Tuesday 9th March 2010

GREAT Britain's Phillips Idowu has pulled out of defending his triple jump title at next weekend's IAAF World Indoor championships in Doha after the birth of his second child.

Idowu, the reigning outdoor world champion, said the late birth of his son had disrupted his training and he will now concentrate on the European Championships in Barcelona in late July.

He said that, after talking to his coach, he decided he was not prepared to perform at his best for his country.

Friday 5th March 2010

CALLUM Priestley has been provisionally suspended from all competition and UK Athletics' World Class Performance Programme following an anti-doping violation.

Sprint hurdler Priestley, 21, has been suspended under IAAF rules after analysis of his B sample indicated the presence of the asthma drug clenbuterol.

The suspension follows an out-of-competition test in South Africa in January.

Priestley, who won the 60m hurdles at the UK Championships in Sheffield last month, has the opportunity to respond to the charge against him, including the right to a full hearing of the case, If found guilty, he will face a two-year ban.

UK Athletics chief executive Niels de Vos said: "I am hugely disappointed that there has been a failed test, UKA continues to give 100% support to the work of UK Anti Doping and we maintain our full commitment to drug-free sport."

Tuesday 2nd March 2010

THE British Milers' Club, in partnership with UKA and England Athletics have pleasure in presenting its National Endurance Conference on the weekend 6th-7th March at the University of Warwick from 10am on the Saturday to 2pm on Sunday.


The ‘Best of British’ line up includes:
• STEVE CRAM MBE
• TREVOR PAINTER, coach to Jenny Meadows and BMC Coach of the Year
• ANDY HOBDELL, coach to Andy Baddeley and Katrina Wootton
• Dr NORMAN POOLE, coach to Michael Rimmer and Tom Lancashire
• DAVE SUNDERLAND, England National Coach Mentor
• NEVILLE TAYLOR, BMC Lifetime to Coaching Award winner
• HONORE HOEDT (guest speaker) from the Netherlands who coached Bram Som, European 800m champion.
• JO and GAVIN PAVEY will be interviewed

The weekend also includes an Awards Dinner on Saturday evening with Guest Speaker George Gandy, coach to Lisa Dobriskey. This ‘not to be missed’ weekend is suitable for all progressive coaches and athletes wishing to expand their knowledge.

For more details contact David Dix at: dix328@btinternet.com

Saturday 27th February 2010

THE Leicestershire & Rutland women’s team selections for the McCain UK Cross Challenge Final incorporating the Inter-Counties Championships and IAAF World Cross Country Trials that take place on Saturday 13th March at Birmingham’s Cofton Park have been announced.

The event also includes the trials to represent Team GB at the 2010 IAAF World Cross Country Championships in Bydgoszcz, Poland, on Sunday 28th March.
Full Team Selections:
Senior Women
Hannah Eveleigh (Harborough AC)
Mary Hall (Nuneaton Harriers)
Gemma Hillier (Charnwood AC/Loughborough Students)
Tara Krzywicki (Charnwood AC)
Julie Lamb (Wigston Phoenix)
Katie Lomas (Charnwood AC/Loughborough Students)
Amber McGee (Charnwood AC)
Clare McKittrick (Charnwood AC)
Monique Raaijmakers (Barrow Runners)
Kate Ramsey (Barrow Runners)
Nicola Roder (Leicester Triathlon Club)
Helen Rollins (Kettering Harriers/Cambridge University)
Gemma Steel (Charnwood AC)
Hannah Whitmore (Charnwood AC)
Paris Williams (Cardiff/Loughborough Students)
Under-20
Emma Brown (Leicester Coritanians AC)
Amy Danaher (Leicester Coritanians AC)
Jessica Edge (Harborough AC)
Lucy Hall (Charnwood AC)
Louisa Monk (Leicester Coritanians AC)
Vanessa Rollins (Kettering Harriers)
Jenny Smith (Wreake Runners)
Charlotte Wilkinson-Burnett (Barrow Runners)
Under-13
Hannah Nuttall
Mari Smith
Hannah Cox
Georgia Gartside
Helena Keenan
Emily Hollis
Georgia Bevins
Lucy Palmer
Reserves
Jemima Green
India Mitchell-Jarvis
Holly Bevins
Lucy Jones
Under-15
Megan Fairbrother
Amy Griffiths
Kim Jalland
April Beeby
Tilly Abraham
Emily Orton
Jasmine Southam
Emily Sales-subject to fitness.
Reserves
Livvy Tansey
Rachel Borrows
Lizzie Golland
Chloe Tillin
Under-17
Freya Vincent
Lizzie Mellor
Katya Blackledge
Catherine Robertson
Georgie Brookes
Lucy Arkinstall
Lucy Crookes-subject to fitness.
*One athlete to be added later.
Reserves
Emma Nutt
Emily Taylor
Sarah Ward
Briony Bendle
Helena Smith

www.uka.org.uk/competitions/uk-cross-challenge/

Thursday 25th February 2010

THIS is YOUR chance to discuss YOUR views on Road Running in YOUR area.

The East Midlands Regional Council invites you to an open forum to discuss key issues relating to Road Running in your local area. We want to know what support England Athletics can give you to help develop any area of Road Running across the region.

They will also update you on some key programs that EA currently deliver and also give an overview on the Run in England initiative and the benefits it could bring to your club.
Tuesday 16th March, 7.00pm – 9.00pm
Sir John Beckwith Seminar Room, Loughborough University

Tea / Coffee and light refreshments will be available on arrival.

Please confirm your attendance by email to:
cmallender@englandathletics.org

Tuesday 23rd February 2010

THE Aviva Great Britain and Northern Ireland team to compete at the 2010 IAAF World Indoor Championships that take place at the Aspire Dome in the Qatar capital Doha next month (12th-14th March) has been announced.

The squad contains seven Loughborough-based UK individual indoor champions - Steve Lewis (pole vault), Harry Aikines-Aryeetey (60m), Richard Buck (400m/relay), Samson Oni (high jump), Kim Wall (400m relay), Kate Dennison (pole vault) and Vicki Hubbard (high jump).

Loughborough Alumni Charlotte Best gains her first senior GB vest and will compete over 1500m, whilst, California-based Barbara Parker goes in the 3,000m and Vicki Barr and Lee McConnell will join Kim Wall, Hayley Jones and Dawn Hunt in the 4x400m relay squad.

European Junior 400m champion Chris Clarke will compete in the men's 4x400m relay squad.

UKA Head Coach Charles van Commenee said: “This competition gives athletes an opportunity to gain championship experience on a global level, the endurance athletes especially have taken this chance with lots of new faces in those disciplines.

“The team is slightly bigger than I would have anticipated at the start of the winter season which positively shows the depth of the pool of athletes we have. We have names which will make the podium if they perform to potential and there is always room for outsiders.”
Full Aviva Great Britain and Northern Ireland team:
(Individual athletes coaches in brackets.)
Men
60m:
Dwain Chambers (Daniel Plummer); - Belgrave
Harry Aikines-Aryeetey (Michael Khmel) - Sutton
400m:
Richard Buck (Michael Khmel); - City of York
Dale Garland (Malcolm Arnold) – Channel Islands
800m:
Andrew Osagie (Craig Winrow); - Harlow
Ed Aston (Mike Smith); - Cambridge & Coleridge
1500m:
Tim Bayley (John Bigg/ Chris Puppione) – Belgrave Harriers
3000m:
Scott Overall (Robert Chapman); - Blackheath & Bromley
60mH:
N/A
4x400m:
Richard Buck (Michael Khmel); City of York
Dale Garland (Malcolm Arnold); - Channel Islands
Chris Clarke (Nick Dakin), Marshall Milton Keynes
Nigel Levine (Simon Duberley); Windsor Slough Eton & Hounslow
Conrad Williams (Linford Christie); - Kent
Luke Lennon-Ford (Rodger Walters); - Birchfield
High Jump:
Samson Oni (Trevor Llewellyn); - Belgrave
Tom Parsons (Fuzz Ahmed) - Birchfield
Pole Vault:
Steve Lewis (Steve Rippon) – Newham & Essex
Long Jump:
Greg Rutherford (Dan Pfaff), - Marshall Milton Keynes
Chris Tomlinson (Frank Attoh) –Newham & Essex
Triple Jump:
Phillips Idowu (Aston Moore); - Belgrave
Shot:
Carl Myerscough (n/a) Blackpool Wyre & Fylde
Women
60m:
Joice Maduaka (Loren Seagrave); - Woodford Green with Essex Ladies
400m:
N/A
800m:
Jenny Meadows (Trevor Painter); - Wigan
Vicky Griffiths (Stan Roberts); - Liverpool H
1500m:
Helen Clitheroe (Trevor Painter); - Preston
Charlotte Best (George Gandy); - Crawley
3000m:
Gemma Turtle; Gloucester
Barbara Parker (John Nuttall/Sean Burris) – City of Norwich
60mH:
Gemma Bennett (Lloyd Cowan) – Shaftesbury Barmet
4x400m:
Victoria Barr (Ayo Falola), Rugby & Northampton
Hayley Jones (Jared Deacon); - Wigan
Dawn Hunt (Ayo Falola); - Windsor Slough Eton & Hounslow
Lee McConnell (Rodger Harkins) – Shaftesbury Barnet
Perri Shakes-Drayton (Chris Zah); - Victoria Park & Tower Hamlets
Kim Wall (Tony Lester) - Basildon
High Jump:
Vikki Hubbard (Graham Ravenscroft) - Birchfield
Pole Vault:
Kate Dennison (Steve Rippon) - Sale
Long Jump:
N/A
Triple Jump:
N/A
Shot:
N/A
Pentathlon:
Jessica Ennis (Toni Minichiello) - Sheffield

www.doha2010wic.com/

Tuesday 23rd February 2010

IN the summer of 2009, comedian Eddie Izzard took on the incredible challenge of running 43 marathons in 51 days.

His epic adventure saw him taking ice baths every night, grappling with blisters and toenails falling off, and having to eat over 6,000 calories a day.

An ice-cream van, playing the Chariots of Fire theme tune, accompanied him throughout and a host of celebrities joined him along the way - including Frank Skinner, Denise Van Outen, Steve Cram and Ben Shephard.

BBC cameras followed Eddie’s every step as he attempted his extraordinary 1,166 mile journey and this inspiring documentary series to be shown on BBC Three looks back at Eddie’s amazing mega-marathon.
Eddie Iz Running Part 1
Thursday 4th March - BBC Three 10.30pm
Eddie Iz Running - Part 2
Thursday 11th March - BBC Three 10.30pm
Eddie Iz Running - Part 3
Thursday 18th March - BBC Three 10.30pm

www.sportrelief.com/whats-on/challenges/eddie

Friday 19th February 2010

WORLD heptathlon champion Jessica Ennis has withdrawn from Saturday's Aviva IAAF Grand Prix in Birmingham to allow more time for her foot injury to heal.

The 24-year-old Sheffield athlete having missed the World Indoor Championship trials the previous weekend under went an MRI scan to determine the extent of the injury.

Ennis said: "The scan a week ago showed a slight ligament sprain and the advice was to rest the foot and take it day by day.

"New scans of my foot show it has healed a lot, but with the World Indoors only a few weeks away the advice from the UK Athletics medical team is to give it a little more time to completely heal and focus on the World Indoors."

The World Indoors begin in Doha three weeks today and multi-eventer Ennis, who won the world outdoors in Berlin last summer, is one of Britain’s big hopes for gold.

“I am disappointed, but I know being cautious is the best course of action,” she said.

Thursday 18th February 2010

AN international galaxy of past and present stars of track and field, long distance running, and the marathon including Grete Waitz of Norway, Bill Rodgers of the United States, Haile Gebrselassie of Ethiopia, Paula Radcliffe of Great Britain, and American superstars Ryan Hall, Meb Keflezighi, Deena Kastor, Dathan Ritzenhein, and Shalane Flanagan have pledged their support for the Run for Haiti, a 4-mile run/walk to benefit victims of the Haiti earthquake on Saturday, 20th February.

In an effort to expand the scope of the event, the champions, along with runners around the globe, will register to participate in the four-mile virtual run, held in cooperation with NYRR, through MapMyRun.com. The entry fee ($30 per entry) will go directly to New York City’s Haiti Relief Fund.

The Run for Haiti, to be held at 9:00am in Central Park, is a joint effort of New York Road Runners, the Mayor’s Office of New York City, and the NYC Department of Parks & Recreation.

Waitz, Rodgers, Radcliffe, and Keflezighi are all past ING New York City Marathon champions; Waitz won a record nine times (1978-80, 1982-86, and 1988), Rodgers won four times (1976-79), Radcliffe won three times in the last six years (2004, 2007-08), and Keflezighi won the 2009 race. Gebrselassie is the marathon world record-holder and has set 25 world records in his illustrious career. Hall, Flanagan, Ritzenhein, and Kastor are all Olympians and American record-holders.

“It’s our honor to have a list of superstar athletes join in our efforts to assist in the Haiti recovery and continue making a positive difference through running,” said New York Road Runners president and CEO Mary Wittenberg. “The event is quickly becoming running’s ‘We are the World’ effort.”

“With the leaders of our sport participating virtually, we have the entire support of the running community working towards the goal of recovery,” said Wittenberg.

More than 8,000 people have registered for the Central Park race. All entry fees ($40 per entry) will go directly to New York City’s Haiti Relief Fund, which is administered by the Mayor’s Fund to Advance New York City and directed to the following organizations: the American Red Cross, Doctors Without Borders, Partners in Health, and the United Nations World Food Programme.

The Run for Haiti will include pre-race and post-race activities for families, including free kids’ races.

Wednesday 17th February 2010

AFRICAN rivals Tirunesh Dibaba and Vivien Cheruiyot will chase the world indoor two miles record at the Aviva Grand Prix on Saturday.

The Ethiopian and Kenyan stars are confident they can challenge the mark of nine minutes 06.26 seconds belonging to Dibaba's fellow countrywoman Meseret Defar.

Dibaba the Beijing Olympic champion over 5,000m and 10,000m, is no stranger to setting world records.

The Ethiopian is the world outdoor record holder over 5,000m and set a world junior record for the 3,000m at the Birmingham meeting six years ago.

“I’m looking forward to competing in the UK again after I won the 5,000m at the Aviva London Grand Prix last year," Dibaba said.

"I know it will be a tough race in Birmingham but I’m feeling on good form and expect to run well."

Dibaba respectful of her rival, added: "Vivien Cheruiyot is a great athlete so I’m sure it will be a fast race."

Although Cheruiyot, who picked up the world 5000m gold medal in Berlin last summer has never beaten Dibaba on the track before, she is looking forward to the race.

“I’m really excited about racing in Birmingham, my training has been great and I am looking forward to racing against Dibaba," she said.

“I am the World champion, she is the Olympic champion - we’ll be pushing each other all the way so I’m hoping for a quick time and hopefully a world record.

Birmingham has good memories for me as I won the 3,000m event here last year in a Kenyan record. I’ll be aiming for another victory this weekend.”

The Aviva IAAF Grand Prix meeting at Birmingham’s NIA will be shown live on BBC One from 1.30pm on Saturday 20th February.

Wednesday 17th February 2010

WORLD heptathlon champion Jessica Ennis has been named European Women's Athlete of the Month for January.

Ennis recorded a United Kingdom 60 metres hurdles record of 7.95 seconds at the Aviva International Match in Glasgow on January 30th.

The Sheffield athlete also cleared a high jump indoor personal best of 1.94 metres at the Kelvin Hall - just one centimetre outside of the British record.

Ennis, who missed last weekend's Aviva World Trials and UK Championships in Sheffield with a minor injury, is also a nominee in the World Comeback of the Year category at the prestigious Laureus Sports Awards on March 10th.

Russian high jumper Ivan Ukhov won the European men's award after a series of world-class performances on the indoor circuit.

Tuesday 16th February 2010

WORLD indoor 1500m champion Gelete Burka heads to this Saturday’s Aviva Grand Prix in Birmingham with the one mile World indoor record in her sights.

Burka, one of only four women to have ever run sub-four minutes over 1500m indoors, is in outstanding form following a series of impressive victories on the indoor circuit this year. In her two appearances over the distance this winter, Burka has clocked 4:03.92 and 4:03.44 en route to solid victories in Karlsruhe and Stuttgart, respectively.

“I’m looking forward to returning to Birmingham as it was at this venue in 2008 where I won the 3000m,” said Burka, “I ran against Helen Clitheroe in that race and I’m up against her again in the Mile this weekend.”

The Ethiopian is targeting the world record of 4:17.14, which was set by 1984 Olympic 800m champion Doina Melinte of Romania 20 years ago last weekend. Burka clocked an African record of 4:18.23 over the distance outdoors in Rieti in 2008.

“Training has been going really well and I’m feeling confident and positive about my current performance,” Burka said. “The crowd is always brilliant in Birmingham and that’s always great motivation so I’m hoping to run a good race and gain a second win at the NIA on Saturday.”

Article by the organisers.

The Aviva IAAF Grand Prix meeting will be shown live on BBC One from 1.30pm on Saturday 20th February.

Wednesday 10th February 2010

WORLD heptathlon champion Jessica Ennis has withdrawn from this weekend’s AVIVA United Kingdom Indoor Championships and World Trials in her home city of Sheffield with a foot injury.

An MRI scan on Monday night has shown a slight ligament strain and, as a precautionary measure under the advice of the UKA doctor Paul Dijkstra has pulled out of the two-day competition.

Ennis is not being complacent or taking any risks after missing the whole of 2008 including the Beijing Olympic Games with a stress fracture of her right foot.

Ennis has already been pre-selected to represent Great Britain at the IAAF World Indoor Championships that take place in Doha next month.

Tuesday 9th February 2010

UK Athletics have confirmed that Loughborough's British Universities champion Kieren Kelly and fellow shot putter Jamie Stevenson have been provisionally suspended from all competition after being charged by UK Anti-Doping (UKAD) with having committed an anti-doping rule violation.


The duo’s coach Geoff Capes has been relieved of his role as a mentor by England Athletics following the incident.

The provisional suspension, which begins with immediate effect, follows the refusal of both athletes to undertake an out-of-competition test on 9th January 2010 at the Loughborough High Performance Athletics Centre sighting that the toilets were not clean enough to give urine tests.

The athletes will now have the opportunity to respond to the charge against them, including the right to a full hearing of the case. UK Anti-Doping is tasked with overseeing all anti-doping programmes and the management of violations and disciplinary issues in the UK, fully supported by the rules of IAAF and UKA.

If found guilty the athletes will face a two year ban. Kelly, 23, finished first in the Indoor Championships of Ireland in Belfast at the weekend, just ahead of Stevenson.

Thursday 4th February 2010

USAIN Bolt will make his 2010 track debut over the longer distance of 400 metres on Saturday 13th February at a track meeting on the sprint king's home island of Jamaica.

The 23-year-old, world and Olympic champion and world record-holder over the 100 and 200m, normally kicks off his season with outings over one lap of the track as a way of easing himself from training into competitive racing.

Bolt's compatriots Yohan Blake, Ricardo Chambers, Daniel Bailey and Marvin Anderson have also been entered for the event at the national stadium.

Bolt was last in action in September with a win in the 200m during the season-ending IAAF finals in Salonika, Greece.

This season, the sprinter will take part in seven of the 14 meetings in the IAAF's newly-launched Diamond League but seems unlikely to race at the Commonwealth Games in Delhi that take place in October.

Bolt has confirmed he will compete over 100 metres at the adidas Grand Prix in New York City on June 12th.

Tuesday 2nd February 2010

ETHIOPIAN distance running specialist Kenenisa Bekele and Russia’s Pole Vault queen Yelena Isinbayeva have named as the Athletes of the Decade by Track and Field news.

The US-based publication, arguably the most authoritative athletics publication in the world since it was founded in 1948, has published its 10-yearly men’s rankings since 1960 and its women’s rankings since 1970.

Bekele holds the world record and Olympic record in both the 5000 metres and 10,000 metres events. He is the reigning two-time Olympic champion over 10,000 metres and the most accomplished runner in IAAF World Cross Country Championships history, with six long (12K) course and five short (4K) course titles. Since 2003, Bekele has not been beaten over 10,000 m, and with his vast array of medals, many consider him to be one of the greatest distance runners of all time.

Isinbayeva won the 2004 and 2008 Olympic gold medals, the 2005 and 2007 World Championships titles, she is the reigning European champion and has notched up a phenomenal 27 world records, indoors and outdoors.

Sweden’s Carolina Kluft was ranked in third place for her Heptathlon performances during the last decade.

Kluft, the European Heptathlon record holder, won the 2004 Olympic title in her best known event - although she has dedicated herself to the Long Jump and Triple Jump in the last two years - and also won three consecutive Heptathlon gold medals at the 2003, 2005 and 2007 World Championships.

She finished just ahead in the rankings of Russia’s Tatyana Lebedeva, the reigning European Triple Jump champion and the 2004 Olympic champion, who has also had outstanding international success doubling up in the Long Jump.

Lithuania Discus legend Virgilijus Alekna took second place behind Bekele.

Alekna recieved recognition for his 2000 and 2004 Olympic Games gold medals, 2003 and 2005 World Championships title and he is also the reigning European champion.
Top Ten Men
1 Kenenisa Bekele (Ethiopia), distances
2 Virgilijus Alekna (Lithuania), discus
3 Hicham El Guerrouj (Morocco), 1500/mile/5000
4 Usain Bolt (Jamaica), sprints
5 Robert Korzeniowski (Poland), walks
6 Jeremy Wariner (USA), 400
7 Dwight Phillips (USA), long jump
8 Andreas Thorkildsen (Norway), javelin
9 Roman Šebrle (Czech Republic), decathlon
10 Saïf Shaheen (Qatar), steeplechase
Top Ten Women
1 Yelena Isinbaeva (Russia), pole vault
2 Tirunesh Dibaba (Ethiopia), distances
3 Carolina Klüft (Sweden), heptathlon
4 Tatyana Lebedeva (Russia), horizontal jumps
5 Sanya Richards (USA), long sprints
6 Veronica Campbell-Brown (Jamaica), sprints
7 Allyson Felix (USA), sprints
8 Osleidys Menéndez (Cuba), javelin
9 Yipsi Moreno (Cuba), hammer
10 Valerie Vili (New Zealand), shot

Tuesday 2nd February 2010

WORLD Championship medallists Phillips Idowu, Jessica Ennis and Jenny Meadows are amongst the nominations for the European Athlete of the Month Awards for January.

The indoor arenas around Europe came alive in January, with a number of athletes already showing their form after winter training and ready to lay claim to top honours in 2010.

Jessica Ennis, the Heptathlon world champion set a new national record and a personal-best in the 60m hurdles with a time of 7.95secs to pip reigning world indoor champion Lolo Jones at the AVIVA International Match in Glasgow.

Phillips Idowu, the 2009 European Athlete of the Year sprang to a European season lead with a mammoth jump of 16.76m in London.

Jennifer Meadows in the 800m also registered an impressive win in Glasgow.

At the end of each month, a panel of experts produce a shortlist of the outstanding athletes and performances achieved by European athletes during that month which is emailed to the European Athletics media and thousands of fans who have signed up to receive news from European Athletics. The poll is situated in the Fan Zone of the European Athletics website and the public, the media and a group of expert statisticians will cast their votes with each category counting as 33.3 percent of the vote.

The winner of each poll will be awarded 10 points, second nine points, etc. and the athlete with the most points after the three different polls have been counted will be declared the winner. In the unlikely event of a tie, Hansjörg Wirz, the president of European Athletics, will have the casting vote.

The voting will close on Monday 15th February at noon CET.

The European Athlete of the Month initiative was launched in January 2007 and is designed to recognise outstanding performers at all levels of the sport in Europe.

No athlete who has previously served a two-year doping ban can be nominated for European Athlete of the Month.

The winning male and female athletes of the monthly awards will be announced and profiled on the European Athletics website.

To vote click on the following link: www.european-athletics.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=4760&Itemid=208&mosmsg=Item+successfully+saved.

Wednesday 20th January 2010

EUROPEAN Athletics have announced that Alemayehu Bezabeh of Spain and Great Britain's Hayley Yelling have been selected as the European Athletes of the Month for December.

Yelling, a 35-year-old schoolteacher, scripted a remarkable comeback to competitive sport after a year-long hiatus to win the women's senior title in Dublin.

Yelling had decided to hang up her spikes in the wake of a disappointing 19th place at the 2008 SPAR European Cross Country Championships in Brussels.

What is even more noteworthy is that she only started training seriously a month before the start of the event in Dublin. She was also instrumental in guiding Great Britain to the team silver medal behind Portugal.

Bezabeh became the first man from his country to win a senior title at the SPAR European Cross Country Championships in 16 years of the event. For much of the race in Dublin, he had to fight with Great Britain's Mo Farah but the Spaniard pulled away from the 2006 champion and last year's runner-up around 2 kilometres from the end of the 9997m race.

The 23-year-old also guided Spain to win the men's senior team title for the third year in succession.

Junior champion Jeroen D'Hoedt of Belgium and U23 champion Noureddine Smail of France followed Bezabeh in the men's poll while the women's U23 champion Sultan Haydar of Turkey and senior bronze medallist Adrienne Herzog of the Netherlands were voted likewise in the women's polls.

The European Athlete of the Month initiative was launched in January 2007 and is designed to recognise outstanding performers at all levels of the sport in Europe.

European Athletics names a male and female winner each month and features the athlete on the European Athletics website. Selections are based on votes by the public, the media and a panel of European Athletics experts, with each counting for 33.3 percent of the final vote.

No athlete who has previously served a two-year doping ban can be nominated for or win the European Athlete of the Month.

Wednesday 20th January 2010

WORLD heptathlon champion Jessica Ennis will captain the British team at the Aviva International Match in Glasgow on Saturday 30th January.

The multi-eventer from Sheffield will compete in the high jump as a representative of the Great Britain and Northern Ireland team and also guest in the 60m hurdles.

Ennis leads a 17-strong team, which will face tough opposition from the United States, Sweden, a Commonwealth Select team and Germany in the first major domestic indoor meeting of the year at Kelvin Hall.

With more than half the team enjoying a successful World Championship campaign in Berlin last August, and including Jenny Meadows and Lisa Dobriskey, the 800 metres bronze and 1500m silver medallists respectively, the GB side should pose a real threat.
Great Britain and Northern Ireland team:
Men: 60m: Craig Pickering (Marshall Milton Keynes); 200m: Leon Baptiste (Enfield & Haringey); 400m: Richard Buck (City of York); 800m: Joe Thomas (Cardiff); 3000m: Michael Skinner (Blackheath & Bromley); 60mh: Andy Turner (Sale); Long Jump: Chris Tomlinson (Newham & Essex Beagles); Triple Jump: Nathan Douglas (Oxford).
Women: 60m: Bernice Wilson (Birchfield Harriers); 200m: Helen Pryer (Windsor, Slough, Eton & Hounslow); 400m: Victoria Barr (Rugby & Northampton); 800m: Jenny Meadows (Wigan); 1500m: Lisa Dobriskey (Ashford); 3000m: Helen Clitheroe (Preston); 60mh: Sarah Claxton (Woodford Green & Essex Ladies); High Jump: Jessica Ennis (City of Sheffield).
Commonwealth Select Team [selected Britons]:
60m: Harry Aikines Aryeetey (Sutton); Pole Vault: Luke Cutts (Dearneside); 3000m: Gemma Turtle (Gloucester).
Guests:
60m: Nick Smith (Shaftesbury Barnet); 60mh: Jessica Ennis (City of Sheffield); High Jump: Vikki Hubbard (Birchfield Harriers).

Friday 15th January 2010

LOUGHBOROUGH College has become the ninth college to be accepted into the London 2012 Get Set network and plans are afoot for more Games inspired projects.

The College has already received the prestigious Inspire Mark for its healthy and active living project Loughborough Flames: Lighting the Way and plans are being put in place for many more Games related activities.

Chris McGeorge, Loughborough College’s Elite Sport and Development Officer, explained why it was important to be accepted into the Get Set network. He said: “Loughborough College is trying to get its own identity. We’re very fortunate to be part of the Loughborough family so as well as the Flames project we have also been part of the Japan bid.

“We already offer a gold standard of sport and education and we are hoping to launch an elite performance centre from September 2010 where talented 16-18 year olds can relocate to Loughborough so that we can manage their education and development. These students will be aiming for 2016 and beyond so that is working towards the legacy that London 2012 can leave."

The College is also hoping to launch a partnership with East Midlands Airport. Chris explains: “We have 100 different nationalities at the College so we would like to train volunteers to greet the Olympic teams when they arrive at the airport. It’s still in its embryonic stage at the moment but it’s something we are very hopeful of doing.”

More than half of the UK’s further education colleges are now registered with the Get Set network and Loughborough has joined eight other colleges in being accepted into the network by demonstrating the College is displaying the Olympic values.

The other colleges in the network are; Bishop Burton, Canterbury, City of Westminster, Hackney Community, North Hertfordshire, Oldham Sixth Form, Tyne Metropolitan, and Wakefield.

As official partners of London 2012 Get Set, the colleges are able to display the 2012 Education Logo on their websites and printed materials as well as a plaque to commemorate the partnership. Learners also get the chance to enter exclusive competitions and prize draws and receive exciting London 2012 goodies.