Once again the crew has performed with distinction in Japan with several victories and world-class results.
Hiroshima 29th April
Melissa Breen flew the flag for the squad and ran a new personal best of 11.30 in the 100m in the heat. The wind was as favourable in the final but she still ran extremely well with 11.36 behind Japanese record holder Fukishima.
Shizuoka 3rd May
Japan presented an ideal opportunity to see how Olympic 400m Hurdlers Lauren Boden and Brendan Cole where travelling in their heavy training block and the resultant signs for London in 12 weeks were very exciting. Boden showed great strength off the last hurdle to take victory in a great time of 55.86. BJ also ran home strongly to finish 4th in a time of 50.26.
Melissa competed in the 200m finishing 3rd in a solid time of 23.52 and also ran a great opening leg of the Women’s 4 x 100m relay.
Special note to Alex Carew who ran a personal best of 21.27 1.5w in the 200m. He also ran a great 46.2 relay split in the Aussie 4 x 400m relay.
Kawasaki 6th May
Crazy, cyclonic conditions were on offer for this meet. Huge swirling winds and rain made appearances throughout the day and made competing tough. In a way though it was good practice for potential London so athletes were keen to get out and race in the far from ideal conditions.
Lauren Boden again showed her class dominating the field and taking victory by over 5m. Unfortunately the timing did not work but the margin of victory and strength shown in the final stages shows that she is tracking along very well.
BJ again put together a solid race. With most of the guys running half a second slower than their times from Shizuoka it was pleasing to see that he only dropped 0.2 to run 50.46 for 4th.
Melissa again led off the relay with a strong leg but unfortunately there was an issue at the last chance preventing them from completing the race. She did, however, leave her best run to last in the Women’s 100m.
Boasting a super strong field of Olympic champion Felix, 2 x Olympic finalist Ivet Lalova, Japanese record holder Fukishima and another USA athlete Candyce McGrone with a personal best of 11.08 Breen blasted out of the blocks from the outside lane. In a real sign of her development as an athlete Breen showed that she is at home against the world’s best crossing the line in 2nd place behind Felix and taking some wonderful scalps.
Conditions did not allow for a fast time (11.38 0.1w) with the girls commenting that they felt the wind constantly changing direction during the race due to the super strong cross wind. It wasn’t about the time though on this occasion but simply the maturity and composure shown by 21-year-old Breen to step up and run well at a big meet.
Carew backed up his relay leg from Shizuoka with a blistering 46.1 final leg in the 4 x 400m which was the fastest for the Australian team.
Breen and Cole return home while Boden journeys on to Doha for the Diamond League on the 11th May.
MattyB DEPT. (MBD) 