by Stuart Weir
Novuna UK Athletics Championships
The first thing to notice about the British Athletics Championships is the new sponsor, Novuna, a financial services company. The event is also back at HQ. After five years in Manchester, we are back in the Alexander Stadium in Birmingham, where British Athletics has its HQ, specifically in the stand on the back straight.
The US Championships are fair and brutal. Come in the first three places and you are selected for the Championship – no ifs, no buts! That works for the USA, where there is so much strength in depth. No matter what your past achievements, if you are ill on the day of the trials, there is no sympathy. (The recent World Athletics policy of inviting the reigning champion to the world championship complicates it slightly.)
The British selection procedure is more pragmatic, aimed at ensuring that the best athletes are selected for the team to compete in the World Championships. In practice, this means that the first two in each discipline gain automatic selection, with the third place being at the discretion of the selectors. Missing the trials with a medical exemption is allowed, and this year, the USA-based Olympic silver medalist, Matt Hudson-Smith, was given an exemption as his wife was expecting a baby. More controversially, athletes can run a different distance from the event in which they are seeking selection. And since I am on a roll, I have never been convinced about the practice of giving the top 8 in the 100m a bye through the first round to the semi-final, meaning that they only run twice while others run three times. I am sure it makes no difference to the outcome, but it seems intrinsically unfair.
One aspect of track and field in the UK that differs from the US is that all athletes are affiliated with a club, and their club is listed on the start list — for example, Neil Gourley (Giffnock North AC), Daryll Neita (Cambridge Harriers), Amber Anning (Brighton and Hove AC), Zharnel Hughes (Shaftesbury Barnet), etc. What makes this more significant is the tradition that athletes compete in their club vests at the national championships, rather than in their sponsor’s colors.
It was a day of exciting competition with several excellent achievements, of which Molly Caudery’s 4.85 vault was the highlight. See separate post on the 100m – but it was also a day of carnage with:
- Four women’s hurdlers fell in the final
- A crazy men’s 100m semi with two athletes DQed for false-starts and two pulling up injured. Three of five finishers qualified for the final!
British Champs 800 meters, photo by Getty Images for British Athletics
The British Champions came two weeks after the London (Diamond League) Meeting. A sold-out crowd of 60,000 watched the Diamond League. The Alexander Stadium had a modest crowd on the first day. A worldwide elite field in a 3-hour program is more attractive to spectators than an eight-hour day of prelims and finals. Birmingham is the obvious venue for the national champs – more central than Manchester, where the national federation is based, but the stadium looks a bit empty. I am not sure how we can make the national championships more attractive as a spectator event.
