ATHLETES HEAD HOME HUNGRY!

Trackspeed1 athletes training in Florida for the past 3-4 weeks arrive home this weekend hungry for competition to commence.  Initially blighted by volcano ash that delayed departure, and then electrical storms canceling their opening races, the news from the south eastern corner of the U.S. is now all good!

"We've had some set-backs," said coach John Powell, "but this has ended up being one of the most positive camps I've been on, and we have had absolutely no injury problems at all.  Times in training have progressed beyond previous years, and all everyone wants to do now is race.

"I'm not expecting PB's straight away, although most people have shown an ability to go very close already, but I would be surprised if we don't have a really good summer if everyone stays clear of injury."

Some members of Trackspeed1 will open their account at the Loughborough International meeting on Sunday 23rd, and others will wait for the annual inter-counties championships, in Bedford, on 30-31st May.

The annual pre-season camp in Florida features just about everything a track and field athlete can wish for in optimising preparation for the summer season.  The weather is clearly a huge plus, with 80-90 degrees guaranteed daily, but the training facilities put the UK to shame and explain very clearly why athletes drift away from home shores in April and May.

Trackspeed1 have partnerships with the now ESPN Wide World of Sports, and access outstanding facilities there both on track and in the gym.  Clermont's National Triathlon Training Centre provide access to six-star physio' treatment at discounted cost if and when needed, and there is an alternative track and gym facility there also.

Couple this with opportunities for developing athletes such as David Bolarinwa to train with some of the world's best seniors under the watchful eye of US sprints supremo Brooks Johnson, and it begins to look like a pretty attractive package!  Just a few photographic memories appear hereunder...

The Florida squad (l-r): Jer O'Donoghue, Dwayne Grant, 

James Ellington, Jason Hussain, front - David Bolarinwa, 

John Powell, Ellie Doel.

David Bolarinwa gets a thorough screening by manager 

Leah Dearman, at Clermont's six-star physiotherapy and 

rehabilitation facility

Training on the final day saw the previous three years' 

records re-written! L-R: Jer O'Donoghue, James 

Ellington, David Bolarinwa

Experience tells!  Seasoned international James Ellington

imparts words of wisdom with video feedback to young

prospect David Bolarinwa

No competition for Trackspeed1.  James Ellington leads 

Dwayne Grant and David Bolarinwa home in the 200m at 

a High School meeting in Orlando. 

Jason Hussain training at ESPN - his nightmare of 3 years

traveling there injured, now well behind him!

LATEST UPDATE RE: WARM WEATHER TRAINING

Trackspeed1 athletes due to fly to Florida for pre-season training last weekend are still rooted in the UK.  The Icelandic volcano continues to frustrate their trip, as well as those of many others.

A multi-agency meeting of key agencies including the British Government is scheduled for 7pm today 20th April, and Virgin Atlantic are updating passengers via their website at 10.30pm.

Coach John Powell and one athlete are rescheduled to travel tomorrow 21st at 1pm.  "The good news is that we haven't been cancelled yet," said John, "but it's getting very tight again, and if we are cancelled again, it gets hugely complicated with other athletes on different flights potentially flying ahead and having to manage cars and accommodation bookings themselves.

"The next availability is Monday at the earliest apparently, so a further cancellation makes this a real nightmare.  Much longer and we would have to evaluate how beneficial a trip would be from a training perspective, although I suspect some athletes will want to travel whenever they can."

TRACKSPEED1 GROUNDED !

Trackspeed1 athletes, coach John Powell, and therapists Stuart Phazey and Lucy Eggleton, have been grounded after their pre-season training camp in Florida failed to take off following the Icelandic volcano eruption last week.

The group, who would have included British Senior Internationals Dwayne Grant, James Ellington and Set Osho, not to mention youth starlet David Bolarinwa, and others, were due to leave on Sunday.  The whole group has been rescheduled now across the next few days, but coach John Powell, along with one squad member, have been put on a flight on Wednesday, and are now counting on some rapid progress.

"We are really tight for time now," said John, "and we are counting on the fact that the volcano has calmed down a bit today and might actually see UK airspace open again in time for us to fly.  We now have Dwayne booked for Thursday, James Friday, and the rest on Sunday.  But of course all that assumes there are planes in the right place to fly on!

"It's a logistical nightmare, because if I don't fly first, all the paperwork and bookings have to go with the first athlete to travel, and if that's Dwayne, he isn't one of those in our party who has a hire car reserved, so the likelihood is that at least he would have to be rebooked again."

Meanwhile, the squad have defaulted to training back at Crystal Palace and, although there were a few discontented athletes there on Sunday morning (instead of sitting on a Boeing 747 jet!), at least the weather was perfect for a track workout originally scheduled for Florida on Tuesday!

"We've got some athletes in seriously good shape this year," said John, "so wherever we train I reckon we are on for a great summer.  It's just devastating to have a month's trip to the sun that we had all been yearning after such a terrible winter, snatched from under our noses at such short notice."

The latest update was from Sky News 4pm on Monday 19th April, saying that flights could resume in Scotland tomorrow morning, and in the south by evening, but this was dependant on the volcano (below) continuing to calm down.

ELLINGTON REHAB'ING WELL

James Ellington (pictured) continued his fight back to fitness as the Trackspeed1 pre-season training camp in Florida headed toward its close this week.

As the photograph suggests, James is at long last apparently shaking off injuries that have blighted his recent career throughout 2007 and 2008.  The session at Disney's Wide World of Sports saw James back in blocks for the first time in months, with subsequent flat out runs looking equally as convincing.

It's been a productive trip for the 23-year-old European under-23 4x100m gold medalist in 2007, with the results of time trials (published earlier on this site) underlining his progression back to full fitness.  James is likely to be opening his competitive account at Bedford on May 31st, defending the title he won over 100m at the Bedford International Games.  Depending on further progress, he may also choose to contend the 200m at that meeting also.

Meanwhile, the latest update from across the Atlantic was that there could be a premature end to track work this week, as violent storms swept across Central Florida, with a forecast of more to come this week!

TS1 KICK OFF WITH A WEEKEND TO REMEMBER!

Trackspeed1 kicked off the new summer season in style with personal bests and championship records that now suggest there could be some very significant personal breakthroughs this year!

Competing in the various County Championship meetings around the south, the leading individual performance came from 16-year-old Frederica Foster (pictured), whose lifetime best of 40.2 seconds over 300m, also shattered the existing Kent Championships record, at Ashford.  She ran the same time in both heat and final, and ended runaway winner in both.

It was an especially remarkable performance, as she attends Alleyn's School in Dulwich, which had been closed all week due to an outbreak of swine flu.  She, along with all the other pupils at the school, had been forced to take a course of the tamiflu antedote all week, which does not come without some side effects.

Also at the same meeting was Trackspeed1 junior 400m athlete from Blackheath and Bromley Harriers, Alex Blair.  He put a solid winter's training to good use with a personal best on his first outing of the year, taking silver in 50.79s, which means he has now set lifetime best marks both indoors and out in the space of three months.

Phillip Doorgachurn has been working toward 200/400m training this last few months, but opted to put his basic speed to the test in the Surrey Championships at Kings Meadow.  He took fourth in the 100m in 10.87s, after finishing second in the 200m clocking 22.06s, marking one of his fastest openings to any season.  Four times Midland Champion Laura Langowski (pictured with medal alongside Phil) took silver in the Surrey 400m with a less satisfying performance born of a nasty virus she failed to shake off during the week.

Meanwhile, in the Sussex Championships, held at Crawley, Savannah Echel-Thomson was praying that problems with shin soreness of late would not prevent her from doing herself justice in the 200 and 400m.  It didn't, as she cruised to easy wins in the Junior Women's 400m clocking 57.0 seconds, and 25.3s in the 200m to claim double gold.

It was as if the lines of communication were open across the Atlantic, because the three athletes now nearing some sort of fitness in Florida also produced some alarmingly fast times in the squad's domestic time trials at Disney.

Set Osho put a ragged start to the trip well and truly behind him by abandoning the treatment table (pictured) as he stormed to the equivalent of a lifetime's best 46.8s over 400m - his  

second outing over the distance within 2  hours, amid 90-degree heat, while training partner Ryan Thomas also produced highly creditable 48.4 and 48.5 runs.

In the shorter events, and running solo, James Ellington produced a 15.8s 150m, 10.43s 100m, and 6.72 60m, the latter being described by leading USA sprints coach, Brooks Johnson, as "technically off the scale", and "virtual perfection".

Johnson, who is also the training consultant for Trackspeed1, was hugely impressed with Set Osho, describing him as "world class potential with just a few details to iron out technically".  

Trackspeed1 coach John Powell was delighted with all the results: "We have experienced an exceptionally tough winter with the weather really hindering training for the first time in many years.  We've had injuries that have not been short term, and it has been very frustrating at times.  But things certainly seem to be coming together now, and that is great."

All the TS1 performances at the counties will be updated in the next 24 hours on this website's rankings page.  The athletes in Florida return to the UK on Saturday May 16, and most will open their competitive account at the Bedford International Games on May 31st.