Cover photo from Pete Brown Photography
Contributions from Jonny Currie, James Davis, Adam Day, and George Loxton
There was plenty of racing to be had this week, as many athletes looked to end their seasons on a high after a compact two to three months of racing. The standout performances of the week came from a pair of BUAC track captains, one incoming and one outgoing.
'19-'20 captain Issy Boffey made the journey to Kladno, in the Czech Republic, to race over two laps in a World Athletics Continental Tour Meeting. Racing very strong negative splits, Boffey took the win in 2:01.88 to go UK#6 this year.
Slightly less exotically, in Yeovil, '20-'21 captain Maisie Grice raced the 2000 metre steeplechase, producing a stunning performance, finishing the five-and-a-bit circuits of the track in 6:40.46 to shoot up various rankings, for UK#5 U23 all time, UK#28 all time, and World#18 this year.
BMC Gold Standard
Stretford (15/9)
800A Patch Taylor* 1:51.37 SB 5th VIDEO
800A Cesca Brint 2:06.53 SB 2nd VIDEO
Issy Cotham* 2:09.18 PB 3rd
1500A Jonny Davies* 3:39.90 SB 1st VIDEO INTERVIEW
1500B Ethan O'Shea (R) 3:51.64 PB 5th VIDEO
3000B Jethro McGraw* 8:17.25 PB 2nd VIDEO
Tom Drabble 8:53.78 8th
3000C Grant Anderson* 8:27.07 PB 4th VIDEO 1 VIDEO 2
A slew of personal bests were found by BUAC athletes in Trafford, a track that has proven a happy hunting ground for many this season.
In the men's 800 A race, Patch Taylor continued his comeback from a hip injury with a 1:51.37 to break the UK top 50 this year (UK#47).
The women's equivalent featured two athletes, in Cesca Brint and Issy Cotham. Brint, also on the comeback trail, ran her fastest 800 for two years, with 2:06.53 (UK#25), while Cotham produced a huge three second personal best for her first time under 2:10 in 2:09.18 (UK#46).
The men's 1500 A race found Jonny Davies in strong form ahead of his trip up to Scotland to race in the mile later in the week. A 3:39.90 won him the race, and was his second fastest race all time outside of his 3:39 flat PB. The result was enough for UK#12, and he became the twelfth man to dip under 3:40 in what could be argued to be the fastest season of UK middle distance running this century.
The B race at the same distance had the Charnwood pairing of Ethan O'Shea and Dan Maud. In fifth and seventh respectively, both came away with personal bests by significant margins. In a storming run, O'Shea took over four seconds from his previous best, running 3:51.64 for UK#12 U20 this year. Maud was not far behind, crossing in 3:52.44 for UK#15 U20, and a best by over a second.
The B and C races of the 3000 featured a PB each for BUAC athletes, in the form of Jethro McGraw and Grant Anderson. Opening up his account for the season, McGraw took 7 seconds off his previous best, while Anderson removed three seconds from his a race later, placing him UK#28 U23 this year.
Full results can be found here.
Night of the Fifteen 1500s
Battersea (15/9)
1500-7 Charlotte Alexander (R) 4:29.27 6th
1500-12 Tomer Tarragano (R) 3:52.03 PB 4th
1500-14 Ian Crowe-Wright* 3:41.30 PB 2nd
1500-15 Amelia Quirk 4:12.19 PB 4th
A night of very fast running was had at the impressively named Battersea Millenium Arena, hosted by the South London powerhouses of Belgrave and Herne Hill.
The first involvement was from one of the aforementioned clubs, as Charlotte Alexander ran in the fastest heat featuring women other than elite race. Strong early running gave her a time just a fraction outside of her season's best, 4:29.27.
The well-travelled Tomer Tarragano was out over 1500 again, after racing that and a 3000 race the week prior. Not content with his 3:57.37 from the previous week, he took over five seconds from his best, running 3:52.03 to place UK#13 U20 this year.
Ian Crowe-Wright ran a tactically strong race, with prize money up for grabs in the men's elite race. Sitting in a fast-moving pack that sprinted away from the gun, when it came to the final lap, Crowe-Wright outlasted all but talented youngster Joe Wigfield, for second place and a personal best of 3:41.30.
Amelia Quirk went in the women's elite race, one which featured both UK#3 over 800 Adelle Tracey, and Australian international Genevieve Gregson (formerly LaCaze). Racing was fast from the off, and Quirk was the right side of an early separation that saw a pack of five leading the race.
Sitting in behind Tracey and Gregson, Quirk delivered a strong kick over the last metres of the race to produce a time of 4:12.19, for UK#12 this year. The Bracknell athlete was the last to rise from a crowd of tired bodies on strewn across the ground beyond the finish line, showing the exertion required to produce her fourth lifetime best in as many races this year.
Full results can be found here.
Photos from the meet can be found at:
Galà dei Castelli
Bellinzona, Switzerland (15/9)
400H-B Chris McAlister* 50.95 3rd
Full results can be found here.
Power of 10 results can be found here.
Kladno házà a Kladenské memoriály
Kladno, Czech Republic (16/9)
800 Issy Boffey 2:01.88 PB 1st
The field for Issy Boffey's final race of the season was an interesting one, at a Continental Tour Bronze level meeting in the Czech Republic. Six athletes raced, with the field split between the three internationals of Boffey, and both the Finnish and Hungarian champions, and three athletes from the Czech host club, with personal bests in the 2:20-2:35 range.
As soon as the athletes hit the break line, the separation was clear, with Boffey sat second in the lead pack of three behind the pacemaker. Bizarrely, that order lasted only for the first 300 metres, after which the pacemaker stepped off, duties apparently complete.
It then was up to Finnish champion Sara Kuivisto to take the athletes through the bell, with Boffey close behind in around 62 seconds. The same order remained throughout much of the last lap, with Bianka Bartha-Kéri of Hungary moving up onto Boffey's shoulder down the back straight, before the British athlete pulled away, closing the gap to the Finn in front.
The Enfield and Haringey athlete unleashed her kick with 200 metres to go, quickly closing the gap to the front of the race, and sat level with Kuivisto for the first half of the home straight. With 50 metres remaining, Kuivisto faded into second, as Boffey pulled away from the pair of athletes behind with ever increasing speed, to cross the line in 2:01.88.
The time was a meeting record, as well as a personal best, and the BUCS Indoor 400 champion joins an illustrious group of international athletes to have run under 2:02 while with BUAC, joining Sarah McDonald, Alison Lundy (née Leonard), Charlotte Penfold (née Moore), and a certain Hannah England. The Luke Gunn-coached athlete now sits at UK#6 for the year.
Full results can be found here.
Power of 10 results can be found here.
Video of the race can be found here from 68 minutes onwards.
Charnwood AC Open Series
Loughborough (16/9)
800-7 Tom Mackman DNF
3000-3 Joe Connors 9:21.98 7th
SP7.26B Tom Pearson* 11.74 SB 2nd
DT2A Tom Pearson* 38.35 SB 2nd
In contrast to what was a fairly uneventful meeting at Loughborough, the seventh race of the 800 metres featured a veritable disaster for those involved. After the lead pack of six athletes hit the bell, BUAC's Tom Mackman moved up into the lead to continue his search for a race under two minutes.
At the same time, an official, unaware of the race on track, looked to push a trolley full of shot into the infield across the crown of the bend. With nowhere to go, Mackman's attempted evasive action took him across the path of the trolley, with both falling to the ground in the process.
Unfortunately for Mackman this incident meant coming away with a DNF, no sub-2 clocking, and also less two functioning fingers (dislocated). Thankfully for all involved, there were no serious injuries, and the Brighton Phoenix athlete was fit and able to race three days later in Trafford.
Full results can be found here.
BMC Regional Races
Nuneaton (18/9)
Maisie Grice 4:31.95 6th
1500A Joe Tuffin 3:48.28 PB 3rd VIDEO
Grant Anderson* 3:57.16 SB 7th
1500B Jethro McGraw* 3:53.39 SB 1st VIDEO
(Jay Rossiter) 3:56.08 3rd
Alex Rieley 4:10.30 SB 8th
1500E Issy Cotham* 4:31.62 2nd VIDEO
1500F Ed Blythman (R) 4:05.22 PB 1st VIDEO
A chilly night in Nuneaton proved fairly unconducive to running, however that failed to stop Joe Tuffin from producing a fantastic run. His 3:48.28 run took almost four seconds off of his previous best, set in 2018, propelling him to UK#43 this year.
The B race featured recent alum and the incessantly cheerful Jethro McGraw, '18-'19 XC Captain. Backing up a strong best over 3000 metres in Trafford 3 days earlier, McGraw ran 3:53.39 to take the victory in the B race, outkicking associate member Jay Rossiter who came in in 3:56.08.
Full results can be found here.
Monument Mile Classic Open
Stirling (19/9)
Mile-22 Patch Taylor* 4:12.56 PB 5th
Mile-24 Jonny Davies* 3:59.36 PB 1st
Ian Crowe-Wright* 3:59.61 PB 2nd
Mark Pearce* 4:02.85 PB 3rd
While the Six Nations frequently proves that it can be difficult to find good sporting performances on the other side of the border, a strong contingent of former BUAC members seemed determined to prove that wrong in Stirling on Saturday.
In the final of the twenty-four mile races, the trio locked out the podium, as well as the top of this year's British outdoor rankings, with some fast running.
Finding form at the same time, and both setting personal bests over 1500 metres earlier in the week, Jonny Davies and Ian Crowe-Wright were the only athletes in the race to break the elusive four minute barrier, the first to do so in Scotland for eleven years.
Davies' 3:59.36 was good enough for World#20 this year, with Crowe-Wright slotting in just behind at World#24. The pair's performances made them the 216th and 217th British athletes to break four minutes for the mile, propping up the bottom of a long list of sporting stars headed by Roger Bannister, until the next sub-4 clocking.
Mark Pearce, alum and Shaftesbury Barnet Harrier, produced a personal best, and indeed first run over the distance, of 4:02.85, placing him World#43 this year.
Full results can be found here.
Photos from the meet can be found here.
Scottish Athletics report can be found here.
Trafford Open Series
Stretford (19/9)
800-19 Tom Mackman 2:00.91 5th
At the second time of asking, Tom Mackman managed to finish an 800 metre race this week. The Brighton athlete ran only a hundredth of a second outside his personal best, set in the same location earlier in the month, for his second fastest race all time.
The two-minute barrier still looms large for Mackman, and shot putt trolleys notwithstanding, cannot be far away with the strong form he has shown since the end of lockdown.
Also in Trafford, social secretary Abby Rex opened her season up over the metric mile with a 5:01.00 clocking.
Full results can be found here.
Yeovil Distance & Steeplechase Open
Yeovil (20/9)
2000SCW Maisie Grice 6:40.46 PB 1st
After a run out over 1500 at Nuneaton two days prior, Maisie Grice added distance and difficulty in Yeovil as she raced the 2000 metre steeplechase.
The British finalist produced a stellar run over the shorter of the senior steeplechase distances, and after crossing the line, was rewarded with a time of 6:40.46. That was good enough for UK#5 U23 all time, UK#28 all time, and World#18 this year.
Full results can be found here.
Midland Open Competition
Nuneaton (20/9)
3000-2 Matt Clutterbuck 9:16.63 3rd
Charlotte Alexander (R) 9:42.23 SB 6th
Louise Robinson (R) 64.68 3rd
Full results can be found here.
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