DALY TREBLE LEADS TRACKSPEED1 CHARGE!

Trackspeed1 UK sprinter Kieran Daly yet again grabbed the headlines at Bedford on Saturday, as he charged to three wins out of three in the annual Bedford International Games ("BIG").

Of four TS1 athletes he was by far the leading light, but the other three also proved that the squad are well on their way toward hitting form when it matters most this summer.

Daly opened his campaign with a solid 10.49s 100m - the third fastest of his career - despite a horrible start, demolishing classy opposition with a devastating pick-up toward the line.  Then later in the day he achieved another lifetime best mark - but that was also possibly one of the most frustrating performances of his life!

Kieran Daly (yellow top) demolishes a 100m field at Bedford.

In the 200m he charged to victory with a time of 21.00 seconds - tantalisingly close to the so far elusive sub-21-second barrier that so many athletes of his calibre pursue.  The post-mortems afterwards were of course full of "if only's" but it remained his fastest ever, and demonstrated a clear ability to go under the 21 second mark laster this season.

More was to come though in the send round of the 100m, where again he failed to exit the blocks particularly well, but blasted through the field to win in the second-fastest time of his life - 10.40s.  It rounded off an outstanding day's work,  and sets up he 21-year-old student from Downham, South East London, for a tasty month of June that packs in all the major championships of the season.

Also in action was 27-year-old Jason Hussain, whose year out of the sport in 2012/13 has seen him having to work exceptionally hard to regain any sort of form, but his labours were rewarded at Bedford.

Jason Hussain (yellow vest near-side) hits the line in the 200m at bedford.

In the 100m he clocked a season's fastest of 10.88s, but then topped that with his fastest 200m since well back in 2012 clocking 21.58s.  He finished third in the race in a blanket finish, but again this sets him up for further improvement during the June championships.

Matt Threadgold (third from right in claret/gold vest) dives for the line in the Bedford 100m.

Matt Threadgold, who trained with Trackspeed1 some years ago, only returned to training in March, and so he could be excused for having fairly modest expectations for 2014, but he also set a season's best 100m of 10.96s in a well-executed race.

Rounding off the Trackspeed1 charge was Nathan Gilbert, who opened his season's campaign at Bedford after being ravaged with injury issues for weeks.  His 10.90s 100m was disappointing to him, but coach John Powell was of a very different view:

"Nathan has been back training like a juggernaught," he said, " and he's not been far of Kieran's shirt tails, so we know what he's capable of.   He just needs a few races to get back into things and to stay uninjured."

June is a massive month for Trackspeed1 UK.  This weekend is a fairly soft one with most athletes training through, but then come the South of England Championships at Crystal Palace on 14-15th.  After that are the England National under-20 and under-23 Championships in Bedford, and a week later the British championships and European Championship Trials take place in Birmingham.

"Everything is packed into one calendar month this year domestically," explained John, "so unless you are going to the Commonwealth Games or European Championships, this is the month you have to perform in."

Top Trackspeed1 UK sprinter Josh Swaray is unlikely to feature as he faces a possible minor operation on a knee problem, and Fred' Afrifa faces an uphill task to recover from a hamstring injury in time for his target championships of the year.

"We've had a couple of injuries as usual," said John,"but it's still shaping up to be a really positive season for us as we rebuild the group."

The four Trackspeed1 UK sprinters in action at Bedford on Saturday.

Trackspeed1 UK are indebted to Mark Shearman and VincoSport for the photographs used in this blog.