The first day of the London Indoor Games saw Georgina Middleton and Charlotte Colegate run in the U17W 200m. Both ran very well with Georgina achieving a time of 26.48 (indoor pb) and Charlotte 27.46 (pb).

Reuben Fakoya and Josh Oyedele also ran the 200m. Reuben ended up with 24.32 (pb) and Josh in 25.64.

Daniel Haque also ran on day one in the Senior Mens 200m. However he did face a number of hurdles, not least of which was that he had been badly seeded. Originally he was placed in race 9 which meant he would not be facing athletes of a similar standard. So he challenged that with the seeding officials just as the first race was coming onto the track. To cut a long story short the seeders allowed him into race 1 because someone had dropped out. So now he was in the first race but he had to take lane 1. For a very fast athlete lane 1 is a problem at the start as it is very difficult to negotiate the first curve, and then again at the finish because the athlete does not have a slope to sweep down. So despite running a fairly good race Daniel placed 3rd in a relatively slow time of 22.60 - he really did struggle with the first curve trying desparately to stay in his lane.

Rachel Dickens ran a very good 300m to start the second day of the London Indoor Games to take 3/4 of a second off her pb crossing the line in 40.48. Unfortunately today that was only good enough for 2nd place. Looking good for the National Champs however.

Rhiannon Jones ran a very strong race in her 300m finishing just outside her pb. Rachel Robinson set off very well for the 1st 200m, but could not today continue with her form.

James Allen set another pb in the long jump with 5.69m, whilst Reuben jumped 5.26m.

Georgina Middleton ran a very good 60m 1st round, winning in 7.99. As a result of this race she was seeded into the top U17W race in the 2nd round. This time she placed 4th, but again in 7.99 - consistency!!

Reuben and James raced together in their 60m first round race with Rewben 5th in 7.57 and James 6th in 7.89. James decided not to do the 2nd round whereas Reuben decided he was up for it. This second round race ended up with a blanket finish, but Reuben was in the mix. He improved his 1st round time to 7.56, the same time as given to two others, in fact places 2 to 6 were covered by five one-hundredths of a second!

Some interesting results from Part 1 of the SEAA Indoor Championships:

U17W 300m

Round 1 - Heat 1: 3rd Rhiannon Jones 43.69 (pb); Heat 4: 1st Rachel Dickens 41.75 (pb); Heat 5: 3rd Rachel Robinson 46.91; all 3 qualified for semi-finals

Semi - Semi 1: 1st Rachel Dickens 41.26 (pb); Semi 2: Rhiannon Jones withdrawn; Semi 3: 6th Rachel Robinson 47.92

Final 1st Rachel Dickens 41.31 - a very good race; for someone who had not raced a 300m indoors and only ever raced one outdoors, this was exceptionally good.

U17M 400m

Round 1 - Heat 2: 1st Jonathan Pettet 52.92 (indoor best), 5th Joshua Oyedale 57.00

Final 2nd Jonathan Pettet 52.26 (indoor best); a race full of incident towards the final 30-40m, firstly Jon was spiked and almost losing his balance, followed very swiftly by being tripped from behind just short of the line - a real cracker!

U20W 400m

Heat 3: 2nd Chelsea Crouser 62.05

Semi 1: 4th Chelsea Crouser 62.18

U20M 400m

Heat 1: 1st Dan Putnam 51.36

Semi 2: 1st Dan Putnam 50.53

Final 3rd Dan Putnam 48.99; another cracking race for spectators, very very close at the finish,

Here is a round-up of all the results from the Metaswitch and Eton open events that took place on Sunday 3rd January.

U20W
Chelsea Crouser 60m Hurdles - round 1 10.26 (pb) and round 2 10.17 (pb); first time over the height and spacing so a very creditable set of performances.

U17W
Rachel Dickens 60m - round 1 8.01 (pb), round 2 8.02
Georgina Middleton 60m - round 1 8.16 (pb), round 2 8.06 (pb)
Charlotte Colegate 60m - round 1 8.45, round 2 8.36 (pb)
Rachel Robinson 60m - round 1 8.68 (pb), round 2 (8.70)

U20M
Mark Longhurst Pole Vault - 4.05m

U17M
Jon Pettet 60m - round 1 7.56 (pb), round 2 7.57

and from Eton

U20M
Tom Jenkins Triple Jump - 12.78m (pb)

U17W
Lauren Stevens Long Jump - 5.01m
Jess Moore Long Jump - result not known 

Fourteen of the group made the trip to the Lee Valley Indoor Centre on Sunday to participate in the Metaswitch Indoor Open. There was a varying degree of success, but the real key was that everyone who attended took this opportunity to train in a competition environment. This meeting was for us an out and out training session. In that regard it was very successful and hopefully everyone will have learnt something.

Rhiannon Jones and Rachel Giannini were racing for the first time over the U17W hurdle spacing, so it was very pleasing to see both of them run both of their rounds with no worries about that new spacing. A real bonus was that Rhiannon won both rounds in impressive style and that of course they both got pbs.

I am pleased to announce that 400m sprinter Conrad Williams has offered to give a talk on his preparations for the recent World Championship on Thursday 26th November 2009 in the Cabin at Norman Park Track starting promptly at 8.15pm and finishing at 9.00pm.

This session will be cover:

• the training,
• the physical and mental approach,
• the holding camp at the World champs to get all athletes prepared and
• the World Championship race itself
  

I would like to see ALL training group members attend this session.

Any questions please do not hesitate contacting me.

Helen is at it again!! This time she has won Gold in the 100m at the World Masters Games taking place in Sydney, Australia. Well done Helen.

Further update 16th October - Helen has taken Gold in the 200m!!! Starting to get boring now!!!!

The England Athletics regional volunteer awards were announced on 28th September. The Junior Volunteer of the Year for the London Region has gone unusually to a group, namely Lauren Blackie, Rachel Blackie, Dan Haque and Scott Huggins for organising and delivering the "Athletics in the Park" initiative over the summer holidays - see www.athleticsinthepark.com for details of the scheme.

Congratulations to one and all! 

As many of the training group will be aware, we restart training on Sunday October 11th at Camber Sands, East Sussex.

The intention is that we leave Norman Park at 09.30am utilising as many cars as we have available. I will therefore need to know who will have a car available or will be going with their parents and have room to take one or more other athletes. Please let me know by email of your intentions - This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it - or send me a text 07768 120519 (ensure you put your name in the text so that I know who it is).

An interesting day at Birmingham and Cardiff!!

Whilst the Young Athletes team was preparing to do battle in the YAL Final at the Alexander Stadium in Birmingham, Ben Parkin was already running the final of the 400m Hurdles at the UK School Games in Cardiff. He confirmed his place as the favourite to win in a time of 54.52 only just outside his pb. But more of Ben later as his day was far from complete.

Once the action got going in Birmingham, it was very clear this was going to be a very tight match. The lead was changing every few minutes but soon settled down to be a three-way contest between ourselves, Enfield & Haringey and Windsor Slough Eton & Hounslow. Quite early on it was predicted that it would be all down to the 4 x 400m relays at the end of the day and in fact so it proved! This was probably the tightest YAL final I have experienced, but that made it all the more of a spectacle.

Two new England internationals - Ben Hopkins and Ben Parkin - in the same event 400m Hurdles!! Both won their respective heats fairly comfortably and then went on to place 1 and 2 in the final with Ben P chasing down and almost catching Ben H in the last 200 metres.

Ronnie ran a very good heat in the Inter Boys 200m recording a really good time of 22.30, but did not get past the semi where his first 100m let him down a bit.

Dan Ran really well over the first 100m of his Senior Boys 200m, but his injury hampered the homeward 100m to such an extent that he did not get through.

Katrina's injury meant she did not even get to the start.

Unfortunately Mark no-heighted in the Pole Vault!