TRACKSPEED1 EYE SUCCESS AT THE NATIONALS -Trackspeed1 athletes go into action this weekend (February 14/15th) for what is for many likely to be their last excursion onto the boards. National age-group championships take place at the National Indoor Arena, Birmingham, and the UK Championships and European Championship Trials will be staged at the English Institute of Sport, Sheffield. Trackspeed1’s form has been incredibly positive this winter despite the challenges posed by the great British winter for training, although there will be a few absentees due to injury. In Sheffield, Mark Brown starts in the men’s 400m as a contender for the European Championship squad as either an individual or member of the 4x400m relay team, although the competition will be tough. The Southern Champion has shown excellent form this year, but has suffered particularly through the elements limiting his commuting from East London to his squad’s Crystal Palace training base. Laura Langowski goes in the women’s event and is a definite finals contender, whilst Phillip Doorgachurn will be looking to capitalise on his outstanding form this winter over 200m. His lifetime best times over both 60m and 200m augur for another great performance in Sheffield, where he goes in the 200m alongside training companion Jason Hussain. Hussain himself has shown a unique determination that has been an inspiration to many of his training companions, having got back into competition only three months after serious illness, and he will be looking to further his progress in getting back to form over 200m. Injury has prevented all the squad competing, with Ryan Thomas (hamstring) and James Ellington (sciatica / hamstring) sidelined, but in training for the summer outdoor season. In Birmingham, medal favourite in the under-17 men’s 400m, Tom Bensted, is also out with a mystery hamstring injury that recurred last weekend, but in the women’s events, Trackspeed1 could feature very well indeed. Savannah Echel-Thomson has struggled recently with shin splints, but is virtually back to form now, and the Southern Champion will be a real contender for a medal in the under-20 women’s 400m. Frederica Foster will also be well in the reckoning if the form book is to be believed, as she takes to the boards in the under-17 women’s 300m. Coach John Powell commented: “We’ve seen some great individual performances this year. We at last have a great mix of athletes and, although the average age has dropped slightly over the last couple of years, the future is looking really positive. This weekend should underline that.”
POWELL SLAMS THE ELUSIVE HOLY GRAIL!
Trackspeed1 coach John Powell has again spoken out about athletes who, over the years, decide to change coaches in search of a non-existent ‘holy grail’. “Coaches invest a huge amount of time, money and effort in athletes – myself included – and all too often they turn their noses up at it an decide they want to go elsewhere – frequently even if they are still improving,” he said. “And yet they rarely if ever improve, and it is indeed exceptional if there is a scrap of gratitude shown to you after they’ve moved on. In fact it is not unusual for them to completely blank you at later competitions, whether the split has been acrimonious or not! It’s killing the sport, and it has certainly reined back my enthusiasm for coaching. “It is truly pathetic that athletes turn on their coaches like this. Of course there will be times when it is right for them to move on, but there simply don’t seem to be any ethics involved at all. To hear from their new coach as a courtesy, let alone to discuss how to take the individual forward and learn a bit about them, is almost unheard of. “I have become much more hardened to this of late, and have event now begun to get rid of athletes who show no gratitude in the group.
The last couple of summers have been no exception, although I will remove any doubt over Wade Bennett-Jackson’s move to Linford Christie: that was by mutual agreement with absolutely no hard feelings, and we continue to get on fine. Others could not be more different.
“I don’t know what the answer is – especially whilst naïve people like me are in the sport. Associations with athletes can become quite intricate over years – that’s the nature of our sport because it becomes such a huge part of life, especially if you are near the top. Just imagine how it felt when one athlete came to me asking for a loan to pay for a relative’s funeral. And then me having to take the family to court to get the money back! It’ll be six years before I’m repaid in full, and that athlete completely disengaged within months, and within a year had left the group making spurious comments about what they felt had been substandard coaching! Their new coach is welcome to them.”
TRACKSPEED1 HIT FORM AT BIRMINGHAM GAMES
Trackspeed1 athletes improved personal bests, or at least bettered season's bests to date this year, at the Birmingham Games held at the National Indoor Arena, on 31st January / 1st February.
Arguably the squad's star of the show was Bath University graduate Phillip Doorgachurn, who set a new lifetime best over 60m with a 7.00s spurt - tantalisingly close to his elusive target of sub-7 seconds! And then he went on to set an all-time indoor best over 200m of 21.94s - his first run over the boards in under 22 seconds.
Sixteen-year-old South London Harrier Frederica Foster mixed up block settings on day one and failed to make a huge impression over 200m, but made amends on day two with an all-time best indoors and out over 400m of 57.26s. She ended well ahead of the field in an event she can only formally take up next year, as under-17's only compete as an age-group over 300m.
Laura Langowski switched down from the 400 with the Midland championships looming at the same venue a week later, and competed over 200m. Her 25.03s run in the heats proved she is back to her best despite all sorts of hic-cups in training this last few months. And Tom Bensted improved his best 2009 indoor mark with a completely solo run in the under-17 400m, clocking 49.91s several yards clear of the rest.
Trackspeed1 coach John Powell was delighted with all the performances: "I was particularly pleased for Phil' because he has had a couple of leanish years, but you can see the confidence flooding back now, and that's great. Fred ran well and will gain alot from the experience of running 400m (300 will seem like a holiday now!), and Tom looked impressive. Nationals are on the near horizon now, and we need to keep going. The weather cancelling training at Crystal Palace shouldn't stop people from doing some work nearer home."
TRACKSPEED1 - At the Birmingham Indoor Games
Trackspeed1 travels to Birmingham this weekend for the Birmingham Indoor Games where they will be looking to extend the early form shown in the South of England Championships recently. The action takes place at the National Indoor Arena.
Mark Brown, the newly crowned SEAA 400m Champion will be in action over the indoor two-lap sprint, while Jason Hussain looks to make a comeback over 200m for the first time since his now well-documented 2008 trials and tribulations.
Younger squad members including SEAA Champion Savannah Echel-Thomson will also take to the boards over 400m, with English Schoos international Tom Bensted contesting the under-17 men's event. Frederica Foster goes in the under-17 women's 400m.
Short sprinter James Ellington may be missing after a continuance of a hamstring niggle that could now sideline him for any further competition prior to outdoors, but Phillip Doorgachurn will go over 200m, and Midland Champion Laura Langowski will mount an assault on her favoured event for the first time this winter on what is almost home soil for the Tamworth athlete.
Trackspeed1 coach John Powell said: "We're looking forward to a good weekend, most people are in good shape. James is finding his hamstring problem very irritating, and for that reason we are likely to focus on getting it totally right for the summer rather than compromise far more serious issues by running indoors."
TRACKSPEED1 STRIKE GOLD - THREE TIMES!
Mark Brown
The eagerly awaited senior men's 400m final between Dale Garland and Mark Brown never materialise after Garland did a mysterious disappearing act after the semi-final where he out-dipped Brown by 0.05 second. That left Mark to battle it out with reigning champion Steve Green and Nick Leavey, but their challenge petered out during the second lap as Brown powered round to victory in 48.10s.
The second gold came under extraordinary circumstances - for the second successive year - when Tom Bensted claimed the under-17 men's 400m title after crossing the line second! He clocked 50.17s despite an ongoing hamstring niggle, but was out-paced by Woodford's Paul Scanlan, but the east Londoner was promptly disqualified for breaking lanes. Sportingly 15-year-old Tom was slightly downcast after the result, but when told that his opponent may not have run quite as far as he had, smiles prevailed! Twelve months earlier he had lifted the under-15 title after Jack Green cut in at the bell causing Tom to virtually stop running.
Savannah Echel-Thomson
The third gold of the day was arguably the most spectacular. Savannah Echel-Thomson set championship best performances in each round of the junior women's 400m, ending with a title -winning 56.77s. It was a lifetime's best time indoors and out, and shot her to the top of the UK rankings where she proudly sits as the fastest woman in the country so far.
Sav' has been looking awesome in training," said John Powell, "and this result was no great surprise, but the way in which she went about achieving it was really striking. She has developed a real air of confidence now and looks far stronger than last year. With some more focus around her gym work and a continuance of her excellent form on the track, indoors - never mind the summer - could produce some rich rewards for her in 2009."
Jason Hussain
One landmark performance that would have eluded the vast majority of spectators on Sunday was that of Jason Hussain in the senior 400m. Running twice his normal distance in more of a training exercise than anything else, this marked his return to competitive athletics barely four months after completing a gruelling course of chemotherapy during the summer. His 52.12s third place in the heats was unspectacular, but qualified him for the semi-final. "My main event is 200m, but I just wanted to compete again so I wasn't entirely raw when I do the 200m this weekend. I know I've still got alot to do fitness-wise, but I'm not in bad shape now, and I'm just delighted to be back racing again. 2008 is a year I will be looking to forget very quickly."
New rankings lists featuring every Trackspeed1 performance of the year will be published on this website shortly.
TRACKSPEED1 IN AMONG THE BEST AGAIN, BUT COACH FIRES A WARNING SHOT
Trackspeed1 athletes were again in amongst the best of British for 2008 as the national rankings were published in Athletics Weekly recently. But coach John Powell was not full of optimism for the future.
“The days of the likes of me coaching world class seniors are past,” he said, “because the nationwide policy of elite coaching has taken over. A talented senior is either poached, taken, blackmailed with loss of funding, or given so much bullshit about the so-called yellow-brick road elsewhere, that he or she will rarely if ever these days stay with the coach that develops them. It’s actually what many athletes now take for normal in fact.
“And yet when you look further down the line and establish just how those athletes have progressed, in a huge number of cases – they simply haven’t.
“I’m told that time and again, a set-up where some sessions take place in the evenings ”is not world class coaching”. Ok, so how did the athletes get to where they are training in such an environment, and again, why do so many of them fail to improve when moved, one way or the other, into such “world class training environments”?
“You can’t tar everyone and every group with the same brush, and there will be many times where athletes have gone as far as they can with their existing coach, and need to move on. But sadly nobody has taken it upon themselves to regulate this, and it will be to the long term cost of the sport.
“I am an ambitious coach, the same doubtless as many colleagues. But I have now been deprived of any kind of pathway to the top simply, it seems, because I have a day job! No longer do coaches get the incentive or reward of being involved in international teams. No longer do coaches have the opportunity to see their charges through to the top unless they are willing to go virtually full time.
“So-called ‘developmental’ opportunities are afforded to the keenest, but they don’t remove the need for the day job, and rarely look any further forward to the loner term benefits for coach and sport. Has there ever been an evaluation, I wonder, on al these so-called coach development initiatives? What tangible benefits do they afford our sport?
“And while I’m on the bandwagon, what accountability do our governing body have to the sport they are supposed to regulate? Who made the decision, for example, that a million pounds should be spent on our head coach? Was there any sort of consultation? On the other hand should there have been? Nothing personal at all to the incumbent of the post – purely an example. What, I wonder, does Andy Turner et al think of such decisions after being dropped from lottery support?
“And finally, I wonder what sort of strategy there is at national or regional level that ensures engagement with service providers – the people who run the tracks?! The two week holiday period saw my training base closed completely for all but those who could train during the daytime, and even then five days saw complete closure. What is it with this country? Are we on a sporting suicide mission or something? There is clearly no caring for our dedicated sports people, because they are being told – shit up shop and go home for 2 weeks – see you in the New Year! No coach reading this will be unaware of the issues surrounding 2 weeks’ lack of training just before the indoor season begins. Pathetic.”
Despite John Powell’s concerns, Trackspeed1 saw both Wade Bennett-Jackson and James Ellington appear in the UK top 20 over 100 metres in 2008, while in the 200m they were 29th and 30th respectively, being narrowly outdone by training partner Jason Hussain in 23rd.
In the 400m lists, Mark Brown and Conrad Williams ranked seventh and eighth respectively. In the women’s lists Dawn Wilson was listed 13th over 400m, while Laura Langowski lay 20th.
HUSSAIN GOES IN SEARCH OF THE SUN!
As can be seen from the picture, his trip to Los Angeles for the Christmas period did not exactly get off to the planned sunny start! California experienced snow as well as torrential downpours during his first few days there (w/c 14/12), although as can be seen he is back in full training, none apparently the worse for wear after the traumas of the summer.
The 22-year-old did find sun 24 hours after this session, and according to TS1 coach John Powell, is continuing his return to full training well ahead of what he predicted:
“Most people will know that I understand just what Jason’s body went through during the summer – chemotherapy drugs are quite literally poison to the system – and I certainly never had him down for training this well so early.
“He kept talking about running indoors during the early stages of ’09 while he was undergoing treatment, but we were all quietly hoping the idea might slip. Suffice to say, he’s made his point over the last few weeks!”
Hussain is training over the Christmas period at the University of Southern California facility (USC) in Los Angeles, and returns in time for the New Year celebrations in London.
TRACKSPEED 1 PREPARE FOR INDOORS
Trackspeed1 athletes are busy preparing for the indoor season despite the annual search for facilities to train at.
It’s that time of year when facilities understandably give their staff a little more time off, and finding evening venues to train at that are still open during the holiday period becomes something of a challenge.
“The vast majority of athletes are working now because lottery funding only goes to the elite,” explained TS1 coach John Powell. “That means that we have to train in the evenings most of the time after people have finished work. It is frustrating from an athlete’s perspective that tracks are then closed, meaning at the very least we have to search for somewhere else to train. And of course then come all the issues of transport and letting everyone know where we are.”
Either way, the indoor season is rapidly approaching, and most of Trackspeed1 will be in action at the principal meetings this winter. The South of England Championships in barely 3 weeks time will be their first major test, and things will come to a crescendo in mid-February with the national championships. This year both senior European Championship Trials and the age-group championships will be held on the same weekend, albeit at different venues (Sheffield and Birmingham respectively). “That makes coaching easier with peaks at the same time,” said John Powell, but I’m not quite sure how coaches are supposed to support their athletes when you have a clash like that.”
Trackspeed1 are currently without Powell, who is in Los Angeles for the Christmas period, but will train at Croydon Arena on Tuesday (6.30) and at Crystal Palace on Sunday at 10.30. For the information of athletes reading this, training on Thursday/Friday is individually based, but the squad will convene on Tuesday (30th) at Crystal Palace – warm-up 11am.
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