Loughborough Grand Prix – 08 July 2017 – Results

Races:24
Finishers: 255
PBs 96 (38%)
Power of Ten results: Here

Men’s 800m A
Markhim Lonsdale clearly has a fondness for Milers’ Club meetings as he dominated the A event.
He had already delivered one of the best performances of the summer in the five-event series when clocking a PB of 1:46.97 to win his first A race at Sportcity in May.
Since then he has also notched up a victory in the Irish Milers’ Club meeting in Dublin last month and on Saturday evening he completed a hat-trick of wins with his second fastest time ever of 1:47.07 as he powered clear of junior rival Ben Greenwood in the final 200 metres.
“I know I am in great shape but I needed that sort of time as a reassurance and that is my quickest since my PB at Sportcity” said Lonsdale.
Greenwood kept his form well and was rewarded with a PB of 1:48.71 which will give him a lift as he joins Lonsdale on the plane to Italy on July 18th.
Canaan Solomon completed a trio of juniors as he also dipped under 1mins 50secs for the first time this summer and will be hoping that is good enough to earn a late call-up for the team when the second wave of selections is announced.

Men’s 800m B-C
City of York teenager Alex Botterill is heading to the Caribbean in good form and heart after recording a PB of 1:49.97 to win the B race.
Botterill hit it hard off the final bend to surge clear down the home straight to shave just under a second off his best and dip under 1mins 50secs for the first time.
“I am really happy with that as I am off to the Commonwealth Youth Games in a few weeks’ time,” said 17-year-old Botterill.
“I just cannot wait for the Bahamas now. I feel in great shape and my goal is to go out there and try to win the race. I am not just going for the trip. I want to race well and get onto the podium.”
Botterill recently won the 800m at the ISF World School Championships in France and his win underlines his progression in the Grand Prix series this summer after opening up with victory in the C race at Solihull and then placing fourth in the B race at Sportcity.
“It has been a good season so far but now I have to finish it off at the Commonwealths,” added Botterill.
“I know it is going to be very strong competition out there but it is a great stepping stone for me.”
Ricky Harvie finally broke his three-year-old PB to win the C 800m in 1:51.50 to set him up nicely for a 1500m in Belgium.
“That was a good bit of speed work and hopefully now I can run in the low 3mins 40secs,” said Harvie, who ran a PB of 3:45.61 in Watford last month
There were also season’s best times for the top four in the E race, led by winner Kieran Reilly while Eoin Pierce and Alex Jones were rewarded with PBs as they chased winner Lewis Lloyd in the F race.

Men’s 800m D-F
Seb Anthony clocked a season’s best by two seconds to win the D 800m and after a difficult season seems to be running into form.
“I definitely have a PB in me this summer so maybe it will come at the final Grand Prix at Trafford,” said Anthony.
Charnwood’s Archie Banks chased him hard and was rewarded with a PB in second.
Bikram Singh hasn’t been racing 800m for long so his delight at clocking a PB to win the G race was understandable.
“It is my first year of proper training so to take almost another second off my best and get my first BMC win is brilliant,” said Singh, who sprinted clear in 1:57.69.

Men’s 1500m A
A strong last lap by Sam Stabler saw the Owls Leicester runner clinch a handsome victory in a season’s best of 3:42.42, just missing his lifetime best by 0.24secs.
“After a disappointing run in the British Championships (he failed to finish the 5000m) I needed that to get some confidence back,” said Stabler.
“It was also my first Grand Prix win so that is very pleasing. Next I will be running another 5000m and looking to get close to 13mins 30secs.”
Stabler’s rivals couldn’t live with him on that last lap but Lewis Moses was rewarded with a season’s best in second while the next two runners Kyran Roberts and Andrew Smith, notched up PBs.

Men’s 1500m B-C
There was doubt that Frank Baddick was one of the most popular winners of the day in the B race. Devonian Baddick has been based in Loughborough for several years now and with family – including baby daughter Isobel – in support he made a welcome return to form.
“That is my first 1500m in a year due to work commitments and the arrival of Isobel,” said Baddick.
“The B race was ideal for me and it is nice to win a race occasionally!”
Chasing Baddick hard on the final lap was ex-GB international and now Masters’ star Anthony Whiteman with his sights firmly set on the World M45 best of 3:48.53 but agonisingly he finished just 0.19secs off that mark.
“It was a messy race from my point of view but it was my first proper 1500m of the season,” said Whiteman.
“I hung back a little too much at the start but I was conscious that all my training has been geared towards the 800m . I’ll have to find another 1500m to have another go at the time.”
In third there was a PB for Luke Conway.
Tom Dodd has suffered badly from injuries over the past year with three stress fractures so he was delight with his PB of 3:48.47 to win the C race.
“It is my first proper 1500m of the season and my first time under 3mins 50secs so I am really happy with that,” said Dodd.

Men’s 1500m D-F
Petros Surafel ended a four-year wait to smash his PB by seven seconds in winning the D race while behind him nine of the remaining 13 finishers notched up lifetime bests.
Loughborough student Harry Lane and Jonathan Currie claimed the E and F races.

Men’s 5000m A-B
Boldly taking the imitative early after the pacemaker made way after 2k GB international Graham Rush steadily would up the pace with only Lachlan Oates accepting the challenge.
The pair quickly moved clear of the field but Oates had to give way in the 4k as Rush stepped it up to move clear and win by seven second, frustratingly missing his PB by 0.72secs.
“It would have been nice to have gone under 14 minutes but I gave it a go and decided there was no point in sitting in,” said Rush.
“That’s my last race of the season as I haven’t had a break since last year really so I am off to the Alps for some climbing and a bit of light running.”
Oates’ dogged chase was rewarded with a PB of 14:13.94 while a further nine runners took advantage of the perfect conditions.
The B race was a similar story with winner Sam Dickinson, in his first track race of the season, leading over half of the field to lifetime bests.

Men’s 3000m Steelechase
Australian Stewart McSweyn delivered a classy performance to win the event with a superb solo run.
Leading from start to finish McSweyn, his country’s current No 1, finished just 0.2secs off his lifetime best and must now wait to see if that is good enough to persuade the selectors to pick the 22-year-old for the World Championships in London.
“I was hoping for a sub 8:30 time today but it wasn’t to be but I have the B standard for the Worlds so we will see,” said McSweyn.

Women’s 800m A
Charlene Thomas showed all her experience and competitive nature with a battling performance to win the A race.
The Wakefield international also had to dig deep into the memory banks as this was only her third 800m in five years and following a stuttering campaign due to a series of niggles this victory proved to be a real tonic.
“It was a bit of a shock to the system racing 800m again but I finished really strongly and that is very encouraging,” said Thomas.
“I feel things are coming together at last and I will now be looking for a fast 1500m in the Morton Games on Wednesday.”
Thomas had to battle hard to hold off Revee Walcott-Nolan down the home straight but she has always been a tough competitor and once she edged ahead there was no way victory was going to be denied.
“That has set me up nicely for Wednesday’s race in Dublin now,” added Thomas.

Women’s 800m B-D
American runner Tor Tsolis only flew into London on Wednesday for her first European tour and shook the jet-lag out of her legs with a personal best of 2:05.77 to win the B race.
The 24-year-old Californian unleashed a big kick in the final 300m to open up a winning gap with Katy-Ann McDonald emerging from the pack to snatch second in a season’s best.
“I have not had a chance to run an 800m this season so I knew a PB was there and I am pretty happy with that,” said Tsolis.
“I have been concentrating on the 1500m and have improved my best to 4:10 but didn’t get past the heats at the US Championships. Hopefully I can run a bit quicker in Europe.”

Hannah Nuttall’s decision to postpone her 20th birthday celebrations for 24 hours paid off handsomely as she smashed her three-year-old PB by five seconds to win the C race in 2:07.86.
“I was not expecting that!” said Nuttall, who turned 20 on the eve of the event.
“That was definitely my best race of the season and I am very happy with that performance. It was worth not going out on Saturday evening!”
Five of the eight-strong field clocked PBs including Fiona de Mauny, Julie Dobbin and Amy Hinchly, who all broke 2mins 10secs.
Evie Grice and Kiara Frizelle also posted PBs in finishing first and second respectively in the D race.

Women’s 1500m A
Naomi Taschimowitz is not a renowned 1500m runner so her emphatic victory in the A race came as a surprise.
Her rivals would have known all about Taschimowitz’s strength as a highly accomplished cross country runner but her kick in the last 200m to secure victory in 4:16.88 may have caught them unawares.
“I was certainly not expecting that,” said Taschimowitz.
“It was nice to get so close to my PB (of 4:16.73 set in 2011) and maybe I’ll continue my season now.”

Women’s 1500m B-C
Running scared on the last lap Abigail Howarth kept her nerve and form to secure her first Grand Prix victory with a PB of 4:23.93.
“That’s not just my first Grand Prix win but probably my best run ever!” said Howarth.
“I am so chuffed to improve my PB for a second time in a week after the British Championships (4:26.07) the previous weekend.
“I knew I was being hunted down on that last lap as I could hear the other girls just behind me and I was really gritting my teeth in that last 50 metres.”
Ireland’s Fiona Clinton was a happy winner of the race as she ran a PB of 4:32.31.

Women’s 5000m
Northern Ireland international Emma Mitchell was running stride-to-stride with Claire Duck until the final 800metres and then she burst clear to finish 19 seconds ahead in 16:01.74.
“I came here to try and get close to the Commonwealth Games qualifying standard of 15:39 but after a few laps I knew the time wasn’t on so just concentrated on making sure of victory,” said Mitchell.
Behind Mitchell there were PBs for Laura-Jane Smith, Rachel Smyth and Floren Scrafton.