Watford Grand Prix – 17 May 2014 – Results

Races: 26
Finishers: 253
PB’s: 127 (50%)
Power of Ten: Here

Athleticos videos here Here

BMC Watford Grand Prix Report

A NEW BMC record, two World Junior Championship qualifying standards and four Commonwealth Games’ marks were the highlights of a great night of racing in near perfect racing conditions at Watford. For the first time at a Grand Prix the BMC awarded special ‘Best of British Prizes’ of £200 to the first BMC member to finish in each event.
The considered opinion is that Jo Pavey has been running BMC races for longer than any other active athlete – she won the English Schools’ junior 1500m title 26 years ago and was using BMC races around that time – and has been a loyal supporter of the organisation.
“Where would we be without the BMC in putting on races to get qualifying standards?” said her husband and coach Gavin Pavey.
Now 40 years young but running with the enthusiasm and power of someone half that age Pavey broke her own BMC members record of 15:14.19 which she set two years ago when preparing for the London Olympics clocking 15:11.52.
Kyle Langford and Amy Griffiths are at the start of their careers but also impressed on Saturday as they took an important step towards selection for the World Junior Championships.
Langford ran a PB of 1:47.41 for second place in the 800m A race while Griffiths was fifth in the women’s 1500 A event in a PB of 4:17.56 – both inside the qualifying times of 1:48.50 and 4:18.0 respectively.
Behind Pavey’s England qualifying time in the 5000m runner-up Beth Potter beat the Scotland mark in second while other Commonwealth qualifiers were Northern Ireland’s Katie Kirk in the 800m and Scotland’s Mark Mitchell in the 1500m.
There were also close calls for Scotland’s Jake Wightman and Joseph Maynard of Wales in the 800m and Wales international Tom Marshall in the 1500m while Cornwall AC’s Charlotte Caytton-Smith was just 0.74secs off the World Juniors qualifying in the 800m.

5000m

Jo Pavey broke her won BMC record at Watford in the 5000m and earned a £1,000 bonus for winning a Grand Prix race on Saturday.
Just seven days after winning the British Championships over 10,000m and dispensing with a pacemaker the 40-year-old immediately took the lead and raced through the opening 1k in three minutes with the aim of running inside the England qualifying time of 15mins 15seecs for the Commonwealth Games.
Fortunately Beth Potter gave chase to ensure a true race as the pair quickly broke clear of the field and the brave Shaftesbury Barnet runner did well to stick with Pavey until the half-way mark.
But inevitably the relentless pace of the three-times Olympian took its toll and by 3k, reached in 9mins 09secs, Pavey was clear.
Her 15:15 pace dropped in the 4th kilometre but like the champion runner she is Pavey picked it up in the closing stages to finish in 15:11.52, well inside the qualifying target.
“I wanted that A standard so I am pleased with that,” said Jo.
“I didn’t know about the prize money so that is a nice surprise. I was just focussed on running that A standard.”
Husband coach Gavin Pavey added that Jo’s time was also a World W40 Masters record – and there is every chance she will faster this season.
Potter was rewarded for her brave effort in going with Pavey as she not only ran a personal best of 15:40.79 but was also well inside the qualifying mark of 15:45 to be eligible for the Scotland team.
The men’s 5000m followed a similar pattern to the women’s with Ryan McLeod and Adam Hickey quickly pulling clear of the field. McLeod had originally been designated as pacemaker but he opted to take a number and run the whole race which was much to the benefit of Hickey.
The strength he showed over the country in the winter ultimately told as he broke clear in the closing stages to win in 14:04.25 and afterwards said he was satisfied with that.
“I opened my season with 14:30 last summer so that is a good start for me coming after a good winter,” said Hickey.
McLeod dug in to finish runner-up in 14:10.75 with Bedford’s Matt Bergin third in 14:11.68.

800m

A cracking men’s race ended in a blanket finish as only 0.53secs separated the top four. Junior Kyle Langford almost snatched it as he weaved from the outside to the inside lane but was held off by Norway’s Thomas Roth by just 0.01secs in a time of 1:47.40.
So for Langford it was the runner-up spot for the second successive year but any sense of frustration in that was quickly dispelled with a superb personal best of 1:47.41 for the 18-year-old Shaftesbury Barnet Harrier – which crucially was well inside the qualifying standard of 1:48.50 for the World Junior Championships.
“I am so pleased with that,” said a clearly delighted Langford.
The youngster ran a sound tactical race tucking in with the pack as reigning Watford champion Jake Wightman surged into the lead up the back straight after a 52.27secs split.
But his move wasn’t decisive and it all came down to a desperate sprint down the home straight with Roth having the edge but Langford picking up the ‘Best of British’ award.
Sale’s Niall Brooks stormed through for third in his fastest time for two years which should give him enormous encouragement while Wightman clocked a PB of 1:47.93 but was ultimately frustrated at failing to beat the Scotland qualifying standard of 1:47.5.
Similarly Joseph Maynard was only 0.17secs off the Wales B qualifying mark of 1:48.0 as he finished fifth.

In the women’s race, which saw the late withdrawal of Jenny Meadows, Blackburn’s Alison Leonard made it two wins out of two at Watford this season. Last week she ran the fastest time in the country with 2:02.85 and Leonard followed it up with 2:02.79 as she finished strongly to beat Katie Kirk and Shelayna Oskan-Clarke.
Kirk was delighted with her PB of 2:02.97 as it was inside the Northern Ireland qualifying mark of 2:03.5 for the Commonwealths.
In the B races it was good to see reigning European champion Lynsey Sharp look so comfortable in securing victory in 2:03.90 and she will clearly go a lot faster in the coming weeks.
Behind her Jenny Tan completed a Scotland one-two and was delighted to end a four-year long wait to run a PB with 2:04.40.
“I am so relieved, it has been a long time coming,” said Tan.
Andreas Roth completed a family double for Norway by winning the men’s B race in 1:49.45.

1500m

Seven of the top ten finishers ran personal bests in the men’s A race but there were two crucial omissions in winner Tom Marshall and 2012 Olympian Scott Murray.
Murray was no surprise as he is still finding his way back to form after injury wrecked his 2013 season and he has a way to go before he can start thinking of his PB of 3:34.76.
But he had the bottle to go with pacemaker Anthony Whiteman and it was only when he ran out of steam that the pack swallowed him up and Marshall burst through for victory.
But his time of 3:41.60 was just outside his PB of 3.41.15 and also shy of the Wales B standard of 3mins 41.0secs.
“All I can do is keep winning races and hopefully the time will come,” said Marshall.
No such worries for Forres runner Mark Mitchell, who crept inside the Scotland standard of 3:42.2 with a PB of 3:41.96 and punched the air in delight at hearing the news.
One of the most exciting finishes of the day came in the women’s 1500m as the experienced Charlene Thomas had to dig deep to hold off a spirited challenge by Melissa Courtney as the pair clocked 4:14.08 and 4:14.16 respectively.
The latter was a PB for Courtney but she was hoping to attack the Wales B qualifying time of 4mis 11.0sec so still has some work to do.
For Thomas it was solid start to the season which she hopes will lead to selection for Glasgow.
“I am sure it was a great race to watch but not to race in!” said Thomas. “It seems to get harder every year!”
The women’s race saw a big PB for 17-year-old winner Phoebe Law, who has now improved from 4:41 in 2013 to 4:26.61.
“I am very happy with that,” said Law.
Runner-up was 13-year-old Katy-Ann McDonald, who carved six seconds off her PB with 4:27.14 but just missed her target of the UK Age 13 record of 4mins 26secs.
Junior Liam Dee took off four seconds from his PB with 3:45.87 to win the B race in very impressive style from fellow junior Daniel Cheeseman, who also clocked a PB.
“It is nice to take off a big chunk from my PB and I am dead happy with that,” said Dee.

3000m Steeplechase

Rory Chesser did much of the donkey work in the men’s race with one eye on the Northern Ireland qualifying standard of 8mins 40secs with Welshman Ieuan Thomas also helping out but the effort took its toll as Tom Wade kicked hard in the last 200 metres to claim victory in 8:49.25.
“I had it easy towards the end and stole it really,” said Wade. “It was my first steeplechase in two years and while I had the England B qualifying standard of 8:35 at the back of my mind I am happy with that.”
In contrast the women’s race saw a runaway victory for Kerry O’Flaherty in 10:10.72, 32 seconds clear of Laura Deadman. Both chase winners picked up the ‘Best of British’ award.