TRACKSPEED TRIO IMPRESS IN AUSTRIA

Trackspeed1’s party who flew to the Liese Prokop Memorial meeting, in St Polten, Austria yesterday (June 2^nd) may have been a little depleted, but that did not prevent further progress into the 2011 summer season.

David Bolarinwa (17) again impressed with three significant performances which converted to at least as good – if not better – than his lifetime best marks recorded at Bedford for days earlier.

In the 100m heats he recorded 10.42s to win ahead of 10.1 man Ryan Moseley, the Austrian number one senior.  Although slower than his lifetime best of 10.29 at Bedford, it was run into a headwind of -1.8m/s.

David Bolarinwa (right) out-dips Austrian number one 
Ryan Moseley in the 100m in St Polten.

In the final, he was confronted with Moseley again, determined to exact revenge in front of the home crowd, and the talented Commonwealth Games semi-finalist Adrian Griffth (Bahamas), who romped home to win in 10.28.

David clocked another 10.42 into another headwind of -1.2m/s, while Moseley pipped him for second this time, with a slightly superior 10.36s.

“Both efforts convert to a shade faster than his best performances on Sunday,” explained coach John Powell, “so I am more than satisfied.  David is a huge competitor, and although he knows there are areas of his race that need improvement, you can never fault him for effort on any outing.”

David later took part in his first 200m of the season, and recorded 21.35 in second place behind Matthew Mathiau (Bahamas) athlete, who clocked 20.90 into a -1.8m/s headwind - not a bad comparison with an athlete who has run 20.3 in the past and who reached the Olympic Games semi finals in Beijing. 

Matt Threadgold should have been well into his season by this stage, but for a hamstring injury, compounded by a groin problem over the last month.  He was therefore opening up his 2011 campaign, and succeeded with a second-placed 48.94s 400m effort.  With a best of 48.5, this was a more than encouraging performance.

In the 200m races at the end of the meeting, Lawrence Wooldridge added a 21.81s run to his two earlier 100m efforts of 11.08s and 11.00s, both into headwinds, while Threadgold suddenly discovered the penalties of fatigue after early-season 400s, managing only 22.51s in his race, albeit into another headwind.

This weekend, some Trackspeed1 athletes will compete in league competition for their cllubs before the meaty part of the summer kicks in with the Bedford International Games on June 12^th.  James Ellington, however, is representing Great Britain in an international meeting in Germany, on Saturday (June 4^th).