Weekend (May 7 - 8) action

First topic message reminder :

Alright, it's about high time I got this one going since I was pretty busy earlier on, tuning up my students for the exams next week. The main event of a rather long early season weekend, which there has already been a separate special thread for, has been the first leg of the Diamond League series taking place in Doha, Qatar, yesterday as the newly-laid institution moves into its second season of function.

There are many Brits in action overseas either deep in the beautiful Caribbean, Jamaica and Guadeloupe, the States or down in the Mediterranean and Italy this weekend where there are various League matches around on the domestic front. So let's set about catching up with the action!

Miler Jonathan Taylor seems to be trying his hand over the barriers and made a low-profile debut in 8:56.4 at Jarrow on Saturday, fourth fastest in Britain so far this term. This is a move that has engaged my notice and I'm looking to his following races with plenty of interest.

Also at Eton, Glenn Watts started his own season off to a lone 8:55.44 over the 3000m steeplechase to become the fifth Brit running inside 9 mins so far and not far away from his PB of 8:52.15 at that.

That saw him move third in the British lists this season.

I forgot also to mention Linford Christie-coached Dannish Walker-Khan, an U20, who was third in the 200m in 21.51 secs but has more impressively clocked a PB of 21.36 secs into a -3.1m/sec headwind in California. Definitely a name to watch this summer on the U20 scene.

Some further good news regarding the women's long jump, although coming on the track, as Amy Harris ran a huge PB of 11.54 secs to win the 100m at the same meet she also won the long jump in Tallahassee, Florida. After several seasons in the wilderness, she seems to be hitting the trail back to form. By the way, her time is second only to Laura Turner's 11.52 in the UK rankings over the dash at the moment.

Really stunned to read in the AW review of the weekend that Andy (Turner) was "the sole Briton in Kingston"... Poor Shara Proctor! And to think that she won the long jump!

Staying on the long jump a little more, U20 James McLachlan landed at a big PB of 7.63m and despite a strong headwind of -1.5m/sec at the Horizon League Outdoor Championships in Indianapolis! Very encouraging indeed, coupled with a SB of 14.92m (1.7m/sec) in the triple!

Kris Gauson won the 1500m in 3:48.00 and promising U20 Callum Hawkins third in the 5000m in 14:42.90, won by also Brit Matthew Proctor in 14:39.80...

At the BIG East Champs in Philly (Philadelphia), former European U20 medallist Toby Ulm was fourth in the 400m hurdles in a SB of 51.05 secs but he will need to step up his game swiftly if he is to be really competitive on a looking hot domestic scene in the event.

'Chaser Matt Graham was seventh in a SB of 14:29.47 over 5000m with U20 Jonathan Hopkins 11th in 14:39.72.

At the East Anglian League in Ipswich, 17-year-old Stacey Eyers is cited to have run a huge 2:02.9 over 800m - can anyone confirm this? This is top class running if it is so but I'm somewhat inclined to think it should be a typo... last season she had just 2:29..

"Nickel Ashmeed (JAM) comes powerfully through from the outside in the late stages to nail the men's 200m in 19.95 secs!! Now, where did that come from?"

Do you want me to hazard a guess?

Not sure, what you mean english_osprey? Very impressed with the meet in Jamaica. I wish it had been televised, far better viewing than the diamond league meet.

Myself, I stumbled upon a streamline link and managed to watch a good deal of the action live. The only thing was that I ended up going to bed after 6 into the morning with all subsequent consequences into the next day! *laugh*

By the way, I'd like to thank Jack Green for providing me with the link to the results in Pavia yesterday. Apart from a very talented athlete, he's also a great lad!

Some other things left unsaid from this weekend...

Somewhat forgotten man of British decathlon Daniel Awde, still just 22, showed in good nick again as he scored his best decathlon in three years with a total of 7640pts at the Woodford Green Combined Events Open, moving top of the domestic rankings.

Daniel got two new PBs on the way in a 14.48 secs in the 110m hurdles, previous 14.52 (2009), and a 42.65m in the discus, bettering that 41.07m from 2009 too. His full card was 11.06, 7.09, 12.61, 1.92, 47.29, 14.48, 42.65, 4.21, 49.61, 4:29.32.

Gemma Weetman was the winner of the heptathlon with 5251pts.

Jasmin Sawyers, not 17 until the 21st of the month, scored a promising 5007pts in the heptathlon at Street on a card of 14.72 (PB), 1.75, 10.31 (PB), 26.09, 5.71, 26.72, 2:29.73.

17-year-old Abbi Carter threw 56.24 in the hammer at Wakefield, not far from her recent PB of 57.72m.

Fit again Tim Bayley got his second mile win on the trot as he narrowly got the better of 'chaser Rob Mullett the Heart and Sole Elite Mile in Santa Rosa, California, making a British one-two in 4:08.88 and 4:08.94 respectively.

On the road, Emma Pallant ran a best ever of 34:01 over 10km up in Glasgow while Liverpoolian Jon Mellor eased to a comfortable win over the Christleton 5km in a best ever of 14:06.

I shouldn't fail also to mention Helen Clitheroe's comfortable win in a rather unusual distance of 4.25km in Lucerne for a nice break from training to stretch her legs a little.

Incidentally, that called up a mixed memory from several years ago back in 2004 when a buddy of mine won that very race, having slipped my mind, leading up to the London marathon that year.

Unfortunately, as admitted later on, he shouldn't have run such a fast race so close which he paid dearly as he missed the Olympic qualifying standard albeit well on course until the 31st-32nd km...

It seems that Andrew Howe has more of adopted a new emerging trend of horizontal jumpers doing some 400m training/racing rather than shifted his focus on the 200m as he ran a surprisingly fast 45.70 secs last Sunday in Pavia:

http://www.european-athletics.org/3rd-spar-european-athletics-team-championships/italy-long-jumper-howe-oozes-confidence-after-rare-400m-outing.html