Linford Christie is not missing in his bright red tracksuit, biblical rain proves expensive for stadium DJ and Iwan Thomas fights off some flak… UK Athletics Championship NOTEBOOK as Zharnel Hughes claims sprint double
The UK Athletics Championships in Manchester over the weekend provided no shortage of drama as the participants battled biblical thunder, lightning and rain.
The elements couldn’t stop sprinting sensation Zharnel Hughes, however, as he recorded a 100m and 200m double.
Mail Sports HENRY CLARK summarizes some of the things you may have missed in our UK Championships notebook.
Christie is still red hot
Sunday’s attendees were in the presence of the British sprinting greats that included Olympic gold medalist Linford Christie.
At six feet tall, Christie isn’t exactly hard to miss and his attire, a bright red Adidas tracksuit, didn’t help him stay under the radar either.
He watched Zharnel Hughes, the man who broke his 30-year-old British record in the 100m two weeks ago in New York, win gold in the men’s 200m.
Zharnel Hughes clocked a 10.03second 100m in appalling conditions in Manchester
Hughes took gold at the British Championships in both the 100 and 200 meters last weekend
The weather was considerably clearer and warmer on Sunday as Hughes took the 200m title
Heavy rain decks DJ
The biblical rain in Manchester on Saturday wreaked havoc on athletes, spectators and journalists.
Conditions were much better for most of Sunday’s action, although one man in particular was still feeling the after-effects of the torrential downpour.
The event’s DJ, a Polish artist called DJ Gambit, had his laptop completely destroyed by the rain.
Fortunately, he was able to find a replacement in time for Sunday.
Thomas police search for his pants
British athletics voices Geoff Wightman and Katharine Merry were in great form in Manchester as usual.
While the pair’s attention was largely focused on on-track and field events, they occasionally broke away for a joke.
Former British 400m sprinter Iwan Thomas, the track presenter, got quite a bit of attention from Wightman and Merry because of his ‘tight trousers’. I couldn’t possibly comment.
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On-track presenter Iwan Thomas (right) attracted some unwanted attention from the announcers
The power of Pozzi-tivity
Eagle-eyed spectators will have spotted British hurdler Andrew Pozzi in the stands of the Manchester Regional Arena.
The 31-year-old was sent here to watch and will miss the World Championships in Budapest in August after suffering a stress fracture of his ankle.
Pozzi still came out here to support his teammates, not least decathlete girlfriend Katarina Johnson-Thompson, who competed in a variety of disciplines throughout the weekend.
Katarina Johnson-Thompson competes in the shot put competition in Manchester
Lights, (five) cameras, action
Only five cameras were used to bring the Championships into the living rooms of fans watching at home via BBC iPlayer.
An Olympic-scale event would have at least 20 cameras in operation, so bravo to the camera crew for providing such a wide reach to viewers who weren’t able to get to the Northwest.
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