by Stuart Weir
UK indoor champs – middle-distance.
800
Former world championship bronze medalist, Ben Pattison, was a comfortable winner of the 800 in 1:46.74. Pattison has struggled with injuries etc since the Budapest medal and it is great to see him back at his best. He said afterwards: “Going into it I thought some of the boys would try to go off at the pace because of the wave lights being at a world standards pace – I was the only one with the time. It was quite nice for me going into it. I could just race it as a race; I didn’t have needing to chase the time in the back of my head. No one was going for it, so I went to the front so I could control it. It is the best place to be because they had to work to get around me, which is very hard indoors! Ideally, I wanted to race in the middle of the pack really; I wanted to learn to be better tactically. Ultimately, I wanted to win, so I had to do what I had to do to achieve that.
Last year was so rubbish for me with injuries, so I want to be racing as much as possible now. I don’t know where I am in 800m running at the moment which may sound odd, but I am learning every single race. When I get to those world standard races, I need to be ready for those and up my standard”. With Ben’s partner, Molly Hudson, coming second in the 1500m, it was a good weekend for the household.
Keely Hodgkinson, who had set a new national record in the semi-final, opted not to contest the final as she is said to be attempting to break the world record on Friday. Issy Boffey, who had run 1:57.43 in Boston in January, won in Birmingham in 1:59.64. She commented: “I am always gunning for more, I am not a natural front runner, so I am learning how to pace it. I am absolutely buzzing with how I ran and I am so pleased to be the British champion. Winning this title is a big step towards getting to world indoors. My first aim in Poland is to get through the heats as I didn’t manage that last time, but this time I really want to be in that final”.
1500
In one sense the men’s 1500 was devalued by the absence of Josh Kerr, Jake Wightman and Neil Gourley. That said it was an impressive run by Jack Higgins to win in a championship record of 3:38.12. He summed up his day: “I haven’t done that much speed work, I am lucky that from my 800m background and from my younger days, I have had the natural speed. In the race when James McMurry came past me it was a case of swing wide and stay comfortable in the position I was in. With 400m to go I still had time to react and not panic. I am happy with the way the race worked today”.
Jemma Reekie controlled the semi and the final to be women’s 1500 champion. In an impressive piece of front-running she took the semi in in 4:18.63 but was happy to go with the pace in final before accelerating to win in 4:26.26. Reekie commented: “It is probably the most nervous for a while. I really wanted the win. That is what I have been waiting for, that little boost to push me forward. Training has been going well, but it is always good to come out to a Championships and win. I knew it was going to be tough out there against those girls, so I am pleased to come away with the win”. Jemma confirmed that she wanted to run in the World Indoors, Commonwealth Games and the Europeans this summer. She also told me that in the 2028 Olympics she expected to target the 1500 rather than the 800.
3000
Hannah Nuttall won the women’s 3k in 8:41.75 [Championship record]. She explained her approach: “You never know how it is going to go with Championship races, and it went out pretty quick which I really enjoyed. When it got to 800m, I knew that was my time to go. I started picking up the pace a bit because I know Katie Snowden has a really good kick, so I was trying to do everything I could to run that out of her. In championship running I am never really thinking about the time, so that (Championship record) just came with it I guess. If I had won in nine minutes, I would have been happy. When I saw the clock, it was even better”.
Thomas Keen won the men’s race in 7:51.68
