As the summer months come upon us, so too do athletics events in ever increasing frequency. From the highest level Diamond League competitors to school children, everyone is taking part!
Below are some of the highlights of the month which we have chosen from over forty events listed by British Athletics and the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF):
Event Name: Birmingham Grand Prix Diamond League
Where: Alexander Stadium, Birmingham
When: 5th June 2016
Highlights: The nation’s long distance favourite, Mo Farah, ran a storming 3000 metres in the final. His time of 7:32.62 makes him the world leader for the year so far – promising stuff just a month away from the 2016 Rio Olympics. His time also set a new British record, beating David Moorcroft’s 34 year old time by just a tenth of a second! This impressive time means that Farah now holds the national record in 25 separate events, confirming yet again that he is one of our all time greats.
You can watch BBC coverage of the final three minutes of the race here:
Event Name: London Inter Club Challenge
Where: Lee Valley Athletics Centre
When: 19th June 2016
Highlights: Similarly to LUCA, the LICC is an organisation formed of different athletics clubs from around London and further afield. In this case, the member clubs are Achilles and Shaftesbury Barnet Harriers. The difference between LUCA and LICC is that the LICC is not solely for university athletes – anyone who competes for one of the member clubs can take part in the competition and it is also open to members of other clubs.
This year, the first two stages of the LICC took place at Lee Valley Athletics Centre, a well-equipped ground that has provided a training base for British athletes such as Greg Rutherford and Jonnie Peacock. The LICC’s next stops will be two sessions at Allianz Park in Hendon, home of the Saracens rugby team since 2013.
Unfortunately, the results linked from their site only takes you to a timetable for the day. Hopefully this will be updated shortly.
Event Name: British Championships
Where: Alexander Stadium, Birmingham
When: 24th-26th June 2016
Highlights: With over 600 of Britain’s best athletes once again descending on Alexander Stadium, this year’s Championships promised some thrilling action. It certainly delivered, with many Personal Bests and Season Bests being set by people such as Andrew Pozzi, who won the men’s 110m hurdles with a PB of 13.31.
Olympian Adam Gemili, running for Blackheath, beat out Birchfield’s Danny Talbot by just fractions of a second in a closely fought 200m, despite finishing half a second slower than his 2014 time of 19.98. Multi-disciplined Jazmin Sawyers, who has also competed for Britain as a bobsledder and heptathlete, won the women’s long jump with 6.75m, a new PB for her.
The full event results can be viewed here.
