Hannah England (Oxford City AC) and Charlotte Best (Crawley AC - pictured right) both set personal bests in the 1500m at the prestigious Aviva Grand Prix at Birmingham’s National Indoor Arena on Saturday 21 February.
Hannah finished third in the race in an indoor best of 4:09.90 just behind Susan Scott who clocked 4:09.55. Both athletes were inside the UKA guideline time for selection for the European Indoor Championships but were some distance behind winner Maryam Jamal (Bahrain) who clocked 4:02.74. Charlotte ran her quickest ever time for 1500m, indoors or out, improving by four seconds to 4:12.29 in fifth place. In the men’s 800m UK indoor champion Ed Aston (Cambridge & Coleridge) finished seventh in 1:49.88.
A number of OCWK athletes were in action at the English National Cross Country Championships at Parliament Hill in London on Saturday 21 February.
In the combined Junior and Under 17 Women’s 5km race Louise Small (Aldershot Farnham & District - pictured below) finished third overall and first Under 17 in 18:30, just ahead of Kate Avery (Shildon) who was fourth overall and second Under 17 in 18:35. Stevie Stockton (Vale Royal) was seventh overall and fourth Under 20 in 18:55 with Emma Pallant (Aldershot Farnham & District) 11th overall and eighth Under 20 in 19:09. Jordan Kinney (Royal Sutton Coldfield) was 23rd and Kirsty Hamilton (Bristol & West) 47th amongst the Under 20s in 20:36 and 21:48 respectively. The overall race was won by Steph Twell in 17:56 and Aldershot, Farnham & District took both team races.
After losing ground midway through the Junior Men’s 10k race due to cramp Mitch Goose (City of Norwich) rallied to finish in sixth place in 35:32, just ahead of Simon Horsfield (East Cheshire & Tameside) who clocked 35:34. The race was won by Nick Goodlab in 34:09. In the Senior Men’s 12km race Ben Lindsay finished 14th in 39:55, with the win going to Frank Tickner in 38:02.
At the Celtic Indoor Cup in Cardiff on Sunday 22 February Andrew Osagie and Rick Ward competed in a guest 800m race. Andrew finished second in 1:49.99 and Rick third in 1:51.14 and the race was won by David McCarthy in 1:49.12. In the Under 20 women’s 800m Leigh Lennon finished fourth for the England team in 2:14.61 in a race won by Ireland’s Ciara Everard in 2:10.69.
Three OCWK athletes competed at the RAF Invitational meeting at the EIS in Sheffield on Wednesday 18 February where a number of universities including Birmingham, Brunel and Loughborough competed against teams from the RAF and Navy. Tara Bird, representing Brunel, won the 400m by four seconds in 54.76 and Rachel Stringer (Loughborough) won the 1500m by over four seconds in a her fastest ever time, indoors or out, of 4:31.81, with Lucy Dowsett (Birmingham) third in 4:38.44.
Photos Mark Shearman & Job King
