a season’s best of 55.92m in the discus,

Sophie Hitchon (Sale Harriers), the UK junior record holder for the hammer finished in third place in the junior event with 60.59m, which was her fifth competition over the 60m line this season. Zoe Derham (Birchfield Harriers) was 11th with 66.74m in the senior event in a competition won by Poland’s Anita Wlodarczyk with a lifetime best of 75.39m

Elswhere, Mervyn Luckwell (Marshall Milton Keynes) was fifth in the javelin with 75.42 and Curtis Griffith-Parker (Cambridge Harriers) was third in the junior discus with 57.91m and Peter Smith (Kingston upon Hull AC) was fifth in the junior hammer with a throw of 67.70m.