Four Mansfield Harriers look forward to action in next week's Aviva National Championships at Birmingham's Alexander Stadium.
In an event which incorporates the Olympic Trials Ricky Soos, Stephen Lisgo, Rachel Gair and Chris Brown have all achieved the required standard in their events to merit an invitation.
Soos has recently returned to the track after a series of setb
acks since representing GB at the 2004 Olympics in Athens and while he won’t be expecting to return to that sort of form just yet it is good to see him back in action on the track.
Joining him in the 800m will be Chris Brown who’ll be looking to improve on his season’s best time of 1:52.25, set 10 days ago at Solihull, and to get close to his 2006 form of 1:50.60.
Lisgo will be hoping for a good performance over the 3K Steeplechase after a good week in which he raced over the barriers over 2K at the Bank of Scotland Cup.
Finishing in third position Lisgo was beaten by Andrew Lemencello - one of the favourites for a top spot at this weekend’s trials.
Currently ranked in seventh spot on the national rankings Rachel Gair will be aiming to get close to 60 metres in the Hammer.
Having set a new personal best of 58.26 metres earlier this season she is training well and, with the right conditions, will be pushing hard for the magical mark.
Lisgo, Brown and Gair all warmed up for next weekend’s action by turning out for their club in the third round of the Midland Senior League Division One at Coventry.
While Brown sharpened his pace for his 800m with a rapid run out over 400m taking first spot in the B string race in 49.7 his two team-mates were busy scoring big points.
Busy juggling her role as Women’s Team Manager with her role on the field Rachel Gair contributed 24 points to the Mansfield total with a win in the Hammer, second in B string Discus,fourth in Shot and a speedy run to take second place in the B string 100m clocking 13.4 secs.
Starting off the day with a new PB in the 400m Hurdles, winning the race in 57.0 secs, Steve Lisgo followed up by filling in for an injured team-mate to take second spot in the B string 800m and then took victory in the 1500m in a time of 4:03.4.
Harriers finished the day in third position behind league leaders City of Stoke and host club Coventry Godiva with several other athletes scoring useful points on a day when the team was weakened by injury and absence.
Steve Woolley chalked up 19 points completing in all four throws and Martin Cook scored 14 with two second place A string finishes in the 100m and 200m.
Ellie Maddocks made her comeback to track and field competition after two years away and contributed 17 points to the team total with performances in the Long Jump, 100m Hurdles, Shot and Javelin.
Meanwhile, Amie Grainger sandwiched a 200m run between her second place finish in the 800m and her third placed spot in the 1500m to score 16 points, recording a new personal best of 2:21.0 in the 800m.
