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Leeds Beckett race walkers secure selection for London World Championships
Leeds Beckett PhD student Gemma Bridge take the Grand Prix and British Title in clocking the second fastest ever performance by a British Athlete of 92.33. Only Leeds Beckett Alumni’s Jo Atkinson had walked faster
Historic Day for British race walkers, as four athletes secure selection for London
Roundhay Park in Leeds was witness to a historic day, as 4 British race walkers secured selection for the British Athletics team for the London 2017 World Athletics Championships. Tom Bosworth and Gemma Bridge took the Grand Prix Titles and the British and English Titles. The performance of the day came from Gemma Bridge who clocked a huge new personal best of 92.33. This puts her behind only Leeds Beckett Alumni, Jo Atkinson’s British Record of 90.41. The Women’s race saw a race long battle between Bridge, New Zealand’s Alana Barber and Bethan Davies. The trio walked a strong first half, with Baber targeting the New Zealand qualifying time of 91.00 for London. They battled together until the 15km point when Davies, slipped of the back of the leading duo. It was Barber that was pushing the pace, but Bridge sat behind her and made her move on the last lap to take victory and a big new personal best. Barber in second just missed her own national record in clocking 92.38.
Speaking after the race Gemma said “I am not sure where that performance came from, I was planning on walking to secure selection. To win against this field is incredible and I am happy to secure my selection for London and to have four of us secure selection today is incredible! Getting a PB was the icing on the cake, it is going to be one awesome summer!”
Delight for race walkers as four secure qualification for @BritAthletics team @IAAFWorldChamps #REPRESENT 🇬🇧
— British Athletics (@BritAthletics) June 26, 2017
➡️ https://t.co/fn86vVQfDc pic.twitter.com/PBE5QfezzW
Behind them Bethan Davies who is a member of National Centre for Race Walking and coached by Dr Andi Drake, stormed to a personal best and Welsh Record of 93.04, the 3rd fastest time ever by a British Athlete. She said: “I am thrilled to have secured my place and to get a Welsh Record was incredible. The support and atmosphere was fantastic and it is great to be part of such a resurgence in British race walking”.
Erica Kelly who has been training at the National Centre for Race Walking for the last ten weeks, won the battle for the bronze medal in the British Championships.
In the Men’s 20km, the Leeds Beckett duo on home turf, Tom Bosworth and Callum Wilkinson went to the front from the start and soon established a lead ahead of Dominic King and Greek Zacharias Tsamoudakis. The duo passed halfway in 43.50 and wound up the pace the second half. They walked together until the last 100 metres, when in a sprint finish, Bosworth took the victory in 84.58, just a second ahead of Wilkinson, as they both secured their places on the team for London. Tom said: “It was fantastic to take the victory and to secure my selection for London. I can now focus on performing the best of my ability in London on The Mall. It was great that the Leeds public got behind me today”.
Closing stages of The British Grand Prix of Race Walking @TomBosworth and @CWilko97 still leading the field Go Tom! #TomWalksFast pic.twitter.com/39RV6cHi2y
— 17 Management (@17_management) June 25, 2017
Callum, the World Junior Champion, said: “This year has been such an amazing set of performances, and I am elated to secure my selection to line up on the Mall on the 13th August in front of a home crowd. In the Junior Men’s 10km, Tom Partington who is based at the National Centre for Race Walking produced a big personal best of 45.10.
Impressive as their 1-2 @leedswalk was today, @TomBosworth @CWilko97 need work on their Mobot pic.twitter.com/1Sre1ShHX4
— Andi Drake (@andidrake) June 25, 2017
The Leeds Beckett Race Walkers are next in action at this weekend’s British Athletics World Championships Team Trials in Birmingham on Sunday.