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!

GODS NOT LOOKING KINDLY ON TRACKSPEED1

The second "act of God" in less than a month frustrated Trackspeed1's pre-season preparations yesterday (6th May), as electrical storms prevented their opening competition from taking place.

The annual University of Central Florida Twilight track meet, a traditionally high class affair, failed to kick off as the skies clouded over, the rain poured down, and thunder and lightening put the whole UCF campus on 'red alert'.

"We're all frustrated as anything," said coach John Powell, because we simply can't wait to get going this year, but we have the Lake Brantley meet tomorrow (May 8th)."

Trackspeed1 have all their Florida athletes competing at the Florida Gliders Spring Classic meeting at Lake Brantley High School, Orlando.  "It's a bit of a crazy meeting with loads of kids and a rather unpredictable timetable," explained John, "but the senior races are usually pretty classy, and we know some from the UCF event may well be chasing late entries."

In true American style, the timetable begins at 7.30am and works through to 5pm.  Looking to be in action over 100m will be James Ellington, David Bolarinwa, Dwayne Grant and Jer O'Donoghue, with all bar O'Donoghue in the 200m with the addition of Jason Hussain.

The squad will also make a late entry in the 4 x 10m relay to see if their quartet of O'Donoghue, Grant, Bolarinwa and Ellington can crack the 40-second barrier, which would see them into the IAAF world rankings as a training group - possibly the first European squad to do so!

With UCF cancelled, we were able to do a couple of baton changes at the ESPN track today (Friday)," said John, so we'll see what happens.  At the end of the day it's about the individual events mainly, although a good relay would be a great boost early on in the year for everyone."

 

Trackspeed1 relay practice at the ESPN training track today (7th)

Storms sweep across the UCF track yesterday, postponing Trackspeed1's kick-off to the new season by 48 hours.  They compete at Lake Brantley tomorrow (8th)

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.

HUSSAIN PASSES WITH FLYING COLOURS

Trackspeed1 stalwart Jason Hussain passed an early health check with flying colours at Crawley on Sunday (28th March), as he stormed to a 300m victory almost a second ahead of the rest of the field.

Competing in a local open meeting, and anxious to put a nightmare two years behind him, the former British Junior International clocked an outstanding 34.88 seconds to underline just how well training is now going.

Jason suffered the ultimate nightmare in 2008 with a summer of misery undergoing chemotherapy which threatened his very athletics career, and the legacy of that holed last year's season below the waterline.  2010 though, it would seem, is likely to be a whole different ball game!

Trackspeed1 coach John Powell was impressed as he witnessed Hussain's Sussex run: "Jason ran well, and for where we are in training right now, anything below 35 seconds is great," he said.  "We learned alot from the race too - stuff we can work on to improve his 200m as his main event this year.  After his last couple of years, it was great to see him walk off the track with a smile on his face too."

Hussain's closest rival in Crawley clocked just over 35.7, and his performance was undoubtedly one of the best at the meeting, which represented an exceptionally early test for track athletes.  Hussain will now train on for three weeks before leaving for the squad's pre-season training camp in Florida where he will work on final preparations for the summer season for four weeks.

BOLARINWA HEADS TO MOSCOW

Trackspeed1's newest young sprints ace, David Bolarinwa, is heading to Moscow just days after returning from the United States on the squad's warm weather training camp.  The 16-year-old Cambridge Harrier has been selected to compete for Great Britain in the European Youth Olympics.

Bolarinwa, together with coach John Powell, return from the 4-week training camp, which will include at least one competitive outing at the University of Central Florida's high profile annual spring meet, and have just four days in the UK before going through another set of time zones east to the Russian capital.

The event represents the trials for the main event of the year, the World Youth Olympics, in Singapore, in August, and the powers that be reckon Trackspeed1's representative has a great chance of qualifying.  Right now the plan is that he will compete in the 100 metres.

SENSATIONAL BOLARINWA THE BEST IN UK HISTORY: OFFICIAL !

Trackspeed1 superkid, David Bolarinwa, is now the best all-round under-17 sprinter of all time!  An amazing weekend saw him take the Midlands by storm, clinching both the 60m and 200m national indoor titles in sensational style, in Birmingham's National Indoor Arena.

He clocked a lifetime best 6.81s in the 60m final on Saturday (27th) to become the third fastest of all time, and capped that with a 21.59s 200m in Sunday (28th) which is also the third fastest ever Briton.  It was within only a few hundredths of British International Tim Benjamen's 200m record mark set over ten years ago. But with different names ahead of him in each event, his combined efforts make him an all-time number  one!

Its all systems go now for the 16-year-old Cambridge Harrier, and his sights will now be focussed on Moscow in May for the European Youth Olympics, after which it is hopefully a ticket to Singapore for the World Youth Olympics.

"This was a fantastic weekend's work," said an absolutely delighted coach, John Powell.  "David is learning so much all the time, and improved even during this weekend.

"The focus in the summer now looks as if it will be the European Youth Olympics in Moscow in May.  They act as trials for a European team in the World Youth Olympics in Singapore in August.  Quite frankly, the real dilemma is what event to do - or to double up 100/200m if we are allowed to.  The way this weekend has gone - and the indications in training - would suggest David could be a real cntender for a medal in both Moscow and Singapore.  It's a great position to be in."

UK Athletics have made it clear that competing in the Youth Olympics and the World Junior Championships is not an option, but Powell isn't worried in the slightest:

"David has two years as an under-20 after 2010, and he will get a crack at both Eurpean and World Championships at that level before graduating to the senior ranks.  It would be great experience to witness a World Juniors this year while still so young, but he'll only get one crack at the youth Olympcs, so that has tobe our priority now."

Bolarinwa will now go back to training with his Trackspeed1 squad at Crystal palace, and go to the USA in April with a number of his senior training partners for pre-season training.  His otdor season is likely to open with an outing at the University of Central Florida in May.

DAVID BLASTS TO ALL-TIME NUMBER TWO!

Trackspeed1 teenage sprints ace, David Bolarinwa, switched into overdrive last Sunday and notched the equal second fastest time over 60 metres by a 16 year-old in the UK - ever!l


Competing in a low key Sutton open meeting at the Greenwich Leisure arena in Surrey, the Cambridge Harrier from Thamesmead clocked 6.84 seconds to put down the fourth fastest time of the meeting.


Bolarinwa had begun the competition in the first round with a modest 7.08 second run, which prompted coach John Powell to deliver a few stern words of motivation for the second run - and they obviously worked!


David won both races, beating senior counterparts in the latter, and posting the fourth fastest time of the entire meeting.  It will be a performance which will be a small but nevertheless significant contribution toward his staking his claim for a place in the team competing in Moscow in May.  These are the trials for the World Youth Olympics, being held in Singapore in the summer.


"David is keen to be part of the Moscow event," said John Powell, "but he is a year young and there is a long way to go before we get there, He obviously has a great chance, but when you have a talent like David, it is easy to get carried away, and that is exactly what I do not intend to do."


David now remains unbeaten in eight races in what has been his first season running indoors, and he will be hoping to continue that into the London Indoor Games at Lee Valley Athletic Centre this weekend (30/31st).

"DB 7" - BOLARINWA PROVES HE'S MORE THAN NAME AND NUMBER!

David Bolarinwa steamrollered into the record books at the weekend with two golden sprints that has established him as one of the fastest teenagers ever in Britain.

The sixteen-year-old Trackspeed1 starlet proved that his initials - and competitor number (7) - at the South of England indoor Championships, stretched beyond a certain celebrity's exploits on a football field!

Gold medal number one! David (below) is all smiles after the 200m!

David clocked the three fastest times of the meeting over 200m, recording 23.02s in the heats of the 200m, 22.56 in the semi-finals, and 22.34 in the final remaining unbeaten on day one (Saturday).

In the 60m on Sunday however, he impressed right from the off. In the heat he clocked 7.10s, the semi-final still faster at 6.97s, and in winning the final, recorded the sixth fastest time by any 16-year-old Briton over the distance, 6.87s.

Arguably, David produced two of the leading performances of the weekend at the Lee Valley Athletic Centre, and the World Schools 100m silver medalist has certainly lined himslef up for the next couple of seasons as one of the most exciting teenage sprint talents around.

His 60m time has coach John Powell convinced that he can improve by the time his protegee reaches the national indoor championships in Birmingham on February 27/28th. Already though, the Cambridge Harrier from Thamesmead has his performances rubbing shoulders with the likes of British Senior International Craig Pickering and others.

"David coped with what was, remarkably, his first ever indoor competition, very well indeed," said John Powell. "Coming to grips with the sharp bends and ramps that typify an indoor arena is not easy, but David adapted phenomenally well.

David leads the 200m final home at Lee Valley

"He is a very raw talent indeed, and has an awful lot to learn, but equally as importantly, I learned alot about David at the weekend, and there is alot we can now do to improve toward the summer season. It's exciting times for sure."

David competes again this Sunday at Sutton's indoor track over 60m, and then returns to Lee Valley the weekend after to contest the London Indoor Games when he will again double up over 60m and 200m.

Also competing at Lee Valley in the South of England event was Dwayne Grant in his first indoor contest for some time. He recorded a respectable 6.81s in the semi-final, although his main focus remains on events later in the year. Femi Olowade was also a semi-finalist in the 200m but failed to make the final after a nightmare draw in lane one made qualification a virtual impossibility having misjudged pace in the first round.

POWELL FURY AT 'SHAMBOLIC PALACE'

Trackspeed1 coach John Powell has slammed the capital's sports facilities as 'seriously sub-standard' and, in the case of his home venue, Crystal Palace, 'shambolic'.

His words came as the big freeze added insult to injury, consigning his squad of talented internationals to a single 60 metre straight in a squalid indoor facility in south east London.

What was formerly the shining star and spiritual home of track and field in the UK, Crystal Palace 'National Sports Centre' is left to languish under inches of snow.

"What is even worse," said Powell, "is that the indoor track has doors with hinges hanging off hence allowing pigeons to seek refuge from the cold. The soiling all over the track has to be seen to be believed. But I've been using the facility since 1975 and I can't recall the indoors ever being cleaned.

"The corrugated plastic windows have pulled away from the walls, so we freeze in there anyway, and if it rains, the roof leaks so badly the bottom half of the track floods. There are disgusting fluid stains all over the place, it's revolting."

As London prepares for the 2012 Olympics it might not be entirely unreasonable to expect some investment in legendary iconic venues such as the Palace, but Greenwich Leisure, the current tenants, don't see it that way, and actually shut the place down out of hours for two weeks over Christmas and the New Year.

"I couldn't believe it,"said Powell. "We all have to work during the day, so can't train 9-5. They actually closed for 2 weeks in the evening, although credit where it's due that they gave in to our complaints and extended the track hours on 3 nights, but I've already been told it'll be shut at the end of 2010 because of lack of use. Just when athletes are trying to prepare for the indoor season. The attitude to our sportsmen and women in this country really defies belief - and then we wonder why we can't compete on the world stage!

"I've seen how the other half live in the States, and it puts us to shame. The only decent facility we have n London is at Lee Valley and that's way too far to go for my group. Sutton's got a decent indoor straight, but it has almost no local public transport and is a nightmare to drive to unless you are local."

Powell, who has the experience of having coached US athletes in California, Massachusetts, Florida, and New York, met with Crystal Palace management recently but they were unrepentant, citing business priorities that come before cleaning the indoor track or, much less, sweeping snow off the stadium area.

"There needs to be some political will to reinvest in the Palace. If I were Mayor Boris Johnson, I would be intensely embarrassed," said Powell. "A little investment in the place, and a bit of a clean up, and I'm sure you would get alot more use and, with 2012 not so far away now, it would provide an outstanding training base for some visiting teams."

Meanwhile, Trackspeed1 got its indoor season off to a modest start at the Lee Valley Athletics Centre on Sunday (10th). Samuel Adeyemi shattered his previous indoor best over 400m with a semi-final 51.19s effort that only just evaded qualification for the final. He had timed 51.45s in the heat, slicing a healthy second off his then best performance on the boards.

Ellie Doel was also in action, but disappointed with a 61.12s run in her heats, and which was insufficient to progress to the final.

"Ellie would rightly be disappointed with that," said Powell, "because she has been training way faster and is worth two or three seconds better. She'll improve next time though. Sam did well - a very smooth runner who, when he gets stronger, could switch up a gear and turn a few heads in the next 12-18 months."

BOLARINWA TAKES WORLD SILVER

Sixteen-year-old wonder-kid, David Bolarinwa, grabbed a superb 100 metres silver at the World Schools Championships, in Qatar last week. And his time of 10.76s was the second fastest of his life, despite the event coming in December when most sprinters are grafting through speed endurance and conditioning work!

He was beaten by fellow Brit, Jordan Arthur (10.67s), but with Arthur entering the under-20 ranks in 2010, and David still an under-17, David's performance simply underlined his immense promise as a real contender for honours in the not-too-distant future.

"There's no two ways about it," said coach John Powell, "David is a talent, and his silver medal at the Worlds was very well deserved, but he knows he has a very long way to go to break through to the big time in the real world.

"He hasn't been in Trackspeed1 for long to be fair, but I can say that he has already shown huge potential, and some of the seniors are already beginning to take him under their wing. He has big issues with his start and drive phase that need alot of work, but that is great news, because with a few basics being sorted pout, he can obviously run alot faster."

David is hoping to go warm weather training with his new squad to Florida in April, and that would represent a massive opportunity for him to prepare perfectly for his summer season, but that will depend on whether he gets funding to support him or not. He has already been rejected for Lottery funding, so only time will tell !

POWELL SCOOPS PRESTIGIOUS COACHING AWARD

Trackspeed1 coach John Powell scooped a high profile award at the recent Sportscoach UK coaching awards night, in Old Billingsgate, London.

The prestigious award, made at a glittering ceremony MC'd by BBC presenter John Inverdale, recognised John and the three other coaches who had been instrumental in guiding Triple Jumper Phillips Idowu's career to his World Championship gold in 2009.

The rewarding coaching excellence 'coaching chain' award was presented by Phillips on stage in front of a 600-strong audience, to his school teacher Humphrey Long, John Powell, who coached him as a junior, and John Herbert plus current coach Aston Moore.

Phillips spent four profitable seasons with Trackspeed1, peaking with a fourth place in the European Junior Championships, in Slovenia, in 1997. He improved from 12.32m to 16.36m bneforr moving on to John Herbert as a senior athlete.

Kevin Tyler, Strategic Head of Coaching and Development for UK Athletics, said: "This was a well deserved award. This is a great example of four coaches working unselfishly to help shape Phillips' life and athletic career. All (sic) are to be commended, the sport is fortunate to have you".

John Powell said: "I was delighted we won the award, it was a lovely evening, and great to have it presented by the athlete. Phillips is a superb example of what young athletes can achieve even if they aren't majopr medal winners in early years."

TRACKSPEED1 EVER STRONGER

Trackspeed1 confirmed who coach John Powell suspects will be the final new face to join the group this winter, as former Trackspeed1 multi-events teen, Layla Hawkins.

Layla had been waiting patiently to make a comeback into the sport after stress fractures in both feet sidelined her long term after a successful teenage contesting heptathlons.

Now 23, Layla (pictured here back in 2004) is serious about her training and is delighted to be back in her old training group.

"I really want to work hard," she said, "and see what I can achieve. I'm not one of these people who is simply social athlete."

"Layla always was a real talent," said John Powell, "and she never came close to her true potential. I just hope this time she can use a less fragile, adult body constructively toward success next summer."

Layla will focus on the 400m, which pitches her alongside new training partners Frederica Foster, Ellie Doel, and Savannah Echel-Thomson. She will also renew acquaintancs with athletes who were part o;f Trackspeed1 when she was last training, including Dwayne Grant and James Ellington.

"We really do have an amazing group now," said John, "made even better by the fact that everyone, irrespective of age, has an incredibly mature and hard-working approach to what is a really tough time training-wise. If it is maintained, people are going to fly in the New Year!"

TRACKSPEED1 HIT OVERDRIVE ON THE BIG WEEKEND

A sensational weekend for Trackspeed1 in two major cities was hailed by coach, John Powell, as one of the best in years for his squad. And it was rounded off perfectly by a medal in the World Championships Trials, in Birmingham, for 400m sprinter Set Osho.

Set, whose season had promised to end in tatters earlier in the year as old injuries failed to respond to therapy, has switched into overdrive after things at last began to click a few weeks ago. And in Birmingham on Sunday, he topped that with his first ever senior national championship medal, despite having to run the whole race blind from lane eight!

Former European Junior gold medalist Osho, a graduate from Brunel University a year ago, and who lives in Brighton, was in the form of his life, as he cruised to an easy second place in the heats in 47.88s, but then pulled out his fourth lifetime best mark of the year in the semi-final of 46.45s. He qualified for the final in third spot, and is pictured left in the closing stages as the front three cross the line clear of the rest.

The final was one of the last events on the track of the entire championships, and placed Set in the lane he loves to hate, which left him no sight of the opposition until the final throes of the home bend. Entering the straight in fourth, he had Leeds sprinter Richard Strachan, a member of the winning British relay in the recent European team contest in his sights, and never gave up. Out-dipping him at the line earned him a bronze medal, and an outside chance of a trip to the World Championships in Berlin next month as part of the 4 x 400m relay squad.

"Set has improved vastly this year," said John Powell, "and he has a lot more in the tank. Once we resolved his injury issues, he began to deliver just as I told him he would, and he simply can't stop getting better. There were some athletes not in Birmingham, but the relay selection is far from a done deal. If Set can get a lane in the Crystal Palace Grand Prix on July 24th, another personal best a bit closer to sub-46 seconds might just put him into the mix!"

Another Trackspeed1 athlete who will certainly be running at Crystal Palace is James Ellington, whose sixth place in the 100m final ahead of Olympic Gold medallist Mark Lewis-Francis, and Leevan Yearwood, who had chalked up an albeit windy 10.10s in the Bislet Games Golden League meeting a week earlier.

It was an outstanding day's work by Ellington (seen in action in Birmingham above, centre picture), who himself had put down a lifetime best 10.27s a fortnight earlier. A headwind in the Midlands eliminated any chance of that being repeated, but to reach the final of arguably the most hotly-contested and high profile event in the championships was little short of phenomenal.

"James got into the final out of grit, determination, not to mention talent," said John Powell afterwards, "and I am delighted for him. Notably he was the only athlete in that final who receives absolutely no support whatsoever from the governing body or national lottery. He is having to do things the hard way. But whatever your take on that, he cannot be denied a fantastic weekend's work off a winter that was way short of the mark. Next year he will be fitter, stronger and faster!"

Meanwhile, in Sheffield the English Schools Championships were taking place, and Trackspeed1 athletes again hit a rich vein of form. Savannah Echel-Thomson (pictured below left) shattered her lifetime best over 400m to slice almost a second off her previous best mark to record a 55.43s effort, earning bronze in the Senior Girls 400m final. Her result was a further boost to her coach while watching his seniors power through to finals in Birmingham, as he received the highly emotional call from an athlete who was busy engaging with cloud nine!

In the Intermediate Boys 400m Tom Bensted (16) was the fastest qualifier into the final, having run the fourth fastest time of his life in the semi's of 49.14, but a blanket finish saw him edged into a surprise third. It was to be a happier ending though, as he gained selection for the home international on July 18th anyway, representing England in Belfast.

"It was a close-run final apparently," said Powell, "and Tom knew he had gone out too slowly in the semi, so he tried to correct it in the final, but overcompensated. Only a tenth of a second separated all first three finishers, so it was an ok run, but it was great that he got the international for a second successive year - very few people achieve that."

In the Intermediate Girls 300m, Alleyn's School student Frederica Foster (16) from Beckenham, was expected to be among the medals, but unfortunately failed to deliver in the final and ended a disappointing fifth. It was a different story for training partner Laura Langowski, however, who produced a season's best performance in the B 400m final in Birmingham to take fourth place in a keenly contested event. The Midland Champion from Croydon said afterwards that she was pleased with her performance as it compared well with a number of top seniors who failed to deliver on the day.

Now the drama moves to Trackspeed1's home base - Crystal Palace. James Ellington has already been assured a lane in one of the 100m heats on July 24th when World Record holder and Olympic Champion Usain Bolt will feature. Set Osho should also be involved, and running on home ground where they train will undoubtedly be an advantage.

The opther resuolts from the weekend saw Ellington contesting the 200m on Sunday, but that did prove one step too far as he ran out of gas, and failed to qualify for the final. Training partner Jason Hussain continued his remarkable comeback after his serious health issues in 2008, and recorded a season's best 22.16s in the same event, but also failed to progress.

Set Osho, though, was the one who was all smiles travellilng home down the M40 on Sunday night. Below he proudly displays the bronze medal he won in Birmingham (enlarged)

POWELL FLU SCARE!!

A minor hiatus emerged from the closing stages of the Trackspeed1 pre-season training camp in Florida this week, as head coach, John Powell, revealed that he had been tested for Swine Flu!

Powell, who has suffered a winter full of flu and colds, contracted the symptoms on Tuesday, and decided to play safe and seek medical opinion.  "It was quite straight forward," said John, "the verdict was that only half the expression applied to me, and that certainly wasn't the flu part!"

Today (Wednesday) he was fit enough to train in the gym alongside his athletes, so hopefully the scare is now firmly behind him.  

"I'm on a bit of a fitness crusade here," he said, "and I'm just hoping I can adjust my routine to keep things going when I get home."