SIX LIFETIME MARKS ALREADY!

Trackspeed1-UK athletes rightly plan their peak performances for the vital championships later in the summer so, the fact that already six lifetime bests have been posted in barely two meetings, augurs incredibly well for the rest of the 2015 season.

The early domestic fixtures continued yesterday (Saturday 9th May) with British League meetings dotted across the country, and it was at sunny Crawley that two more best ever times were posted.

Eighteen-year-old Fred Afrifa has had something of a torrid time over the last couple of seasons with injury wrecking plans, but his 200m on home soil for his Crawley AC team was his fastest yet, just a fraction over the 22-second mark with 22.08.

That was whilst being hampered by a -1.7m/s headwind though, and so if that had been reversed, he would easily have cracked the 22-second barrier for the first time.  It comes only a short while after his super debut over the longer 400m distance where he posted 50.2 - surely an indication of a shift in event in the future with a sub-50 run only a matter of time.

Jason Hussain takes over in the4x400m relay from
clubmate and training partner Fred Afrifa at Crawley.
Both posted lifetime best marks in the individual events.

Also in action in Crawley was one of the squad's most impressive performers already this year, Jason Hussain.  His fastest ever 200m in the USA last month was impressive, but this time he showed he is in the form of his life over 100m as well.  He clocked 10.65s in the A race running into a -1.7m/s wind - again an indication that he can run well down into the 10.5's without the breeze in his face!

In the 200m, Hussain was disappointed with his 21.57s into a 1.3m/s headwind, but as coach John Powell pointed out afterwards, a year ago, he would have taken that as a positive performance:

"Jason has opened up incredibly well this year," he said.  "The fact that he is this year disappointed with runs that less than 12 months ago he would have been reasonably satisfied with is an indication of how far he has progressed in the last year.  He is with out doubt good for a sub-21 second 200 metres this season - we just need decent conditions without a headwind!

Essex Ladies sprinter Tope Nuga ran faster than ever before in the USA last month too, albeit with a little wind assistance that time (11.67s over 100m) but could not reproduce that sort of form in Crawley, albeit faring well in the UK Womens League A race, clocking 12.08 into another headwind.

Tope Nuga ran well again in Crawley after
her fastest ever 100m in the USA last month

In another British League clash, Oweka Wanogho clocked his fastest time since 2012 over 100m of 10.87s, but was kicking himself after not dipping at the line, losing the race overall by one hundredth of a second!

"Oweka has much to learn about his event, but the fact that he has regained his form of 3 years ago already this year shows to me that there is lots more to come," commented John  Powell.

The next landmark event for Trackspeed1-UK athletes is Sunday May 17th when some will be invited to take part in the annual Loughborough international meeting in the East Midlands.  Already invitations have been extended to Jason Hussain (200m), Tope Nuga (100m), Emmanuel Stephens (100m) and Matthew Threadgold (400m).