12th August 2020
FUTURES ATHLETES SHINE ON DOMESTIC AND INTERNATIONAL STAGE
Members of the British Athletics Futures Programme took centre stage on an excellent evening for domestic athletics in Trafford and Worthing yesterday as the programme continues to showcase some of the finest junior athletes in the country.
Max Burgin (Ian Burgin; Halifax) and Keely Hodgkinson (Trevor Painter; Leigh) stole the show in Trafford in the 800m A races, with British Under-20 record holder Burgin once again underlining his potential in the sport.
In the baking heat, Burgin wasted absolutely no time in throwing down the gauntlet to British 1500m indoor champion George Mills (Jon Bigg; Brighton Phoenix), storming away on the first lap, going through the bell in 50.9s and continued to pull clear.
As Burgin hit the home straight, he continued to stride clear of Mills, stopping the clock in an incredible 1:44.75, to go second on the world rankings behind American Donovan Brazier. Mills, himself a former Futures athlete, recorded a personal best of 1:47.10 over the distance.
In the women’s race, a much more tactical affair, it was British indoor 800m champion Keely Hodgkinson who underlined her prowess as she opened her outdoor season with a 2:02.85 clocking.
The Leigh athlete recoded negative split times as she moved herself to fourth in the British rankings outdoors this season as she held off the challenge of Georgie Hartigan (Bev Hartigan; Birchfield) and Jessica Judd (Mick Judd; Blackburn) to take the victory.
In Worthing, European U20 Championships long jump bronze medallist Holly Mills (Laura Turner-Alleyne; Andover) set an 800m personal best as she won the women’s C race in 2:12.32 and clocked a 100m season’s best of 12.07s (0.1) on the same evening.
Mills was joined in the 100m by European Under-20 Championship 100m hurdles bronze medallist Lucy-Jane Matthews (Alan Richardson; Birchfield) and it was the latter who took two tenths off her previous PB to take the win in 12.03s (0.1), with Mills just 0.02s outside her personal best set in 2016.
Matthews’ evening wasn’t done there either as she donned her spikes once again and clocked a 200m personal best of 24.71s (0.1), taking almost half a second off her previous best from 2018, as she secured her second victory of the evening.
Mills rounded off the day by taking another two seconds off her 800m personal best with a superb 2:12.32 as she romped to a near four second victory from Almi Nerurkar (Brighton Phoenix).
Over in Finland at the Paavo Nurmi Games, the first leg of the World Athletics Continental Tour, Erin Wallace (Andy Young; Giffnock North) was one of the six-strong field of competitors in action and pulled out a performance just shy of her personal best as she opened her outdoor season with a 4:16.75 effort.
The race itself was won by Melissa Courtney-Bryant (Rob Denmark; Poole) in 4:03.69, a shade outside her personal best, with British 3000m steeplechase champion Rosie Clarke (Rob Denmark; Epsom & Ewell) opening up over 1500m with a 4:11.25 clocking.
A full list of all the athletes supported by the British Athletics Futures Programme is here and you can find out more about the Futures Programme itself.
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