BWAA / CP Sport Grand Prix, Stoke Mandeville

With the World Para Athletics Championships a matter of days away, a few athletes used the event in Stoke Mandeville as the final opportunity to compete prior to event getting underway, with Hannah Cockroft (coach: Jenni Banks) and Vanessa Wallace (Alison O’Riordan) producing impressive displays which will give them confidence.

Cockroft set a wind-assisted 17.09 (+2.3) in the 100m as she continued her strong form as she heads into her defence of her three world titles. She also produced a time of 2:04.05 in the 800m as the wind picked up once again.

Elsewhere, Wallace threw 7.38m in the shot put to have another consistent series with 7m throws.

English Schools Championships, Birmingham, 7-8 July

Khahisa Mhlanga (Mick Judd) broke the Championship Best Performance (CBP) to win the senior girls 800m in fine style, her 2.04.40 run seeing her finish over two seconds clear of her nearest rival.

The senior boy’s 110mH was a thrilling affair, Cameron Fillery (Trevor Simcox) of Sussex eventually prevailing in 13.76 (+0.6m/s), just two hundredths of a second ahead of runner-up Jason Nicholson (Janice Kaufman), with Tre Thomas (Eliska Binks) winning bronze with 13.89. In the longer hurdles event Alex Knibbs (Julie Feeney) secured gold with a strong 52.09 clocking.

In the high jump European Junior Championship bound Tom Gale (Dennis Doyle) produced an impressive 2.22m clearance to win by 7cm; he’ll be looking for a podium place in Grosseto next week.

Another athlete who’s heading to those European Junior Championships is Jake Norris (Paul Dickenson) and he finalised his preparations with a near perfect performance, winning the senior boy’s hammer with a CBP 76.84m throw to win by a full 10 metres.

Results: http://www.esaa.net/v2/2017/tf/tf17intro.php

BMC Grand Prix, Loughborough, 8 July

Junior Markhim Lonsdale (Keith Lonsdale) continued his terrific 2017 form with a 1.47.07 run, just one tenth of a second down on his personal best effort at the Sportscity BMC meeting six weeks ago. The Crook athlete will head to the European Junior Championships in Grosseto, Italy, in 10 days’ time full of confidence.

That performance by Lonsdale also dragged his fellow u20 Ben Greenwood (Catriona Tavendale) to a personal best of 1.48.71 in second. In the women’s race Charlene Thomas (Aaron Thomas) honed her speed with a seasons’ best 2.03.87 winning performance.

Results: http://powerof10.info/results/results.aspx?meetingid=202603

Meeting Pro Athlé de Sotteville les Rouen, France, 7 July

Less than a week on from Team Trials Perri Shakes-Drayton (Chris Zah) produced a fine season’s best with a second place finish in France. In a tight race the Thames Valley Harrier enjoyed a great battle with Brazilian Geisa Aparecida Coutinho, who eventually took the win in 51.93. Shakes Drayton crossed the line in 52.37, just 0.11 ahead of Anyika Onoura (Rana Reider) who finished third.

Bethan Partridge and Emma Nuttall (both Fuzz Caan) shared fourth place in the high jump, both clearing 1.80m, with Nikki Manson (Ken Allan) also clearing the same height but having to settle for sixth on countback.

Results: http://powerof10.info/results/results.aspx?meetingid=210807

Gyulai Istvan Memorial, Hungary, 4 July

Nick Miller (Tore Gustafsson) produced a very solid 76.25m throw in the men’s hammer, part of the IAAF Hammer Challenge Series, good for fifth place. The recently crowned British champion is in a rich vein of form heading into London 2017.

Results: http://powerof10.info/results/results.aspx?meetingid=199037