Aviva UK Championships and World Championship Trials

WGwEL athletes were in action at the Aviva UK Championships and World Championship Trials at Birmingham's Alexander Stadium over the weekend. Woodford performances were led by wins from Jeanette Kwakye and Tiffany Porter. There were also medals for Shana Cox and Mark Dry, with several others making the finals of these national championships and an interesting 400m improvement for decathlete Dan Awde.

Three years after finishing 6th in the Beijing Olympic 100m final, and having suffered from injury frustration almost ever since, Jeanette Kwakye looks to be back close to her best ever as she took the UK title in a fine 11.23 secs (+0.8). The other title went to Tiffany Porter, the former American, already the British record holder took the 100mH from Jess Ennis in 12.76 secs (+0.8). Behind Jeanette and placing 5th in the 100m final, reportedly in her final outdoor season was Joice Maduaka who recorded a season's best of 11.57 secs (+0.8). Joice also made the 200m final where she was 8th in 24.09 secs (-0.8) after qualifying with 23.88 secs (-2.6). There was a silver medal for another former American, Shana Cox, in a very competitve 400m where her 51.84 secs placed 2nd, however Shana is not qualified to run for the UK until after the World Championships. Woodford's other medal came in the field, where in the hammer Mark Dry again went over 70m as he placed 3rd with 70.33m, with Andy Frost close behind in 5th with 68.44m. Tracey Duncan was the next best placed finalist as she was 4th in the 400mH clocking 58.68 secs, after recording 58.05 secs to qualify from her heat. Also 4th was former champion, Jo Duncan in the shot where she recorded 14.88m. In the women's triple jump, Hannah Frankson continued her fine season, placing 5th with 12.91m (-0.6), ahead of Stephanie Aneto , 10th with 12.41m (-0.3) and Zainab Ceesay 12th with 11.88m (-1.0). The men's long jump saw Ezekiel Ewulo place 6th with 7.25m, and in the high jump former champion Ben Challenger continued his comeback with a season's best of 2.12m, and also had close attempts at 2.16m. In the men's shot, Anthony Oshodi was 8th with 15.47m, and in the women's hammer Lucy Marshall returning after injury placed 9th with 54.29m.

Dan Awde, currently the UK's leading decathlete contested the 400m, and underlined what many believe to be the even greater international potential that he may have in this event or 400mH. In brutal qualification which saw just the winners from 4 heats plus the 4 fastest losers qualify for the final, Dan recorded a personal best of 46.53 secs to place 3rd in his heat. Although missing a place in the main final he did however qualify for the "B" final. Such was the qualification this "B" final also featured some athletes expected to be contesting for medals in the "A" final, including Michael Bingham and Conrad Williams. In placing 3rd in this race Dan again significantly improved his personal best, to 46.04 secs, just 0.13 secs from first as he finished strongly behind Nigel Levine and Micahel Bingham but ahead of GB relay team regular Conrad Williams. A little more experience of running competitive 400m's as opposed to the relatively solo efforts he would normally experience in a decathlon could see Dan make further significant improvement and move into genuine international class in this event as well as the decathlon, and with his hurdling ability the 400mH might offer even greater opportunity in the future.

In the 800m events both Tara Bird and Jon Cook made the semi-finals. Tara just lost out on a final place finishing 4th in the first of two semis which included Jenny Meadows and Marilyn Okoro with 2m05.44, Jon was also 4th, but out of three semis and recorded 1m50.09 secs. Graham Hedman was another who qualified for the men's "B" 400m final, although he did not start, and recorded 47.00 secs in his heat. In the men's 100m, Eugene Ayanful progressed to the semi-finals where he recorded 10.65 secs (+0.7) after qualifying from his heat with 10.63 secs, and Junior Ejehu recording 10.75 secs (+0.11) in his heat. In the 200m heats, junior, Jordan Kirby Polidore was Woodford's fastest equalling his personal best of 21.39 secs (-1.0), with Junior Ejehu recording 21.73 secs (-0.7), and Sam Watts, also a junior 21.85 secs (0.0). In the men's 110mH, Dan Davis was close to making the final with 14.21 secs (-0.7), and in the women's 100mH, Stephanie Gaynor recorded 13.80 secs (-0.2) in her heat, whilst in the women's 400m heats Katie Skelding recorded 56.47 secs.