2 May 2017 

British Universities Championships, Bedford, 29 April – 1 May 2017

Loughborough University once again took the spoils at the BUCS Outdoor Championships, Taylor Campbell (coach: John Pearson) leading the way, winning the men’s hammer in a Championship Best Performance (CBP) and personal best of 73.40m. That distance is a UK age 20 best and also his second European U23 Championship, Commonwealth Games and World University qualifying mark of the season.

On the track, Jess Judd (Mick Judd) translated her impressive cross country form to winning performances over 800m and 5,000m as she contested four races in three days. The latter was her first track 5,000m, and, after being seeded in the B race by the organisers, Judd lapped the whole field, with her 15:55.39 time an exceptional showing for gold.

The 800m was a much closer affair, as a dip was required to get the better of Mhairi Hendry (William Parker) by just one hundredth of a second. In the men’s race, there was a massive PB for Loughborough’s Jonathan Monk (William Winter) as he took the title in 1.48.68, ahead of teammate James McMurray’s (Deborah Steer) 1.49.27 run.

The 400m races saw sensational winning performances, Cameron Chalmers (James Hillier) breaking the CBP with a personal best and Guernsey record of 45.71, his fourth consecutive BUCS title. In the women’s race Zoey Clark (Eddie McKenna) finally won BUCS gold after three previous bronzes, her winning time of 52.75 her second best ever.

Jonathan Hopkins broke the CBP in the 3,000m steeplechase as he took a commanding victory in 8.39.42, inside the Welsh Commonwealth Games standard for the event.

There were CBPs in the field too; Adele Nicoll (Vladimir Zinchenko) won the shot put with 16.25m; Adam Hague (Trevor Fox) won the men’s pole vault with a first time clearance of 5.35m, also a CBP; and Harry Hughes (Michael McNeill) nearly achieved the same feat, winning the javelin but falling just 11cm short of the CBP with his 76.81m throw.

In the women’s wheelchair 800m, Hannah Cockroft (Jenni Banks) produced a world class 1.59.44 to win the race. She is the only woman in the world to have ever gone faster, only on the one occasion in 2016. Cockroft also competed over 100m in wet conditions, achieving a time of 19.94 (-2.8). Compatriot Carly Tait (Banks) also completed the 100m and 800m double, recording times of 21.77 and 2:22.31.

Joshua Bain (David Parker), meanwhile threw a PB in the men’s F37 ambulant shot with a distance of 11.37m to win gold, adding 23cm to his previous best. F38 Amy Wareing (Jim Edwards) was victorious in the women’s discus with a best of 23.75m, as well as the shot with 7.46m. Vanessa Wallace (Alison O’Riordan) won in the shot and on her debut in the discus, whilst there was a 400m personal best for Zak Skinner (David Hull) (T13) with 50.80 – his fastest time in 2016 was 53.62.

Results: http://bucs.org.uk/page.asp?section=19704&sectionTitle=Results

Tom Jones Memorial Florida, USA, 28 April

A plethora of Brits were in action in Florida, with the 400m runners perhaps showing the best form.

Olympic finalist Matthew Hudson-Smith (Tony Hadley) won the men’s race in 45.52, with Dwayne Cowan (Lloyd Cowan) third in a personal best of 45.75. In the women’s race Emily Diamond (Jared Deacon) and Anyika Onoura (Rana Reider) were second and third, posting strong season’s bests of 51.85 and 51.92 respectively, with both times inside the 52.10 qualifying mark for August’s IAAF World Championships in London.

In the sprints, Harry Aikines-Aryeetey (Benke Blomkvist) posted another windy sub 10, winning his heat of the 100m in 9.97 (3.3). Ojie Edoburun (Jonas Dodoo) clocked 10.07 in another heat but with the same wind reading, whilst James Dasaolu (Cowan) ran a legal 10.18 (0.4). There was also a quality run by Bianca Williams (Cowan) in the 200m as she ran a London 2017 qualifying standard of 22.83 (-0.3) into a slight headwind.

Results: http://www.halfmiletiming.com/live-results/2017/4.28.17uftomjones/results/

Multistars, Florence, Italy, 28-29 April

Katie Stainton (Kelly Sotherton) finished fifth in Italy, missing her personal best by an agonising 11 points with a score of 5766. Unfortunately Morgan Lake (Aston Moore) no marked in both the shot put and long jump, but did manage a promising javelin PB of 41.93m.

Results: http://www.multistars.it/Multistars_2017/index_2017.htm

Drake Relays, Iowa, USA, 27-29 Apr 17

In a world class sprint hurdles line up, Cindy Ofili got the better of the older sister Tiffany Porter  for the first time as she finished sixth in a season’s best 12.92 (1.0) as world record holder Kendra Harrison took the win in 12.56.

In the men’s race, Andrew Pozzi (Benke Blomkvist) was only beaten by Olympic champion Omar MacLeod as he finished second in 13.24 (1.8) and it could well have been a different story if he hadn’t have clipped hurdle nine. Lorraine Ugen (Shawn Jackson) was also in action as she claimed the win in the long jump with a best of 6.49m (3.0).

Results: https://www.tfrrs.org/results/51616_f.html

Scottish 10,000m Championships, Glasgow, 28 April

Welshman Kristian Jones took victory in Glasgow, smashing his personal best with a 29.16.39 time, well clear of Mike Christoforou (Malcolm Blackmore) who also obliterated his PB with a 29.59.07. Logan Rees (Ron Morrison) of Fife was the first Scot home in 30.26.22 with teammate Annabel Simpson (Steven Doig) taking the women’s title in 35.33.46.

Results: http://powerof10.info/results/results.aspx?meetingid=196825