RELAY RECORD SPARKS SERIOUS EARLY PROMISE

Trackspeed1 shattered their own squad 4x100m relay record in Florida yesterday (Thursday 5th May) with a blistering 40.12s performance - so impressive that only British national teams would have beaten it last year!

The quartet of Dwayne Grant, Jason Hussain, David Bolarinwa and James Ellington had far from perfect changes too, showing a sub-40-second performance was easily on the cards, as they cruised to victory at the University of Central Florida 'Golden Knights Twilight" meeting.

The squad's B-team of Omardo Anson (17), Lawrence Wooldridge (21), Ellis Zorro (18) and Josh Atille (16) were second across the line in a hugely impressive 42.50s.

James Ellington makes off on the home leg of the
record-breaking 4x100m relay at UCF with third man
David Bolarinwa handing over the baton. The B-team
with Lawrence Wooldridge homing in on Josh Atille
are in hot pursuit.

The race sparked some outstanding performances individually too, making the squad's pre-season programme one of their most successful to date. The leading performance was a wind-legal 100m sprint from James Ellington, who clocked a superb 10.42s in second place overall.

In the second heat 17-year-old David Bolarinwa served up an equally impressive 10.49s run, aided by a wind speed of +2.4s - just over the legal limit - but as the fourth fastest time of his life, it was the most encouraging sign possible for he and coach John Powell.

David Bolarinwa bursts through the 100m to his fourth
fastest ever time with Lawrence Wooldridge to his right.

"James didn't get the greatest of starts," said John, "and David wasn't the quickest over the early stages, but that's fine because that is normal for this stage of the year. The speed is there - now we simply have to work on the detail to spice up potential lifetime bests later in the season."

The most impressive of the squad's other junior athletes was 17-year-old Omardo Anson, who improved his 11.31 100m 5 days earlier to 11.12 in winning his heat, and then went on to record a lifetime's best 22.34s over 200m - some half a second faster than ever before.

Omardo Anson (far right) on his way to the first of two sprint victories
at UCF, seen here in the 100m

"Omardo ran outstandingly well," said John, "and he really grew as an athlete today. He's one of the most inexperienced athletes we have, but his speed of learning is frightening at the moment."

Lawrence Wooldridge was also very much on-song in the 200m, clocking the second-fastest time of his life with 21.54s, ahead of Jason Hussain who timed 21.88s. This came after a fastest ever 100m where he took fourth in a rapid race, clocking 10.74s, albeit aided by the 2.4m/s breeze.