NINE PB'S, BUT NIC STEALS THE SHOW

Trackspeed1-UK athletes opened up their domestic season in East London today just 12 days after their return from their Stateside training camp, predictably impressing with nine lifetime best times.

Niclas Baker stole the show at Newham to record a massive
lifetime best time over 400 metres

Stealing the show though was 21-year-old Niclas Baker, who tore his previous 400 metres best time to shreds on the mondo surface that is the Newham Leisure Centre track, with an outstanding 47.41s lap, catapulting him into the top 25 in the UK.

A perfectly paced race saw him take control from the off, cruising the home bend, and holding strong on the home straight to win the race outright.  His performance cast into the shadows his existing best ever over the distance of 49.06s, set last year.

Leading short sprints performer was David Bolarinwa whose 10.66s into a -1.9m/s wind may have seen him beaten by the majority of an international class field, but it augured well for his season after a stressful week of university exam's and very little training.

Elsewhere it was a few of the largely unsung heroes of the squad who shattered previous best marks.  Emmanuel Adeoye took nearly two tenths off his 100m best, and then made a joke of his 200m fastest time with a performance well over half a second superior at Newham.

Jerome Lule, 19, ran his fastest 100m ever although was slightly wind-aided with a +2.4m/s breeze, while his 200m was another best ever, this time despite a -1.7m/s headwind.  Piers Chen equalled his fastest ever 200m after the second-fastest 100m of his career.

Chaka Maillet was forced to run into a gale of -3.1m/s in his 100m, but still came to within a tenth of a second of his fastest time ever, but then went on to crack his fastest ever 200m by a quarter of a second with a negligible +0.5m/s breeze behind him.

Coach John Powell who witnessed all the performances was more than pleased with the majority of his charges on the day.  He commented:

"Niclas was obviously outstanding, and should go faster this year.  He is a class act and could well turn some heads over the next 18 months.  It was good to see the PB's so early in the season, and from a coaching perspective I learned a fair bit about the group in a competitive environment.

"David has had a very difficult week, and was pitched into a challenging field which, if I were honest, wouldn't have helped at such an early point in the season, but he still faired really well, and will run a lot faster this year.

"There are several athletes in the group who are in their first year with me, and it's always an education when they first pitch into competition.  There was only one false start and subsequent disqualification too, which was pleasing, although that one culprit will be hearing from me next week!"

The next stop for Trackspeed1-UK athletes will be next weekend's County Championships at various venues around the home counties, and then that is followed by the annual Loughborough University International on Sunday May 22nd.