The McCain Indoor City Challenge took place in Sheffield on Saturday and spectators that took advantage of free admission were treated to a feast of fine performances from some of the country’s top athletes. The event also got a huge thumbs up from participants who enjoyed the format of the competition and the opportunity to compete in a high profile event in front of an enthusiastic crowd.

 

World silver medalist Jessica Ennis was in action in her home city and she helped the Sheffield Flames to their total of 197.5 points, enough to beat their rival cities and claim pole position in the City Challenge standings.

 

Ennis was a comfortable winner of the 60m Hurdles as she raced to a time of 8.05 seconds, more than two tenths of a second clear of Sarah Claxton in second and just a tenth of a second away from her personal best. The crowd favourite also participated in the long-jump but was upstaged by fellow heptathlete, and former World Youth Champion, Katarina Johnson-Thompson. On a day where she also set a personal best in the shot put with a throw of 11.56 metres, Johnson-Thompson leaped to a spectacular distance of six metres and 39 centimetres to set a new UK Under-20 Indoor long jump record and take the victory for her team, the Manchester Warriors.

 

There has been an interesting sub-plot to the story of her British record which highlights the long jumping pedigree of her local club. This performance eclipses her own record from last year, but before that the record was held by Margaret Cheetham who jumped six metres and 25 centimetres in the mid-nineteen eighties - she was also a Liverpool Harrier.

 

It was a jump that surprised Johnson-Thompson though, “It wasn’t expected, I have been working on a lot of the other events more than the long jump. I knew that I was capable of a distance like that, but I didn’t think that I would open the season with a jump that I was near enough peaking at last year.”

 

“It didn’t feel like a particularly good jump if I’m honest. I was a bit surprised with the distance, especially with it being in the first round as my first jump is usually modest. My last jump (which was a no jump) felt a lot longer. I hit the board well, but just in the wrong place!”

 

She appreciates the value of the City Challenge’s format and believes it should set her up nicely for the rest of the season: “I like the ICC. Competing in the mini-triathlon gives you an idea of how your pentathlon score can accumulate so it’s helped me to see where I’m at. It shows that my training is working and I’ll happily continue down the right road.”

 

It was a busy day for multi-eventers competing in the ‘Combined Events Challenge’; a trilogy of events which offered the chance to replicate conditions of heptathlons and decathlons later in the year. Johnson-Thompson was the clear winner of the women’s mini-triathlon but on the men’s side it was a much tighter affair. Edward Dunford (Birmingham Falcons) managed to edge seven points ahead of Roger Skedd to have the best combined score of the three events. This total was in no small part down to recording the longest shot put with a distance of 15 metres and 18 centimetres.

 

Sheffield’s cause was further aided by sprinter Louise Bloor who single handedly amassed 15 points for The Flames, with first and second place finishes in the 200m and 60m respectively. In the 200m she took advantage of the outside lane to defeat a strong field, including former GB Junior international Hayley Jones, with a time of 24.27 seconds. Her role was reversed in the 60m though, as Annabelle Lewis overcame Bloor by the narrow margin of five hundredths of a second. Bloor finished by far the strongest the seven-girl line up but her effort came too late close the gap on Lewis who took the eight points attached to the victory for the Newcastle Angels.

 

Considering the fact that she raced with tired legs from heavy training, Bloor was delighted with her performances but admitted that her start let her down in the 60m. She said: “I was really pleased with how the weekend went. I certainly didn't go out to compete with fresh legs so with a 60m time only 0.01 seconds [away from my PB] and a 200m time just over 0.2 seconds away from my PB I don't really have any complaints. It would have been nice to win the 60m, but with Annabelle Lewis' flawless starts I have been left sitting in my blocks all indoor season; clearly this is something that I need to work on.”

 

As one of Sheffield’s star performers, Bloor was well positioned to explain what victory in this event meant to her team: “Sheffield has great team morale and support each other. Sheffield as a team lost our title last year so to finish on top after the first round this year is encouraging, we were all pleased with the win.”

 

One of the most exciting races of the day was the Men’s 1500m where former Olympian Anthony Whiteman lined up with the Veteran 40 world record of 3:44.3 firmly in his sights. However, the Shaftesbury Barnet Harrier, who ran 3:32 at his peak, had to settle for second behind Irishman Daniel Mooney, competing for Cardiff Dragons, who overtook Whiteman with 100m remaining to clinch first place in a personal best time of three minutes and 45 seconds.

 

It was a victory that meant a lot to the Letterkenny man: “I had initially planned to go through 800 in 1:58, but ended up going through in 2:01. From then I knew that I had to kick hard in order to get a decent time. Getting a win is always nice and in Anthony’s current form, and with his experience, it feels great to have beaten such a class act.”

 

Mooney was another athlete that applauded the idea of the Inter-City Challenge: “The McCain challenge is a great event; it gives young prosperous runners the chance to race against well known and experienced runners. The atmosphere in the EIS yesterday was great, it’s not often you would get such a crowd at an indoor meeting and it all added to the experience”

 

Meanwhile, Whiteman was critical of his opponents’ tactics but not put off in his pursuit of the elusive sub four minute mile. He said: “I was not pleased with the race but understood why I suffered in the last 200m as I have not been able to run any high quality speed endurance sessions due to winter weather and a lack of training partners. I was also disappointed with the other athletes who did not take up the opportunity of somebody setting a steady 60 second pace (per 400m), they seem to lack ambition.”

 

He believes that the City Challenge provides an opportunity for good competition with a healthy mix of second tier athletes and proven internationals and is happy with his form, regardless of Saturday’s result: “I am just using indoors to break up training and chase a few records but my mind is on outdoors and I am happy with where I am at the moment.”

 

In the Men’s 800m Guy Learmonth impressively led from gun to tape to provide his Dad, who travelled from Scotland on the day of his 50th birthday to watch his son race, with the perfect present and to supply maximum points for his team, the Glasgow Cobras.

 

“I was very pleased with my race, although the time wasn't too quick (1:50.80) I was happy with the manner I ran it in; stretching the field every lap to win pretty comfortably. I felt fine after the race so ran a quick 600 relay split too to get the legs ticking over. My training has been so hard that the races feel easy, so now I’m ready to run some fast times.”

 

The Scot is hoping that the fast time that he desires will come at the indoor season’s climax event, the UK Championships and World Trials next weekend: “I now want to get myself into a fast race where I don't have to lead it and run some fast times. The races that I've ran have just been warm ups to get me race sharp for the World Trials next weekend where I will up my game and give it my all to perform to the best of my ability and run as well as my training is indicating.”

 

Learmonth was keen to highlight the benefits of representing a city team in this event: “It's always great running for a team; you get a different type of adrenaline and nerves than when you run alone. When I'm racing, I run for them and all of the athletes that are part of the team. You don't want to let them down so you have to make sure you win and get maximum points. Glasgow are so passionate about this event too, if a team mate is doing well it spurs you on; success breeds success in this case.”

 

The Sheffield crowd were also entertained by the performance of Team GB regular Marilyn Okoro in the Women’s 800m. In trademark fashion, Okoro spurted to the front of the pack as soon as the gun was fired and remained dominant until she established a considerable lead and crossed the line in a time of 2:04.29, an encouraging opening mark as the North London Lion embarks on an important 2012 season.

 

Birmingham hurdler Andrew Pozzi had a weekend to remember as he prepared to run a personal best at the Birmingham Games on Sunday with victory in Sheffield. A well executed race was rewarded with a victory and an impressive time of 7.70 seconds and 12 points for the Birmingham Falcons as a result. In addition to victory against a high calibre field, the City Challenge granted him the chance to compete at the venue that will host the World Indoor Trials and this has offered valuable experience to the 19 year old.

 

Pozzi was particularly encouraged by the technical aspects of his race: “I really enjoyed my race and I was pleased with how it went. I had a good start which I have been working on so I was pleased to get it out there in a race. I was pleased with how I ran as I didn't really hit any hurdles and my run was quite smooth. However, I did hope it would be a bit quicker. 

 

His thoughts on the City Challenge’s merit echoes the feeling of the majority of competitors on Saturday. He said: “I really enjoyed the event and if it was offered to me I would do it again. I enjoyed the team element as I've lived in the Birmingham area since birth and I liked having a continuous interest in the competition through following my team mates. I am also looking forward to competing in the second McCain Inter City Challenge meet later in the season.”

 

It was in the field that Sheffield Flames were able to amass many of the points that set them on their way to victory. Luke Cutts won the Men’s pole vault with 5.25m to get maximum points for the steel city team and Daniel Gardiner was second in the Men’s long jump with 7.31m. On the women’s side, Adele Lassu was second in the high jump with 1.76m; although four athletes had the same height as Lassu, she was given second by virtue of having no fouls in her jumps at previous heights.

 

The second and final match of the McCain Club Challenge series will take place at Lee Valley in London on Saturday March 3rd where the North London Lions will hope to cut the 19 point deficit to usurp the Sheffield Tigers at the top of the team standings.



 

By Craig Gundersen