BIG WEEKEND FOR TS1 QUARTET

This weekend sees the 20th Bedford International games take place, and with the Mondo track and an international class entry, the four Trackspeed1 UK guys entered will get little better opportunity to show what they are capable of.

Kieran Daly heads the cast with outings over both the 100m and 200m on Saturday, and he will be hoping for a favourable wind to help him on his way to further improving the lifetime best marks he has already impressively set this season.

Joining him on the entry list for both sprints will be Nathan Gilbert.  Last year's senior boys English Schools 100m finalist will be looking to open his season with a bang after at last overcoming a sciatic nerve problem that has hampered training for the last few weeks.

Nathan Gilbert hopes to open up with a positive
performance at Bedford on Saturday.

"Nathan has been showing up very well in training," said coach John Powell, " and he is certainly capable of a good performance this year.  He has had his fair share of injury issues, so we are all hoping that he can deliver something positive this summer."

Also contesting the sprints in the 100m will be Matthew Threadgold, along with Jason Hussain.  Jason is set to contest both sprints, and hopes to build on solid early season form as he prepares for the meatier part of the season in June.

The track and field programme is packed into June this year, with a league weekend in a week's time, followed by South of England Championships, the English National under-20 and under-23 Championships, and finally the Sainsbury's British Championships and European Championship Trials.

"Last year was pretty poor for us," said John Powell, "but we knew that was only a hoc-cup.  This year we are back kin to some good stuff, and we have some very talented athletes.  Longer term there are plans to really develop Trackspeed1 UK, so as far as I'm concerned things are really looking up!"

THREE ATHLETES, SIX MEDALS, JOB DONE!

It may "only" have been County Championships this weekend, but Trackspeed1 UK's season maintained its flying start with  six medals from just three competing athletes, which included one of the most impressive rises to fame at this level in years!

Barely nine months ago, TS1 Head Coach John Powell was reluctant to keep on Calvin Kirstein with his performances struggling to crack 12 seconds over 100 metres.  Come summer 2014 though, John welcomes the opportunity to admit that the Eastbourne Rovers speed man has well and truly rammed his words back down his throat!

Calvin Kirstein (left) and Jason Hussain proudly show off their 5 medals
at the Sussex County Championships

Competing in the Sussex County Championships, in Crawley, Calvin Kirstein struck bronze in both the 200m and 100m with 22.9s and 11.2s respectively, equalling his hand-timed best ever marks.  They were his first ever County medals, and cap a winter's worth of seriously hard graft.

"Calvin has become a real example of what can be achieved with a bit of hard work," said John.  "He commutes from Eastbourne to Crystal Palace three times a week, and is now showing incredible improvement.

"We take pride in bigging up the internationals in Trackspeed1, and all their achievements in major championships," he continued, but it is almost as satisfying to see someone at the albeit modest county level achieving so well.  There's little more satisfying for a coach than seeing an athlete put in really hard work, and then improve well as a result."

Calvin couldn't quite better training partner Jason Hussain though.  For it was Hussain, 27, who took gold in both sprints clocking 11.1 and 22.2.  Then conditions for the 200m on Saturday were atrocious with headwind and driving rain, while the 100m n Sunday - albeit in sunny dry conditions - suffered a -1.7m/s headwind.  It was happy days for Hussain though, who has won countless Sussex titles over the years.

There was a generous bonus for Calvin though, with gold in the 4x100m relay as Eastbourne Rovers streaked away with the Sussex title, making it a pretty satisfying weekend for the 23-year-old who had previously never won a medal at County level.

Elsewhere in the Surrey Championships Matt Threadgold looked set to land a sixth medal for his squad n the 100m final in Kingston, but blocks slipping in the final left him languishing in fourth at the line. He clocked 10.99s, although in the heat he had timed 10.81, albeit assisted by a +2.4 tail wind.  Instead it was 17-year-old Renee Ross-Gordon who took bronze in her 200m final clocking 26.4s faced with a 4.4m/s headwind at Kingston - a "far from shabby run..." in her coach's words!

"It's been a pretty positive start to 2014," commented John Powell.  "We may have lost some top athletes post-2012, but we are well on the 'up' now, and I reckon we have a couple of dark horses in the group who could raise a few eyebrows this summer.

"Already we have Kieran Daly earning his first ever international at Loughborough, and I reckon Nathan Gilbert will impress too once he gets back fit from recent injury issues.  Fred Afrifa has a hamstring injury that will not help is 2014 campaign, but once fit again, the Italian World Juniors squad member could still impress.  And there are more where he came from too!

"There are going to be some significant changes that will be aimed at moving Trackspeed1 UK back up a few grades this next winter - watch this blog for details.  We have an international reputation and I'm not about to lose that, and we have contacts all over the globe.  With the athletes we have, a who knows who else may join the party - the future is looking pretty good!"

Calvin and Jason mounted the rostrum on exactly
the same steps twice at Crawley!

YET ANOTHER INTERNATIONAL IS BORN!

Trackspeed1 UK's glittering hall of fame expanded by yet another name yesterday (Sunday 18th) as Kieran Daly became the latest athlete to gain international honours, after 4 years in the squad.

Kieran is all smiles as the latest new international athlete produced by Trackspeed1 UK.

With 2012 and 2013 seasons littered with injury issues, Kieran had already made a bold statement with huge personal bests a week earlier at Windsor (see earlier blog), but in the annual Loughborough University international meeting he went one step further and caught the eye of England selectors.

Initially planted in the 4 x 100m relay team, he actually ended up wearing the red and white of his home country in the 200m, where he ran the second fastest time of his life - 21.13 seconds - from lane one, finishing fourth overall.

The performance that had caught the selectors' eye had been his 100m effort earlier in the day, where he took full advantage of ideal weather to clock a wind legal lifetime best of 10.37s - a far better mark than the 10.21s a week earlier, which was aided by a 5.0m/s gale behind him!

The performance ranks him currently ninth fastest in the UK this year - third fastest in his own age-group of under-23 athletes, with the great Adam Gemili only just in front with 10.32.  Chijindu Ujah leads the listings with 10.17s.  More importantly, in the race at Loughborough, Kieran finished in front of former Olympic gold medalist Mark Lewis-Francis, and former European Junior Champion David Bolarinwa.

"It was a great run," said coach John Powell who was present to watch his protégée perform, "and the great thing is that he can clearly go faster with some work on his starts.  The 200m was frustrating because he should have been slotted into lane 5, but a breakdown in communications ended up with him having to run on the inside, which almost certainly cost him a personal best, set a week ago at 21.08!"

Training partner Jason Hussain was equally delighted for Kieran.  He said on a social networking site: "Congrat's to Kieran Daly after representing England today at the Loughborough International.  I've trained with this guy for a good 5-6 years.  He has trained so hard and proper deserves the season he is having!"

Kieran will take a weekend off competition this coming weekend, but returns to action at Bedford on May 31st for the Bedford International Games. After that he will be focussing on three huge consecutive weekends: the Southern Championships, National Under-23 Championships, and finally the UK European championship trials in Birmingham.

Kieran (far side, lane 1, in red) on the final straight in the 200m at Loughborough on Sunday.

Kieran in action in the 100m at Loughborough.

SUPER KIERAN BREAKS THROUGH AT LAST

'Trackspeed1 UK' sprinter Kieran Daly at last hit the radar of elite athletics as he set two scintillating lifetime best marks in the British League today (Saturday 10th) at Windsor.

Kieran Daly - moved to a whole new level of athletics with
sensational lifetimes best performances at Windsor.

In far from ideal conditions, he blasted to a phenomenal 10.21s in the 100m - some 0.37 inside his lifetime best - and left his nearest rival in the UK's premier club competition some 0.25s behind!  It was also the fourth fastest time clocked by a British athlete this year with or without wind assistance!

The only statistic that took the shine off the after-party was the following wind - a gale of +5.0m/s - but as any sprinter will testify, a wind that strong - even if it's in your favour - is as much a hindrance as an aid, as balance and leg speed is adversely affected.

This was, however, not all, and arguably the best performance of the day was to come in the 200m,  Here the 21-year-old Blackheath and Bromley Harrier placed first again, clocking a sensational 21.08s.  That was 0.48s inside his fastest ever mark set in the United States 3 weeks ago but, most importantly, this was wind legal with a following breeze of +1.1 well below the permitted 2.0.  It also ranks as one of the fastest ten performances by any athlete in the `UK this year!

As the news broke, Kieran's coach, John Powell, was out with his family inLondon's West End, and he confessed to being stopped in his tracks when he got the message:

"We all knew Kieran was in the form of his life," said John, "but in the conditions around London today I must admit I didn't think this was the day when we would get a breakthrough like this.  It's nothing less than he deserves though - Kieran's potential has been frustrated by injury the last couple of seasons, but we are all hoping and praying that 2014 will see something closer to his true ability."

The positives to come out of Windsor for Daly were not only the times, but also the knowledge that there were a number of technical issues that could be vastly improved, and so even further improvement cold be reasonably expected as the season progresses.

Kieran's next outing is due to be at the Loughborough international meeting next Sunday 18th May when he is hoping to get lanes in both sprints.  Having trained under John Powell's tutelage for 4 years now, he represents yet further evidence of TS1UK's ability to create and develop world class athletes form the ground floor!

Kieran holds his bottle of champagne, awarded to him as the 'Man
of the Match' at the British League's opening fixture in Windsor.