At the last event at the Alexander Stadium, before the redevelopment for the Commonwealth Games begins, the stadium was bathed in sunshine and our athletes rose to the occasion as they competed to be named British Champion and gain selection for Doha.
It proved to be a swansong for the Stags with four athletes, Meghan Beesley, Matthew Hudson-Smith, Sarah McDonald and Jessica Mayho becoming British Champion. The results over the weekend also meant that four athletes will be in the team for the forthcoming World Championhips, Matthew Hudson-Smith, Megahn Beesley, Sarah McDonald and Shara Proctor so it was a weekend of celebration.
The first day of competition saw many of our athletes secure a place in the final of their event but the highlight of the day was Jessica Mayho winning the hammer and becoming British Champion for the first time. This caps an excellent season for Jess who has been throwing personal bests and is now number two in the UK. Feron Sayers was unable to match his performance of last year in the long jump but still won a medal this time it was bronze.
Our sprinters acquitted themselves well too as both Kyle de Escofet and Kaie Chambers-Brown made the final of the 100m. The final was full of international sprinters and both our athletes ran well finishing in fifth and seventh position.U20 Cassie-Ann Pemberton also experienced her first senior championships making it through to the semi-final and Heather Paton was sixth in the 100m hurdles. In the field events Adelle Nicol was fourth in the shot, Jack Phipps sixth in the pole vault as was Ryan Webb in the high jump.
In the middle distance heats both Elliot Giles and Sarah McDonald won their heats and Georgie Hartigan also qualified for the 1500m final, running a personal best in the process. Both Efe Okoro and Meghan Beesley qualified comfortably for the 400m hurdles finals as did Matthew Hudson-Smith in the 400m
There was a lot to look forward to on day two as many of our athletes were challenging for the title in the final of their events. First to go was the women's pole vault where Sophie Cooke equalled her personal best of 4.36m to take the silver medal, one place better than she achieved last year. She was also joined in the final by Eliazabeth Eden who jumped a personal best height of 3.95m for seventh and Natalie Hooper, who also cleared the same height for sixth place.
The first track event was the heats of the 110m hurdles in which Jake Porter took a comfortable win to go through to the final. Next on the track was Efe Okoro in the 400m hurdles. In a strong race Efe ran well to finish in fifth in a personal best time of 50.33 seconds. He was followed by Meghan Beesley, who was wearing red bid to indicate she was the fastest in the race and the favourite for the ttitle. She did not disappoint and collected her second title in a row and secured her place on the team to Doha.
Matthew Hudson-Smith then stepped onto the track in only his third race of the season due to injury. He ws still seeking the qualifying standard for the World Championships and he went out very hard to ensure he achieved this standard. Despite late efforts from the others in the race he held on the become British Champion once again and also ran the qualifying standard having run 45.15, the fastest time by a British athlete this year. The effort he put into this race meant he then had to give his BBC interview whilst sitting on the floor. This was the start of a great day for the Stags with two British Champions already confiirmed.
Sarah McDonald then demonstrated what great shape she is in by winning the 1500m. The athletes were together for the first three laps and then at the bell Jemma Reekie pushed the pace with Sarah close behind. It soon became a two horse race as the two athletes battled it out but Sarah proved to have the stronger and faster finish and took her first British title and also ensured she is on the plane to Doha. Georgie Hartigan finished seventh in the race.
Our final World Championship team member came in the long jump competition. Going into the event Shara Proctor did not have the qualifying standard this season so had two goals, to be in the top two and jump in excess of 6.72m. She achieved both with her third round jump of 6.84m which was good enough for the silver medal. Also competing in the long jump was heptathlete Katie Stainton who finished in eigth place.
The final of the 110m hurdles was close run race which saw Jake Porter finish in third place in a season's best time of 13.90 secs. Our final medallist was Emma Hamplett who took silver in the javelin and was denied the title by the last throw of the competition.
Others came close to selection, none more so than Elliot Giles in the 800m. In a race where a number of athletes had the standard it was all to play for and with 50m to go it looked as though Elliot was going to take one of the frist two place but unfortunately he was out sprinted and finished in fourth place.
Melissa Roberts ran well in the 200m to make the final of that event finishing in seventh pkace. Mari Smith was in a similar posiion to Elliot Giles in the women's 800m and she also missed out finishing in fifth place. Also conpeting on the track were Hayley Carruther who finished ninth in the 500m In the field Craig Murch continued his good season with another 70m plus throw to finish in fourth in the hammer with teammate Chris Shorthouse in sixth. Najee Foz was eighth in the discus, Dan Cartwright fifth in the shot and Scott Hall was 10th in the triple jump.