24 Feb 2006 09:25
Commonwealth Games-bound heptathlete Kelly Sotherton (Birchfield Harriers) heads for the Birmingham Games on 25 and 26 February in high spirits after setting a UK indoor 100m hurdles record of 13.48 seconds at Brunel University in West London on Wednesday night, 22 February.
It is the second time in 10 months that she has eclipsed the previous best of 13.71 set by Sally Gunnell in Norway just over 20 years ago, on 12 January 1985.
And it could have been the third time. She clocked 13.48 in her second run of the day. However, her performance in the first round was likely to have been even faster. Unfortunately a misfire from the starter’s pistol was enough to get the race off to a fair start but did not trigger the electronic timing. Hand timing gave her 13.4 seconds – closing in on her outdoor best of 13.27.
Sotherton, whose hurdles and sprints coach is Graham Knight, the former UK Athletics Technical Director for Sprints and Hurdles, celebrated the opening of the Brunel indoor centre by clocking 13.52 seconds last April – and said of her latest record: “It shows things are going OK. The only disappointing thing is that more people didn’t turn up. I thought quite a few would have been interested on their way to the Games. I think it’s quite interesting to do a full 100m hurdles at this time of year. It’s what we train for, rather than the 60m hurdles.”
The Brunel results were…
Women’s 100m hurdles – Round 1: 1 K Sotherton (Brunel) 13.4; 2 S McGreavy (Sale) 13.8; J Hollman (Brunel) 14.2. Round 2: 1 Sotherton 13.48 (UK rec); 2 McGreavy 13.77; Hollman 14.10.
Men’s 110m hurdles – Round 1: 1 D Malins (Newham and Essex Beagles) 14.25; 2 R Baderin (Oxford) 14.97; 3 M Dyer (Reading) 15.00; 4 T Reynolds (Brunel) 15.62. Round 2: 1 Malins 14.29; 2 Dyer 14.98; 3 Baderin 15.02.
Men’s 60m – Round 1: 1 A Mensah (Blackheath and Bromley) 7.11; 2 D Showler-Davis (Winchester) 7.15; 3 S Osho (Brunel) 7.32; 4 K Gould (Brunel) 7.51; 5 D Colgate (Brunel) 7.59. B: 1 R Freckleton (Luton Uni) 7.29; 2 T Reynolds 7.39; 3 B Hazell (Brunel) 7.43; 4 S Dorset (Bracknell, M35) 7.52; 5 J Bara’bara (SBH) 7.64; 6 B King (Harrow, M40) 7.95. C: 1 M Douglas (Brunel) 7.58; 2 K King (Bracknell, W40) 8.29. Round 2: 1 Mensah 7.11; 2 Osho 7.22; 3 Freckleton 7.35; 4 Dorset (M35) 7.57. B: 1 D Colgate 7.56; 2 M Douglas (W) 7.57; 3 J Bara’bara 7.69; 4 K King (W40) 8.44.
Sara McGreavy’s time earned her third place in the UK all-time rankings.
Coach Knight said: “I have been helping Kelly since last May, initially with her hurdles and since September with her running. We identified the need for a 100m hurdles before Melbourne, so I arranged with Neil Young [at Brunel University] a couple of races before she flies out.”
Sotherton is now competing at the Birmingham Games at the NIA this weekend – the shot tomorrow and 200m on Sunday, but she is not high jumping – before flying out to Australia next Tuesday.
Among her rivals in the 200 are World Universities Silver Medallist Ailis McSweeney (Ireland) and Rugby and Northampton AC’s Ellena Ruddock, who won over the distance at last weekend’s UK Athletics Indoor City Challenge at the EIS Arena, Sheffield. In the shot, she competes against National Indoor Champion Julie Dunkley (Shaftesbury Barnet).
The Women’s high jump will feature Julie Crane (Sale) and Julia Bennett (Belgrave), who represent Wales and England at next month’s Games.
The Men’s high jump is also a first class competition with Melbourne-bound Tom Parsons (Birchfield) aiming to repeat his victory of the Indoor City Challenge.
The entire event should provide some great sport with competitors from Singapore, Malta, Ireland, Norway and Holland at the venue that hosts next year’s European Indoor Championships. The action starts at 11am both days.