LIAM O’BRIEN
Over the weekend U17 LIAM O’BRIEN smashed the 45-year old ESAA Mason Trophy 400m Hurdles record at Stoke winning the race in a time of 53.92 seconds to further improve his own 400mH club record which he’s already broken twice this year, first in his first race of the season at the Trafford Open Meeting in early May when he smashed CLOVIS ASONG’s 14-year old record held since 2011 and then again two weeks later at the YDL (Upper) match at Leigh when he improved it further to 54.7. Liam is just one of DAVE LOWE’S young protégés coached at the Wythenshawe track. He now ranks No.2 in the UK.
THEA BROWN
Also over the weekend, THEA BROWN, European U18 silver medallist, competed in her 1st senior Heptathlon competition in Tenerife. Not only did she win her U20 competition, but her PB score of 5426 points is the qualifying standard for the European U20 Championships in Finland from August 7-10. What a relief for Thea, who was injured at February’s England Championships and, amidst her rehabilitation and completing her ‘A’ Level examinations, had become increasingly anxious to achieve the qualifying standard, her summer goal. She’s now off to the Mannheim International in Germany this weekend to represent GB & NI in the Hurdles and Long Jump. At last year’s competition, her 100mH time of 13.28 was the 2nd fastest ever by a Briton for her age and ranked her 6th on the All-Time list. It was also a new U20 club record, beating the 20-year-old record of Gemma Ferguson set in Finland. Club members know. Thea is the club’s most successful young athlete who featured on the front cover of the last Harrier magazine.
LUCY ARMITAGE
LUCY ARMITAGE is announced as selected to represent British Universities over 800m at the FISU World University Championships, the next biggest multi-sport event after the Olympic Games, being held in Germany with around 8,500 student athletes from over 150 countries. U23 Lucy is coached at Wythenshawe Park by DAVE RODGERS, and she’s made phenomenal progress in the past two years, especially over 1500m and 800m. In just three races in May she improved her 800m PB from 2:05.86 at the Loughborough International, then 2 weeks later she improved further to 2:04.96 representing the club at its National League match in York and improved it a 3rdtime to 2:03.10 at the BMC Grand Prix at Birmingham University to achieve the qualifying standard and to win her selection. Good Luck to her as this weekend she competes in Cardiff, hoping for selection to the GB U23 team for the European Championships.
RACHEL BENNETT
RACHEL BENNETT is to make her GB & NI debut this weekend, competing in the 200m at the European Athletics Team Championships in Madrid. Rachel is another incredible athlete making tremendous progress. She’s coached by ANITA RICHARDSON and her sprints team at Sportscity and has already represented England three times. Over the weekend in this next major stepping stone of her career, she’ll line up against Europe’s best. On the other end of the ‘experience’ spectrum JONA ELOLOKO is selected to represent GB & NI in the 4 x 100m relay.
