A high quality ‘On Camp with Kelly’ 800m invitation race will take place at the Aviva London Grand Prix at Crystal Palace on Friday 13 August.  Four ‘On Camp with Kelly’ athletes will compete against three overseas athletes and two of the UK’s other leading 800m runners.  The OCWK athletes will be aiming to run under the England Commonwealth Games qualifying standard of 2:01.00.

The Aviva London Grand Prix, this year part of the IAAF’s new Diamond League series, is UKA’s most prestigious televised meeting and the ‘On Camp with Kelly’ race provides the athletes with a unique opportunity to compete in a top class meeting in front of a large crowd.

The four ‘On Camp with Kelly’ athletes in the race are:

Charlotte Best (Crawley AC & Loughborough Students, coach George Gandy), age 25, who set her personal best of 2:01.50 when winning the bronze medal at the 2007 World University Games.  This year she was selected for the Aviva GB & NI Senior Team for the first time, competing in the 1500m at the IAAF World Indoor Championships.  After a late start to the season due to injury Charlotte is improving with each race and has a season’s best of 2:02.54.

Danielle Christmas (Crawley AC & Loughborough Students, coach George Gandy), age 22, who has improved her 800m best by two and a half seconds this year to 2:02.55.  Indoors she won a bronze medal in the 800m at the Aviva UK Indoor Championships and was a finalist at the Aviva UK Championships outdoors and the England Athletics Senior Championships.

Vicky Griffiths (Liverpool Harriers, coach Stan Roberts - above at the front), age 25, who set her personal best of 2:00.49 in 2008.  She made her debut for the Aviva GB & NI Senior Team in the 800m at the IAAF World Indoor Championships after winning the silver medal at the Aviva UK Indoor Championships.  She also won silver at the Aviva UK Championships outdoors and at the England Athletics Senior Championships.  She has a season’s best of 2:01.67.

Alison Leonard (Blackburn Harriers & Birmingham University, coach Arthur Almond), age 20, who had an excellent junior international career, winning a silver medal in the 800m at the 2007 IAAF World Youth Championships and finishing fourth at the 2008 IAAF World Junior Championships and 2009 European Athletics Junior Championships.  She has improved her personal best to 2:01.89 this year and won the bronze medal at the England Athletics Senior Championships and finished fifth at the Aviva UK Championships.

They are joined by two of the UK’s other leading female athletes in the 800m this year:

Sarah Kelly (Dundee Hawkhill Harriers, coach Liz McColgan), who tops the 2010 UK Under 20 rankings and was an 800m finalist at the IAAF World Junior Championships after setting a personal best of 2:02.89 in her semi-final which places her tenth on the UK Under 20 all-time list. 

Celia Taylor (Coventry Godiva Harriers, coach Dick Taylor), who set her personal best of 2:01.56 in 2007.  She won the 1500m silver medal at this year’s Aviva UK Championships and has a season’s best for 800m of 2:02.19.

And three international athletes:

Angelika Cichocka (Poland), age 22, who has an indoor best of 2:00.86 set earlier this year and ran her fastest ever time outdoors of 2:01.17 in the semi-final at the European Athletics Championships.  She was Polish Indoor 800m and 1500m champion in 2010 and competed at the IAAF World Indoor Championships.

Nikki Hamblin (New Zealand), age 22, who ran her personal best of 2:00.90 last year and has a season’s best of 2:01.78.  This year she has improved her 1500m best to 4:05.93 and competed at both distances at last year’s IAAF World Championships.  Previously a successful junior athlete in the UK, she won English Schools Inter 800m titles in 2003 and 2004 and the Junior 1500m title in 2002.

Lenka Masna (Czech Republic - on picture above), age 25, who set a personal best of 1:59.71 in her heat at the European Athletics Championships and then ran under two minutes for only the second time in her career when finishing sixth in the final.  She is the reigning Czech 800m champion and was a semi-finalist at last year’s IAAF World Championships.

The pacemaker is another of the UK’s leading 800m athletes – Karen Harewood (Corby AC).

Dame Kelly said: “I am really looking forward to a high quality ‘On Camp with Kelly’ race and hoping for some fast times from the OCWK athletes.  ‘On Camp with Kelly’ is about giving athletes all the tools they need to achieve at the highest level in athletics and competing in a major televised meeting like this is another part of the learning process.”

Heather Smith, Head of Sponsorship & CR at Aviva, said: “We are committed to providing opportunities for young athletes and helping to make it easier for them to achieve their dreams.  ‘On Camp with Kelly’ is about providing new and unique opportunities that will hopefully ensure the next generation of medal winners are confident and prepared to represent their country at an international level.”

Four ‘On Camp with Kelly’ athletes will compete in races in the main meeting programme at the Aviva London Grand Prix.  Charlotte Browning (Aldershot Farnham & District), Stacey Smith (Gateshead Harriers) and Laura Weightman (Morpeth Harriers) start in the 1500m.  This year Charlotte has improved her personal best to 4:09.86 and won the NCAA 1500m title, Stacey won the England Under 23 1500m title and has improved her best to 4:10.00 and Laura finished sixth at the IAAF World Junior Championships in a new personal best of 4:14.31.  Emma Jackson (City of Stoke), who has improved her personal best to 2:01.47 this year, will compete in the 800m.