30 April 2012

British middle and long distance runners had a sensational Sunday night in Stanford.

Payton Jordan Cardinal Invitational, Stanford, April 29

Andy Baddeley (coach: Andew Hobdell) set an Olympic A standard (3:35.50) in winning the 1500m in 3:35.19 and went to the top of the McCain Power of Ten rankings. Both David Bishop (James Thie) and Chris O’Hare (Steve Gulley), in seventh (3:37.51) and ninth (3:37.95) respectively, ran their first sub-3:40s and in turn smashed their PBs and set Olympic B standards (3:38.00) to go second and third in the rankings.

European 10,000m silver medallist Chris Thompson (John Nuttall) ran his second fastest ever 5000m to finish fourth in 13:15.21, immediately ahead of Thomas Farrell (Dave Smith) in fifth with 13:15.31, which  was a 11 second PB. Both times were well inside the Olympic A standard of 13:20.0 and puts them one and two in the McCain Power of Ten rankings.

Mitch Goose (Tim Ash) set a PB of 13:34.41 to place him sixth in the outdoor rankings.

Julia Bleasdale (Nic Bideau) carried on her great run of form to make a sensational 10,000m debut with 31:29.57 to finish fourth and run way inside the Olympic A standard of 31:45.00 and go top of the McCain Power of Ten rankings and go fifth on the UK all-time lists.

Charlotte Purdue (Mick Woods) in 11th set a PB by half a minute and her 32:03.55 goes second in the rankings and is inside the Olympic B standard of 32:10.0.

In the 5000m, Olympic steeplechaser Barbara Parker (Sean Burris) set a PB of 12 seconds when finishing fourth and went top of the McCain Power of Ten rankings, while Commonwealth 1500m medallist Stephanie Twell (Woods) continued her return from serious injury last year to finish fifth in 15:15.24 to go second in the rankings. More importantly both times are inside the Olympic A standard of 15:20.0.

Andy Vernon (Nic Bideau) smashed his 10,000m PB with 27:53.65 to set an Olympic B standard and go top of the McCain Power of Ten rankings.

In his first steeplechase of 2012, Rob Mullett (David Leach) set a PB by eight seconds when he finished sixth in 8:32.80 and just missed the Olympic B standard of 8:32.00 to go top of the McCain Power of Ten rankings. The Aviva/UK champion of the past three years Luke Gunn (Bud Baldaro) went second in the rankings with his 15th place in 8:43.05. Tom Wade (Geoff Watkin) won a seperate race in 8:43.26 to go third in the rankings.

Results: http://rtspt.com/events/stanford/pjc12/

Steve Scott Invitational, Irvine, April 29

There was a great double for Chris Clarke  (Nick Dakin) who won the 200m in a big PB of 20.65 to equal the Olympic B standard and go second in the McCain Power of Ten rankings. He also won the 400m in 46.02 to go fourth in the rankings. Andy Robertson (Sam Robertson) won the 100m in 10.31 to go fourth in the rankings.

Though they didn’t improve their season’s bests there were consistent performances in the field. Mark Dry (Derek Evely) won the men’s hammer with 73.00m. Sophie Hitchon (Evely) won the women’s event with 68.52m.

Results: http://www.flashwest.com/12Meets/12Scott/