HUSSAIN'S MISSION '20-POINT' STARTS HERE!

Trackspeed1-UK sprinter Jason Hussain has written off the 2016 summer season and resorted to the operating table in a bid to achieve his ultimate target of running inside 21 seconds for the 200 metres ("Mission 20-point" as he likes to call it!).

Jason Hussain gets an initial post-op' assessment
from top UK physio', Dr John Allen

The squad's longest-serving athlete who joined coach John Powell back in 2005, has always had a sporadic Achilles tendon problem, and it flared up again early this year.  Finally resorting to advice from the country's leading medic's, he underwent surgery 2 weeks ago to finally resolve the issue.

"I had the Planters tendon removed," he explained.  "It had apparently attached itself to the Achilles tendon, and there was a fair amount of scar tissue that was also taken away, so I'm really hoping this will finally sort things out and I will be able to train properly once it has healed."

Aged 29, Jason has plenty of time to recover and yet produce his best over either 100m or 200m, with his aspirations underlined by his coach as totally achievable.

"Jason has always had something that has prevented him from going that extra mile toward achieving his goals," said John Powell.  With luck, he's sorted a major problem out now, and that will allow him to train at full capacity.  He knows what he has to do now, so we will just have to  see how things go."

Hussain isn't the only Trackspeed1-UK star who has been frustrated by injury this year.  Niclas Baker opened his season with a phenomenal lifetime best mark of 47.41s over 400m, and then promptly fell down the stairs at home and injured an ankle that, five weeks down the line, is only just recovering!

Sam Imhogiemhe was another superb lifetime best performer when he won the Essex 100m County Championship, clocking 10.74s to rubbish his previous recorded best of 11.5!  A hamstring tendon injury, however, then kicked in, and he is only just returning to training!

"We all live on the edge in this sport" commented John Powell, "and to achieve our best we have to push our bodies to the limit.  The trouble is, neither coach nor athlete always know where that limit is, and if you exceed it, or try to something at the wrong time or in the wrong way, it can be curtains to such a lot of hard graft.

"It is incredibly frustrating, but we have a very mature group this year and they know where they are at.  If we can hold on to the majority for 2016-17 then I think could have a pretty impressive season next year.  That said, there are several weeks left in 2016, and I am sure there are impressive shows yet to come!"