Long 'Flower' weekend action

Well, it's about time we kicked this off in sight of a very interesting long weekend as we're swinging round to the heart of the spring, with May 'Flower' Day blooming around on Sunday.In large, the main action is gathered again across the Atlantic as the Penn Relays, the Payton Jordan Invitational at Stanford, the Drake Relays and great Steve Scott's Invitational comprise a appetite-whetting menu over the next few days.

In a British perspective, European silver medallist Chris Thompson comes on the stage to pick up the mantle of the leading character as he will be attempting to rewrite Jon Brown's long-standing UK record of 27:18.14 over 10000m, on the very track that he marked his own major breakthrough into the top tiers of distance running.

Full starting lists for Stanford:
http://www.rtspt.com/events/stanford/pjc11/accepted_entries.htm

The 'Flower' long weekend has already got off to some excellent news from California as Brett Morse has laid down a new UK U23 marker of 64.49m at a low-key meet in California.

That also doubles as a second B standard for Daegu this season and came in the fifth round, having teed up his new best with an also solid 63.48m right in the third attempt.

British athletes competing at the Steve Scott Inv in Irvine:

MEN
100m Dwain Chambers, Marlon Devonish, Rikki Fifton, Christian Malcolm
200m Gianni Frankis, Martyn Rooney
400m Rob Tobin
110mh Gianni Frankis
400mh Tom Phillips, Rhys Williams
DT Brett Morse, Carl Myerscough

Full entry list:
http://www.flashwest.com/results/2011track/SScottEntries.pdf

I also understand that Andy Turner will be involved in a sprint relay at the Penn Relays in Philadelphia but don't know who the others making up his team will be, since the likes of Chambers, Devonish and Malcolm will be competing in Irvine.

23-year-old Lewis Timmins set a SB of 14:08.42 for third in the men's 5000m during the second day of the Drake Relays in Des Moines, Iowa, so looks en route to make his way inside the 14 mins barrier soon.

10000m at Stanford could be a high standard as I see Chris Solinsky along with fellow americans Tim Nelson & Rob Curtis are also down. Also there are a number of sub 28min Men with Jacob Korir, Juan Carlos Romero along with some handy japanese runners including Oda and Takabayashi amongst others.

Chris Solinsky will be racing only as pacemaker to help Tim Nelson, as well as possibly Matt Tengenkamp (he hasn't confirmed himself as a starter yet), to get the A qualifying standard for Daegu and get himself a feel of the pace. I understand that the target pace will be around 27:20 which, in my view, will suit Chris Thompson perfectly in the pursuit of a new British record over the distance.

By the way, Brett Morse's series for an eventual fourth at the Chula Vista Throws meet was 60.44, 58.47, 63.48, 60.89, 64.49, 62.31.

Winner was Erik Cadee in a PB of 66.95m, top marker in the world this season, followed by fellow Dutchman Rutger Smith at 65.60m.

lsabre wrote:I also understand that Andy Turner will be involved in a sprint relay at the Penn Relays in Philadelphia but don't know who the others making up his team will be, since the likes of Chambers, Devonish and Malcolm will be competing in Irvine.

'GBR' 4x100m - Ryan Scott/Andy Turner/David Telfer-James/Alex Al-Ameen

Thanks, JJimBoJames, a shame there won't be a British women's medley relay as it has traditionally been in the last few editions of the meeting.

I've just taken a look at the relay line-ups at the Penn Relays and I can tell they're sparkling with stars. Where to begin really? Just check for yourself!

http://www.philly.com/philly/blogs/pretzel/Justin-Gatlin-Asafa-Powell-to-go-head-to-head-at-Franklin-Field.html

The main event of the weekend on the domestic scene is arguably the BUCS Championships at Bedford with many of Britain's up-and-coming athletes coming out to measure their early shape before they engage the main outdoor season.

Among others, showing up at Bedford will be European 400m hurdles bronze medallist Perri Shakes-Drayton who will be gauging her speed over the flat distance nonetheless, UK 100m record holder Montell Douglas, former World Youth dash champion Asha Phillip on her full competitive return, World U20 400m hurdles finalist Jack Green, second fastest indoor U20 over 800m Guy Learmonth, UK Indoor 1500m champion Nick McCormick and Ricky Stevenson on some 800m speedwork, last weekend's revelation on the road Lauren Howarth going in the 5000m, Meghan Beesley in the 400m hurdels on a good start in the States recently and European U20 110m hurdles champion Lawrence Clarke alongside swiftly rising youngsters Jack Meredith and Andy Rozzi, so plenty to look forward to.

Track action preview:
http://www.bucs.org.uk/news.asp?itemid=7651&itemTitle=BUCS+Outdoor+Athletics+-+Track+Preview&section=8&sectionTitle=News+from+BUCS

Field action preview:
http://www.bucs.org.uk/news.asp?itemid=7672&itemTitle=BUCS+Outdoor+Athletics+-+Field+preview&section=8&sectionTitle=News+from+BUCS

Jack Green has defied the strong headwind down the home straight to get off to a flying start of a new PB of 50.30 secs in the heats of the men's 400m hurdles in Bedford, promising fireworks tomorrow in the final under hopefully kinder conditions.

Jack also admits that he ran bad technically in so far as doing negative splits in the race (!!) as the new track is very quick so is looking to improve a great deal in the final. His previous best held at 50.49 secs from the final of the World U20 champs in Moncton last summer.

By the way, that was actually just a fraction outside the championships record held by a certain Chris Rawlinson.

Meghan Beesley was easily the fastest qualifier out of the women's equivalent in 59.36 secs. She was actually due to ran the flat but switched to the hurdles late.

The wind readings in the men's 100m heats ranged in the -1m/sec region but it feels a lot stronger by several accounts around... But a certain heat of the women's dash was into a -1.9m/sec though!

Montell Douglas was the fastest out of the women's dash qualifying round in 11.91 secs (0.4).

Nicola's version of the Royal Wedding partying yesterday... Could she be rehearsing to be draped round in Union Jacks in Daegu? ;-)

http://twitpic.com/4rby82

Tesni Ward, not 20 until October, got off to a dream start of a big PB of 50.58m in the javelin in Bedford to go straight to the top of the UK lists. For good measure, that was her first ever launch over the 50m mark to erase her former best of 48.87m from last season.

As I see, by the way, she's coached by former World U20 champion Dave Parker who seems to be taking some steady early strides into this direction.

Well, so far, this has got to go definitely down as the result of the weekend from a British point of view!

Tiffany Offili has kept pace with her meteoric rise on the global stage since switching to Britain as she saw off great Lolo Jones in comprehensive manner in the main race of the women's 100m hurdles earlier on at the Drake Relays, storming to a superb but unfortunately narrowly windy 12.66 secs (2.2m/sec).

What with a strong headwind last weekend (13.22, -1.9) and with that slightly illegal tailwind this once, the European Indoor silver medallist over 60m hurdles amazingly still misses out on the qualifying A standard for Daegu but that will hardly matter to her tonight following maybe her greatest international victory of her career, firmly demonstrating that she's going to be a force to reckon with this summer.

Without a doubt, though, that run comes to offer a sound indication that she is definitely in at least low 12.7 secs shape at the moment so it looks like a matter of time before Angie Thorp's UK record of 12.80 secs, set in Atlanta 1996, finally makes way. But I've got to say that despite living a charming life so many times through the years, this record still hangs on there one way or another!

Jones, on the other hand, made a late decision to toe the starting line on the back of a quite lengthy injury lay-off and had to settle for runner-up some way behind in 12.80 secs, still an effective sound improvement on her season opener of 12.74 (3.3m/sec) last weekend. I'm very confident she won't take long to settle into her stride and start pouring on the pace over the sticks again.

Ginnie Crawford was third in 12.87 secs as there were quite a few birds down with one stone for the new British star of the hurdles.

But wait, there's more winning news flowing in from Des Moines in Iowa as Shana Cox pips Osaka finalist Mary Wineberg on the line to snatch the women's 400m by the narrowest of margins in 51.78 to 51.79 secs respectively. That also goes as her official best as a Brit to see her move top of the British rankings this season.

Among other scalps collected by Shana today are Shareese Woods and Jamaica's Shereefa Lloyd.

...and there is even more as U23 Chris O'Hare turned in a startling display to nick a superb third in the men's mile in an outdoor best of 3:58.77 a little earlier on, claiming a huge scalp in American mile record holder Alan Webb on a photo-finish decision. Both come up with the same time in the final results as Boaz Lalang (KEN) was a convincing winner not far off in front in 3:58.26.

Jeremy Warriner shows signs that he returns to his very best with a dominant display to clinch the men's 400m in a SB of 45.19 secs in windy conditions. The King is back!

Unfortunately for Shana, though, her time of 51.78 secs comes a day too early to count as an Olympic B qualifier for London next summer as the qualifying period commences tomorrow. Yet, she's not going to take much time to land even the A standard by the shape of her early form.

Nice to see five years of coaching by brian Parkes set Tesni Ward on the road to success, it is so easy to lose sight of ther coach that did all the hard work!

Useful outdoor start for sprinter James Ellington, who made sort of a breakthrough to 10.23 secs over 100m last summer, as he pulled 21.21 secs over 200m at a high school meet in Orlando, Florida, earlier on. I don't know the wind reading yet but sounded like legal.

Forgot to mention, by the way, that the British quartet of Ryan Scott, Andy Turner, David Telfer-James and Alex Al-Ameen came sixth in 40.82 secs in the 4x100m relay at the Penn Relays in Philadelphia.

Winners were the Jamaica outfit through an Asafa Powell, Michael Frater, Nesta Carter and Steve Mullings formation in a world-leading 38.33 secs edging out the USA Red Team of Walter Dix, Wallace Spearmon, Trell Krimmons and Mike Rodgers on the anchor in 38.43 secs.

Guy Learmonth, a top U20 800m prospect, has come out in the press that he never intended to contest the BUCS Championships in the first place unlike what the respective website maintains in its preview. He will be making his season debut at Loughborough next month since he is easing back into training after five weeks rehabilitation.

http://sport.scotsman.com/athletics/Athletics-Lear-a-month-out.6759842.jp

Here's the final lap of the men's mile in the Drake Relays where an aggressive Chris O'Hare held his ground firmly to a superb third in a quality field, getting the scalp of Alan Webb by a fine margin:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jxrihuxzASo

Laura Turner keeps improving weekend after weekend as she is working her way up to the main outdoor season and bagged two more SBs at a low-profile high school meet in Arizona yesterday.

She first won the 100m in a new UK-leading time of 11.52 secs in totally still conditions (0.0m/sec) before making it a brace of top places in 23.91 secs into a strong headwind of -1.5m/sec over 200m, which could have easily been in the 23.7s with a reverse wind of the same intensity. So things look encouraging for her at this early stage.

I understand that Perri Shakes-Drayton has been another non-starter contrary to the BUCS Champs preview following the likes of Guy Learmonth and Asha Phillip.

Meantime, Mick Woods's Louise Small, the European U20 3000m bronze medallist, has just won her debut 10000m in 34:15.35 as conditions remain windy still at the start of the second day of the BUCS in Bedford.

Just to get a feel of the conditions prevailing in Bedford right now, check out this image (take a look at the flags in the image)!!

http://yfrog.com/h8hm0hhcj

Well, let me tell you that Jack Green has stormed to a huge PB and new champs record of 49.55 secs in the semis of the men's 400m hurdles despite a strong crosswind blowing over the arena in Bedford, his first ever ride under 50 secs over the distance. Superb stuff from the youngster that also doubles as a B standard for both Deagu and London - Olympic qualification has begun today! His new mark also sees him surge past Richard Davenport to a huge new UK-leading mark this season.

I'd like to go back a little to Chris O'Hare's superb third place in the mile at the Drake Relays yesterday, a stunning performance in every sense, and say how impressed I've been by his run and attitude. The guy really went for it!

He wasn't intimidated in the least by the weight of a couple of 'heavy' names in the field and even dared take on a certain Boaz Lalang round the top bend going for the win. He may have not pulled it off in the end, as the Kenyan moved up another gear to pull away down the home straight, but the way he applied himself and fought all the way to hold on to third was as magnificent.

I've seen him at least twice more, indoors, this season and this guy looks so aggressive and gutsy, possessing a sound tactical mind at that. He definitely looks like 3:35-3:36 material to me and if he can maintain his form through to the UK Trials he could turn a real factor there.

Jeremy Warriner was pleased with the way he performed in winning the 400m in 45.19 secs in Des Moines yesterday and feels things are falling in place on the way for him.

http://www.desmoinesregister.com/article/20110430/SPORTS020406/110430015/1003/SPORTS/?odyssey=nav|head

Shana Cox snatches win right on the wire from Mary Wineburg in the women's 400m yesterday at the Drake Relays:

http://www.flotrack.org/coverage/238690-2011-Drake-Relays/video/487766-W-400-F01-Special

Jeremy Warriner dominates the men's 400m in 45.19 secs at the same meeting:

http://www.flotrack.org/coverage/238690-2011-Drake-Relays/video/487765-M-400-F01-Special

The men's mile race won by Boaz Lalang, with Chris O'Hare a highly surprising third, in full:

http://www.flotrack.org/coverage/238690-2011-Drake-Relays/video/487820-M-mile-F01-Special

Tiffany Offili outruns big local favourite Lolo Jones in the women's 100m hurdles at the Drake Relays, she looks very smooth!

http://www.flotrack.org/coverage/238690-2011-Drake-Relays/video/487760-W-100-F01-Special

I can tell you that James Campbell has thrown a UK-topping 80.18m as a guest at the BUCS in Bedford, doubling as a B standard for the worlds in Daegu. That fell slightly wide of his PB of 80.38m from last year but it looks as though this is going to take some serious revision all along the way. James looks like a totally different athlete and so far more consistent and assured settling into the new season and I feel that the 83-84m province beckons over to him now.

There was also more good news behind him as Matthew Hunt, 20, launched a massive PB of 76.77m to fashion a near five-metre improvement on his previous mark of 71.90m from 2009. Incidentally, that has him move up second in the British rankings this season. Both athletes are coached by former top class international Mick Hill.

There is not going to be a final, as I understand, for Jack Green in the 400m hurdles as he will be running in the 4x400m relay instead later on. But he's got what he came for in Bedford and he'll be heading back home all smiles after a superb day's work!

Myra Perkins has also set a new Scottish U20 mark of 61.94m in the hammer to eclipse her very own previous figure of, hardly a week-old, 58.14m at Loughborough. As thing look at this early phase, Britain may have found a new excellent prospect to follow Sophie Hitchon's blazing trail in the U20 ranks.

Good run by Kris Gauson who took second in a SB of 1:49.84 over 800m at the Stan Lyons Inv in Indianapolis yesterday in gusty conditions at that. Declan Murray was the winner in 1:49.49.

Chris Thompson says he's feeling again like 21 having come a long way through the dark lands of misfortune and adversity to re-establish himself as top distance running prospect only hours before he attempts to carve his name into the British record timeline over 10000m.

http://www.morethanthegames.co.uk/athletics/0114505-london-2012-thompson-fit-and-raring-go-ahead-outdoor-season

Also at the BUCS in Bedford, 19-year-old Scot David Smith has jumped his season off to a fine start in a PB of 2.19m in the high jump, bettering his former total best of 2.17m set indoors last February.

More good news from the javelin front, this time from the National Junior League, as 18-year-old Joe Dunderdale reached a massive PB of 68.41m at Loughborough. That saw off emphatically his previous best of 65.14 from last year.

Also, Ben Pearson, just 16, improved his own PB by chunks from 61.25 to 67.22m with the senior implement.

Both throwers have gained the qualifying standard for the European U20 Champs for good measure.

A British quartet running in the order of Christian Malcolm, Marlon Devonish, Rikki Fifton and anchored by Dwain Chambers easily won the men's 4x100m relay by way over a second in 39.14 secs in the opening stages of the Steve Scott Inv in Irvine a little earlier on.

Gianni Frankis was second in the 110m hurdles in 14.08 secs into a strong headwind of -1.9m/sec behind Hector Gotto's 13.90 secs.

Martyn Rooney has agonisingly missed out on a big sprint PB as he saw a swift winning 20.87 secs over 200m slip away to a marginally over the limit tailwind of 2.1m/sec in the main heat of the Steve Scott Invitational in Irvine.

Despite the bitter taste of missing a PB so narrowly, the overall sense of his first individual outing of the season must have left him more than pleased and with a solid tangible exhibit of a good winter's work behind him, recommending that the Olympic 400m finalist is lying on the verge of a breakthrough.

Gianni Frankis, in his second race of the day, came runner-up in the second heat in a windy 21.80 secs (2.6m/sec).

Dwain Chambers doesn't seem like getting any sort of luck with the winds at the moment and had once again to battle against a fierce headwind of -2.8m/sec down the home straight in the men's 100m. Nevertheless, he still clinched a comfortable win in 10.39 secs that combined with the conditions reflected a considerable improvement on his earlier races.

Indeed, had the wind been, say, at +1.0m/sec, that time could have easily been in the high 10.1 secs region so he is edging into his stride and form.

Good 'old' Marlon Devonish came second in a season opener of 10.56 secs followed by Rikki Fifton in 10.61 and Christian Malcolm in fourth in 10.64 secs.

Rhys Williams was also out in action to take a convincing win in 50.72 secs in his first outing over 400m hurdles this season in highly windy conditions, with fellow US-based Brit Tom Phillips getting second in 51.12 secs.

Well, there hasn't eventually been a new British record from Chris Thompson at Stanford last night (morning for Europe) and Jon Brown's mark of 27:18.14 from 1998 in Brussels still holds its ground at the helm of British all-time 10000m running.

Nevertheless, the big man delivered an excellent, well-measured and assured performance all along the way to finish like a train in the late stages of the race in a fabulous new PB of 27:27.36, third fastest time ever by a Brit to overtake European champion Mo Farah in the respective rankings.

I could dare say, though, that Chris never really went for the record in my view as conditions arguably didn't really help his cause, showing rather content to lie in the leading pack and keep with the early to mid stage slightly slower than required pace, but looked more focussed on and concerned with nailing that World and Olympic A standard, which he gained with flying colours.

And I think he did well to do so in that regard. Last year it was very much the beginning of a journey into the unknown after a long spell in the shadows, didn't know if he was going to last and how long so needed to grasp every opportunity on the way by the scruff of the neck.

This season is different as he's coming in on the back of a very successful campaign, has established a firm footing on the international distance stage and can afford to plan further ahead more carefully and confidently. Therefore, he doesn't need to leave anything to chance and wants to save his best for when it matters most.

At the end of the day, he has walked out of the Stanford arena having all but secured a place on the plane to Daegu in late August and gained a sound foothold on selection for London next summer - and that has definitely been a great day's job!

Here's how the British all-time 10000m rankings look like after the race in Stanford earlier on:

1.Jon Brown 27:18.14 (1998)
2.Eammonn Martin 27:23.06 (1988)
3.Chris Thompson 27:27.36 (2011)
4.Mo Farah 27:28.86
5.Brendan Foster 27:30.3 (1978)
6.David Bedford 27:30.80 (1973)
7.Nick Rose 27:31.19 (1983)
8.Julian Goater 27:34.58 (1982)
9.Dave Black 27:36.27 (1978)
10.Mike McLeod 27:39.76 (1979)