TRACKSPEED1 TUNING UP FOR ACTION

Trackspeed1 athletes originally grounded by the volcanic ash crisis, finally made it to their pre-season training camp in Central Florida last week, and are already looking trim ahead of their fist competition next week.

Coach John Powell was one of the first on a plane following days of suspense waiting to see if the squad could actually travel at all, but was in a confident mood despite a week's worth of training being lost.

"The UK weather was actually quite good during the time we were waiting to travel," he said, "and so the sessions we would have done in Florida were still quite good quality.  But there's nothing quite like the Florida climate and the facilities over here to get an athlete on top of their game.

"Speaking from the ESPN Wide World of Sports complex, in Orlando, Powell added: "athletes here can focus on optimising their performance 24/7 if they want to, and that is great preparation for summer.  This last UK winter has been a nightmare, and training in some decent facilities in brilliant sunshine is about as good as it gets!"






















James Ellington warms up for the first track session in Florida at the ESPN track facility.


Trackspeed1 kick off their season next Thursday (May 6th) in the University of Central Florida Twilight Meet, in Orlando.  Traditionally a high level meet, the likes of James Ellington and young prospect david Bolarinwa, will be among Powell's protégées looking to impress early on in the summer calendar.

The squad will also be fielding a 4 x 100m relay team to see if they can beat the hugely impressive 40.69 second mark set two years ago at the same meeting - a performance that ranked as one of the fastest by any British domestic team in 2008, let alone a training squad.

The team that year consisted of Wade Bennett-Jackson, Jason Hussain, Phillip Doorgachurn and James Ellington.  This year it will be selected from James Ellington, Dwayne Grant, Jason Hussain, David Bolarinwa, Jer O'Donoghue, and Set Osho, with a very real prospect of a time close to 40 seconds if the change-overs go well.

"In the States, meets always begin with the sprint relays, which is a great way of getting into things without the pressure of an individual event," said John.  "It'll be fun, but of course we're really there to focus on how everyone is shaping up for the season."

Trackspeed1 compete again just 48 hours later at the Florida Gliders Spring Classic Meet, in Altamonte Springs, on Saturday 8th May.

Jason Hussain receives intensive therapy from squad physio's Lucy Eggleton and Stuart Phazey!

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."

FLORIDA UPDATE FOR TS1 ATHLETES

Further to the last bulletin on this site, the following should be noted by TS1 athletes expecting to travel to Florida this week...

Virgin Atlantic are going to fly additional planes out to Orlando from 7pm tomorrow.  These will be overnight and in addition to those scheduled to help the 8500 people stranded in Florida.

These planes will be booking soon, and there will be a chance that the whole party can get seats on them.  Everyone therefore needs to be ready to go to Gatwick tomorrow afternoon should they need to.

It would seem the worst scenario now is that John Powell and Jason Hussain will travel no later than Wednesday, Dwayne Grant as scheduled on Thursday, James Ellington on Friday, and the remainder of the party on Sunday.

Everyone involved must have their mobiles available for updates, as if the bookings are changed, you will have to fly early or your booking is lost!!

Any queries, call John Powell on his mobile.

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.

STATESIDE VISIT STRIKES SILVER

Trackspeed1 coach John Powell travels back to the UK this week after a highly successful trip to the US with three of his senior athletes.

Dwayne Grant (centre of picture above) clinched second in the New England State Championships at Harvard University on Sunday (21st), albeit with a rather modest 60m in 6.91s after stumbling out of the blocks.

Pictured above - Jason Hussain attempts one of the toughest workouts west of the Atlantic - sprinting every section of the football stadium at Harvard University!

Training comrades James Ellington and Jason Hussain enjoyed a good break from their normal training routines.  Hussain made a long awaited return to training after a lengthy lay-off due to a foot problem, whilst Ellington was able to continue an improving winter training campaign after injury and swine flu interrupted his Autumn programme.

Pictured here - Dwayne Grant and James Ellington press ahead with the steps session at Harvard - the backdrop only tells half the story!!

The lasting memory for John Powell, however, was the slick efficiency of running a six-state championship with over 1000 athletes inside four hours!

"There are some real lessons we could learn," he said, "which would make track and field meetings far more attractive to competitors, coaches, officials and spectators alike.

Admittedly they do finals on time - averting the need for heats and semi-finals - but the whole think is over in four hours with a full programme for both genders.  There are no gaps between races, entries are taken on the day (or you can enter online in advance at reduced rate), and the whole thing runs within 15 minutes of its timetable.  Fantastic!"

Powell, who has maintained his links with Harvard ever since former Trackspeed1 Olympian Chris Lambert graduated there in 2003, was also able to maintain coach and athlete links whilst Stateside, and all four even found time for a 48-hour visit to New York.

Powell's travels will continue as son as he returns to the UK though, with a weekend in Birmingham 27/28th for the agegroup national championships.  Trackspeed1's teen sprints ace David Bolarinwa competes in both sprints on a notoriously fast track, and could post a couple of very respectable performances.

"David has been in touch since I was in the USA," said John, "and I gather training has been going well, so it's all systems go for the weekend."

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.