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SO what do Alexander Bell, Niamh Bridson Hubbard, Joe Wigfield and James Gormley all have in common?
They all ran the British Milers Club meetings at Tooting last Wednesday and then the Grand Prix at Birmingham University on Saturday and came out smiling from both.
Personal bests, season’s bests and BMC records all went between the two meetings, from a rain-lashed Tooting to a sunny but quite windy evening at the University.
Not that the wind slowed down the steeplechasers too much as the decision by meeting director Luke Gunn, who knows a thing or two about racing over the barriers, to put the 2000m event on the timetable was rewarded with a bunch of records.
You could say the ‘chase lit up the meeting; Gunn certainly reckons the chasers benefitted from the use of the Wavelight pace system the most and the results back that up it.
800 RACES
THAT was quite a week for GB international and Tokyo Olympian Alexander Bell.
An emotionally draining week that saw her suffer the disappointment of not being selected to race the 800m at the World Championships but still show the resilience to claim two magnificent victories in BMC events.
On a wet Wednesday evening at the Tooting Regional Races Bell ran a season’s best and BMC members’ record of 1min 59.43secs.
On Saturday, the day after the GB team was announced publicly with her name missing, she turned up in the sunshine – albeit with a swirling wind at the Birmingham University track – and won again. In another season’s best and another BMC members’ record of 1:59.28.
Clearly an athlete running into form so understandably afterwards Bell vented her frustration at the decision of the selectors’ not to pick her.
“My team and my coach all know what I’m capable of and it is just a shame that people cannot see where this trajectory is going,” said Bell.
“I’m disappointed but it is nothing that I cannot deal with or have not dealt with in the past. Mentally I just have to stay strong and keep focussed.”
Bell certainly showed no signs of feeling sorry for herself on Saturday as she sped by the pacemaker at 200m to reach the bell in a shade over 57 seconds.
Out on her own Bell kept her form well despite a tough last 100m to cross the line over three seconds clear of Khahisa Mhlanga in a time that was also inside the qualifying standard for the Paris Olympic Games next year.
“It was my second 800m this week and…
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