THE FINAL Indoor Track & Field Midland Counties Open at the High Performance Centre at Birmingham’s Alexander Stadium featured two Stratford Athletic Club families and several other athletes finishing their season with a flurry of personal and seasonal bests.
Despite Brian Gravelsons carrying an injury, he ran season-best times in both the 60m (8.77s) and 100m (14.01s), which was followed by daughter Charlotte and son Harry running PBs in all their events.
The second family – the Wiiliams – also had an encouraging weekend before the outdoor season starts with U15 Cole having a particularly strong day of competition.
His form in 2016 had dipped but he has found a new spark this year and he knocked a second off both his 100m (12.72s) and 80m hurdles (12.23s) to set himself up for the summer.
Mum Paula and sister Jasmine were not to be outdone and ran some season-best times in their sprint and hurdle races.
Over a weekend of very competitive athletics, three runners who are on the comeback trail after serious injuries had reason to be pleased with their performances.
Apart from a difficult time with injury, Lucy Smith had to contend with moving up to the under 17 age group.
In her hurdle races she ran 9.60s in the 60m and then the 80m in 12.85s to provide a massive confidence boost.
Daniel Boyd is another athlete who has had to overcome one injury after the other over the winter but, after just three training sessions, he leapt to a lifetime best of 6.35m in the U20 long jump.
Zephan Boxall decided to try his form over the straight sprints on his comeback and ran two impressive races over 60m (7.6s) and 100m (11.74s) – both PBs – to confirm his winter training has him ready for the outdoor season.
