I do not believe that I have missed this meet in six years. It is great to catch up with agents, athletes, coaches, sponsors, and at this time of the year, one month out from World Indoors (Istanbul, Turkey), and six months from London.
Here are my observations: 1). Nice to see US indoor season this year, with four great meets, albeit two on same day. I believe that will be worked out. 2). Jenny Simpson is handling WC title well, lots of pressure. 3). I am looking for the great surprises for 2012, and I believe, there will be many. 4). Hannah England is a real threat at 1,500m, like Jenny Simpson, Hannah gets herself in position to perform. 5). Morgan Uceny & Shannon Rowbury are continuing to impress. 6). Events like AVIVA Grand Prix, meets that have great head to heads, supporting local athletes, well produced, are key to our sports future. 7.) Four ARS so far in 2012 is a good sign. 8). Very thankful that the footwear companies consider our sport important to support, now more than ever. 9). AVIVA shows, in its support of UK Athletics since 1999, that non-footwear sponsors are out there, and that global athletics in general, US and UK athletics in particular, are good homes for a global company to support.
ENGLAND WELCOMES JAMAICA AND USA AHEAD OF AVIVA GRAND PRIX
Birmingham-based World silver medallist Hannah England today welcomed some of the USA and Jamaica's leading athletes to the city she calls home ahead of this Saturday's Aviva Grand Prix at the National Indoor Arena.
England will be one of the stars of the show as a world-class line-up of athletes take to the track on Saturday in the biggest annual indoor athletics event on the planet.
With
both the US and Jamaican athletics squads basing themselves in
Birmingham this July ahead of the Olympic Games, Hannah met American
sprint duo Danielle Carruthers and
Bianca Knight, as well as Jamaican speedster Michael Frater and spoke
of her excitement at racing against the world's best at home this
Saturday.
England said: "I'm so excited to race in front of a home crowd this weekend. I do a lot of my training right in the city centre here and I run past the NIA every other day.
"I feel like all year I'm waiting for this event and the Aviva Birmingham Grand Prix in August so that I can show everyone what our sport is all about. I've got a lot of friends from university and some family who are coming along so it should be really fun."
Racing in her favoured 1500m event on Saturday, the 24-year-old will go head-to-head with Ethiopian threat Genzebe Dibaba, with fellow Brit Claire Gibson also lining up against her.
England recently competed in the unfamiliar 3000m at the Aviva Indoor UK Trials and Championships last weekend, scooping her first indoor national title in the process, and the Oxford athlete admits the contest in Sheffield has left her confident in the showdown ahead.
She added: "I've done two indoor races and they've both gone really well but my coach yesterday called them my warm-up races and this the big one. It's a really good quality race and Ian Stewart's [UKA Meet Director and Head of Endurance] managed to put together a world-class field. It's my last indoor race so I'm really going to give it my all."
The Aviva Grand Prix will again host an array of the world's best athletes on the NIA track this Saturday, with none more pleased than America's Carruthers and Knight to be back in a city where they have enjoyed past success.
Furthermore, this July, the duo's American athletics squad will base themselves at the Birmingham Alexander Stadium for a 10 day pre-Olympics training camp.
Carruthers, the World Championships 100m hurdles silver medallist and the athlete most likely to challenge World Champion Sally Pearson for Olympic gold, said: "I'm feeling good and it's great to be back in Birmingham. I've finally got a full week of training in so I'm feeling fresh and ready.
"I'm really hoping to win this Saturday. The time is irrelevant - I just want to be aggressive and execute so if it's a tight race, I want to out-execute everybody else."
Her American compatriot Bianca Knight will compete in one of the most anticipated events of the meet on Saturday, the 60m sprint.
Racing against British hopefuls Jeanette Kwakye, Asha Philip and Laura Turner as well as the world's fastest woman Tianna Madison, Knight is excited about her prospects: "I always enjoy coming back to Birmingham. I'm undefeated here - I won here indoor and outdoor last season so I really enjoy the city.
"The crowd is always very supportive of the athletes here in the UK and I know for sure that it's going to be a great, great crowd and they're going to be 100% getting behind all of the girls. I'm looking forward to it and it should be a nice competition with a lot of talented athletes."
Also based in the UK's 'second city' this summer ahead of London 2012 will be Jamaica's Frater, who will stay on campus at the University of Birmingham with the Jamaican athletics squad for two weeks of Olympic preparation.
Frater, a 4x100m relay Olympic and World gold medallist, will be part of an incredibly strong line-up in the 60m sprint on Saturday that includes former 100m World Record holder Asafa Powell, fellow Jamaican Nesta Carter and World bronze medallist Kim Collins.
Frater, however, remains quietly confident: "I'm very excited about this Saturday. I'm really looking forward to running against the best, that's what I've done my whole career. I'm using this as a base to test myself ahead of the outdoor season.
"I've competed here before and I've got wonderful memories of Birmingham. Last year I ran really well at the Aviva Birmingham Grand Prix and I'm ready to go this weekend."
Cheruiyot withdraws from Aviva Grand Prix due to illness
Meanwhile Kenyan star Vivian Cheruiyot, the world 5000 and 10,000m champion and Laureus World Sportswoman of the Year, has had to withdraw from Saturday's event after coming down with a bout of flu. Cheruiyot, a star at British events over the past few years, spoke of her disappointment at not being able to compete at the Aviva Grand Prix.
She said: "Sadly I have withdrawn from the Aviva Grand Prix on Saturday in Birmingham at the NIA. Just before I began my journey to the UK on Wednesday, I developed flu and do not feel well enough to travel. I need to take a few days off to recover so I can resume training as soon as possible in this important year.
"I was looking forward to the competition. Training has been good in the past few months and I was looking forward to improving my Kenyan Indoor 3000m record. The standard of athletes at the Aviva Grand Prix is very high and the sell-out crowd are really passionate supporters.
"I have been competing in the UK meets every year since 2006. UK events are some of the best in the world, I hope to come back to Birmingham to race in the outdoor season. Until then, I have my sights firmly set on the Olympics in London less than six months away. I wish all my competitors a great meet on Saturday."
The stellar line-up of athletes competing at the Aviva Grand Prix on Saturday include Mo Farah, Jessica Ennis, Asafa Powell, Holly Bleasdale, Liu Xiang, Dayron Robles, Hannah England, Kim Collins, Mark Lewis-Francis and Helen Clitheroe.
The Aviva Grand Prix will be at the NIA in Birmingham on 18 February. Tickets are now sold out; for further event information go to uka.org.uk/aviva-series. The Aviva Grand Prix will be shown live on BBC 1 from 1pm.
ENDS
Editors' Notes:
The Aviva Series 2012 - Indoor season:
Aviva International Match, Kelvin Hall ISA, 28 January 2012
Aviva Indoor UK Trials & Championships, EIS Sheffield, 11-12 February 2012
Aviva Grand Prix, NIA Birmingham, 18 February 2012
UKA:
UKA is the National Governing Body of athletics, the premier Olympic and
Paralympic sport. We aspire to be a world leading sporting organisation
delivering clear and inspirational leadership for athletics to ensure a
vibrant and empowered sport at every level
that can evolve to meet every challenge. We work with Home Country
Federations and other partners to secure and distribute funding and
develop policies for key areas and implementation at the appropriate
levels, giving support and strategic guidance. For
more information visit www.uka.org.uk
Aviva:
Aviva has been supporting British athletes since 1999 and is helping pave the way for their success by hosting six world class athletics events on home soil - the Aviva Series 2012, supporting the Aviva GB & NI junior, senior and disability teams as they prepare for all major championships. Through the Aviva Athletics Academy, we are also providing the opportunity for the next generation to get involved in athletics.
Aviva is the world's sixth largest* insurance group. We provide more than 53 million customers with insurance, savings and investment products with total worldwide sales in 2010 of £47.1 billion**.
We are the UK's largest insurer with 19 million customers and one in three households has a relationship with us. Our combination of life, health and general insurance is unique in its scale and breadth in the UK market. Customers can choose to buy our products through intermediaries, our corporate partners or from Aviva direct and we have become the partner of choice for many of the UK's biggest organisations.
We are ranked as one of the UK's top ten most valuable brands and Aviva Plc are in the top 10% of socially responsible companies globally in the Dow Jones Sustainability World Index. In 2010 we invested £4.3m into our communities in the UK, which included 1,500 Aviva volunteers giving 24,000 hours for good causes. In addition, our employees gave £600,000 through fundraising and donating. Read our corporate responsibility report at www.aviva.com/2010cr.
Aviva is working in partnership with Railway Children through the Aviva Street to School programme to get children living or working on UK streets back into everyday life. Find out more at www.aviva.co.uk/street-to-
All photos courtesy of AVIVA series.
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