Press Report: Six Hope to Star in Manchester
SEVERAL West Cheshire Athletic Club members are focusing their sights on the re-scheduled British Athletics Championships.
Laura Turley, Emma Howe, Joseph Morrison, Ewan Bradley, George Hyde, and Sophie Percival are all hoping to be in action at the event to be held on Friday and Saturday, September 4 and 5, behind closed doors at the Manchester Regional Arena.
Turley’s 400m personal best of 54.66 seconds achieved in June last year in France, should reward her with a place in the starting line-up.
Howe will be hoping to achieve a mark better than the javelin qualification standard of 47m before the September fixture having hit a personal best of 45.27m at Stretford in July last year.
Morrison, who finished third at the British Universities and Colleges Indoor Championships at Sheffield in February with a new 800m personal best of 1:50:67, will be hoping to better the qualification standard of 1:50:50.
Bradley will also be aiming to better his 110m hurdles personal best of 15.3 seconds clocked at the Ellesmere Port Sports Village track last July as the qualification standard for Manchester is 15.0 seconds.
Hyde, a student at Loughborough University, hopes to improve on his shot put personal best of 15.50m at last year’s Manchester International as the qualification mark stands at 15.75m.
And Percival will be keen to better her javelin personal best of 45.03 seconds and reach the qualification standard to secure her place.
The format and shape of September’s championship will be subject to the government guidelines and will be broadcast live on Friday night on BBC2, 1830-2100 and Saturday, afternoon on BBC1, 1315-1630.
Joanna Coates, CEO of UK Athletics said: βWe are delighted to be able to offer our athletes an opportunity to compete and still become British Champions at the end of the summer in what has been the most unprecedented of circumstances for all sport.
βPeople will be aware of my passion for womenβs sport and I am grateful that the gender mix in athletics means everyone gets to return to the field of play. However, for those sports where men and women compete in separate structures, I urge those organisations to ensure efforts getting womenβs sports back up and running are championed with the same passion and sense of urgency.
βThanks to the BBC for supporting us to showcase our sport under the Friday evening lights, and also to Manchester City Council for their investment into the facility and working with us to confirm we could stage this event in such challenging times.
βWe are sorry that we cannot host our brilliant athletics supporters this year but hope for a healthy return for fans at sports events next year and to welcoming spectators to next yearβs Olympic trials scheduled for June 26-27.β
MEANWHILE, the Helena Tipping Wrexham 10k Road Race, scheduled to be held on Sunday, July 26, has been cancelled.
The organisers posted a statement on Facebook: “As you may be aware the sports governing bodies have recently extended the ban on road racing until at least July 31. This clearly means that our race will be unable to take place and so to prevent further congestion later in the year, we have now cancelled the race moving all entrants automatically to the 2021 staging of the race on Sunday, July 25. “We are really disappointed as we have a new accredited course and were looking forward to a record entry field and some fast times.”You (runners) should have received an email with further information so please check your spam/junk folders. If you have any questions please contact us via: [email protected] as we are a small organisation and it is not always possible to keep track of or respond to social media comments. In the meantime please stay safe.”