Dazzling at the Diamond League

Above: Coach Paul Miller with (l to r): Freddie Arkell, Marcus Gayle, Joshua Martin and Daniel Guinness following their triumph in the U20 Men race in the Club Connect Relays

On the day when the Diamond League rolled back into town to deliver world class athletics to the London Stadium once again, the Club’s U20 Men’s 4 x 100m relay team seized their moment to shine in the Club Connect Relays, staged just before the main programme. As the arena began to fill to its 50,000 capacity, announcing the biggest audience for a one day athletics meeting in the world, the team of Daniel Guinness, Joshua Martin, Marcus Gayle and Freddie Arkell came home clear winners in 40.52, setting a new all time Hercules Wimbledon record in the process.

Club Connect is British Athletics’s initiative for ‘recognising and rewarding the significant contributions made by clubs in supporting athletes through all levels of their athletics journey’. Selection is based on the leading relay performances on the Power of Ten for the previous season, and the Club was delighted to accept the invitation to compete in all four races, for U17 Men and Women and U20 Men and Women.

So over the last few weeks lead sprint coach Paul Miller and his team had to make some selection decisions of their own. The U20 men’s line up is a tight, tried and tested unit, who in May laid down a gauntlet, posting a time of 42.22 in the South London Athletics Network Sprint Open & Relay Meeting at Tooting Bec, the fastest U20 time in the UK, topped only by the England U18 squad. And within the Club’s U17s Omari Koroma, Markos Schuchinsky and Javon Blake boast 100m times of 11.77, 11.78 and 11.79 respectively, and have experience of getting the baton safely round to 200m specialist Conor Kelly on the anchor leg.  The make up of the women’s teams however, was less of a certainty.

‘Our policy throughout was to reward those athletes who have trained and competed consistently well over the season with a chance to race in the stadium where the Olympics were held’ explains Paul. ‘The goal was for the athletes to enjoy the experience, and everyone within the group worked really hard over the last few weeks to prepare them for the occasion’. An added bonus for the athletes was the input of Paul’s sons, Rechmial and Chad, both junior international sprinters, who assist in coaching and were able to share valuable experience of changeover strategies and drills.

Although when the athletes entered the iconic stadium a flutter of nerves was inevitable, Paul believes that ‘ in general athletes feel less pressure in the relays than when they compete as individuals. Although no-one wants to let their team-mates down, they often run a lot faster because they are not so focused just on themselves’.

There were mixed fortunes for the teams, however, as in the first race the U17 Women’s team of Imana Remedios, Isabella Geddes, Gift Awekhoe and Allegra Adams stuttered at the final takeover and were unable to finish. Next up were the U17 Men, who finished sixth in a new Club U17 record of 43.50, underlining the quality of these races. Then came the turn of the U20 Women (Kyra Stone, Cora Barnett, Renika Hayden and Kacey Johnson) who were agonisingly close to making the last changeover, but exchanged the baton just outside the zone and were disqualified.

And so to the last race: the U20 Men. Whilst the emphasis for everyone taking part was on the overall experience, there were, however, high hopes for this team who have benefited from several seasons of training and competing together, particularly Marcus Gayle and Freddie Arkell, who were part of the team who set a new Championship record at the Surrey County Relay Championships in September.

‘What made the win all the sweeter’, says Paul, ‘was that the Be Fit Today Track Academy (who are based at the Jim Peters Stadium in Barking and Lee Valley) were on paper a faster squad. We don’t meet their club in the Leagues, and their relay team hadn’t posted a time this season, but our athletes compete in their Open meetings, so we knew that some of the individuals in their squad were capable of running 10.2/10.4. Teddy Wilson, who is an U17, has the fastest UK time for 100m this season (10.26) and Sean Anyaogu tops the UK U20 rankings with 10.47. So the key to success for us was going to be to maximise the quality and speed of our changeovers. That is what the guys went out there to do and they did it, so I am very, very happy.’