20th February 2012
Weekend Update
20 February 2012
The vast majority of top British athletes competed at the Aviva Grand Prix in Birmingham, but there were notable performances elsewhere, too.
Wokingham Half Marathon, February 19
Olympic marathon hopefuls Phil Wicks (coach: Matt Whiting) and Liz Yelling went to the top of the McCain Power of Ten rankings for the half-marathon with their respective victories in 63:14 and 72:58 times.
Results: http://www.wokinghamhalfmarathon.co.uk/WokinghamHM2012ResultsV1.pdf
Birmingham Games, February 19
Robbie Grabarz (Fuzz Ahmed) continued his world-class form to win the high jump with 2.30m, his third best ever mark. Nicola Sanders (Tony Lester) bounced back to form with a big season’s best over 400m of 52.48, her fastest indoors for five years.
800m runner Marilyn Okoro (Ayo Falola) showed good speed in second with 53.33 to go fourth in the rankings.
Sydney Track Classic, Sydney Olympic Park, 18 February
Double world champion and multiple World Record holder Hannah Cockroft (Peter Eriksson) further reduced her T34 400m global best with a time of 59.99 at the Sydney Track Classic. She has gone quicker (58.59), but not in a ratified event.
She finished fifth overall in the mixed classification race with T54 Shelly Woods (Peter Eriksson) finishing fourth in her second quickest time ever (57.28).
"I’m very pleased with the progress of Hannah (Cockroft) and Shelly (Woods) throughout their lengthy two month training camp in Australia,” said UKA Head Coach Peter Eriksson. “Their good results have been performed across a number of events even though they’re just training through as part of their preparation for the Paralympic Games. Hannah’s World Record and Shelly’s second best time ever over 400m are a great indication that we’re on the right track in our plan for even greater things to come."
“I’m really happy with how things are going out here,” said Cockroft who, along with Woods, has just over a week left in Australia. “It’s just proving that all the hard work being done is really being put into practice out on the track. I know that there’s still a lot of things that need to be done, and I was pretty annoyed when I got to the end of the race as I felt like I could have given it more, but it’s only February and I’m still in winter training mode, so to be breaking World Records now is awesome as I know that I’m on the right track to smash up my races at the Games!
Cockroft will open her UK outdoor season in May while Woods will next compete in the Virgin London Marathon on 22 April.
Results: http://www.athletics.com.au/home/competition/events/sydney_track_classic/results
Ghent, February 18
Aviva UK Trials winner Dwain Chambers was third in a time of 6.70 after a 6.64 heat.
Results: http://www.ifam.be/index.php?option=com_wrapper&view=wrapper&Itemid=175
Scottish National Cross Country Championships, Falkirk, February 18
There were comfortable senior victories for Derek Hawkins (Lawrie Spence) and Freya Murray (Steve Jones) who both retained their Scottish titles.
Results: http://www.thepowerof10.info/results/results.aspx?meetingid=56910&pagenum=3
Welsh National Cross Country Championships, St Fagans, February 18
Dewi Griffiths (Kevin Evans) and Caryl Jones both easily won their first ever senior welsh cross-country titles.
Results: http://www.thepowerof10.info/results/results.aspx?meetingid=56538
Nevers, France, February 17/18
Following superb recent performances from Holly Bleasdale (Julien Raffalli), Britain’s impressive depth at pole vaulting was once again evident with a 1-2 in the women’s event. Kate Dennison (Scott Simpson) set a season’s best of 4.52m which was matched by Kate Byres (Raffalli) as they went second and third in the McCain Power of Ten rankings.
Byres’ mark was one of the highest junior vaults of all-time, a PB by 15cm and easily a British junior record. The 4.52m for both athletes equals the UKA standard for the World Indoor Championships.
ally Peake (Scott Simpson) smashed her Welsh record with 4.42m for fifth place which puts her fifth in the UK All-Time lists.
Steven Lewis (Dan Pfaff) went top of the McCain Power of Ten rankings in the men’s pole vault when he finished second to France’s Renaud Lavillenie’s world leading mark of 5.93m. Lewis’s 5.72m mark equalled the UKA s standard for Istanbul.
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