Brum Diamond

[boysen]

Pleased to see Ms Judd has a run in the 800. Given a sensible pacemaker will we see the long expected sub 2 from her? And the ongoing "whose the best of the Brits" in the same race....could even be Jessica.
Holly Bleasdale not in PV?

[nevetssllim]

She pulled out citing fatigue after a long season but since then, she said she's reconsidering so it sounds like there will be a place for her if she changes her mind.

[jambob]

Holly had a bad comp in Germany on 19th and no heighted, 2 days after the Diamond League in Stockholm. Maybe she is doing too much!

[sidelined]

Here's a piece from the Telegraph in which Yohan Blake's agent, who goes by the interesting name of Cubie Seegobin, aid he was 'insulted' by an offer of $40,000 for Blake to compete in Birmingham. Apparently his usual fee is $150,000. It all sounds like Monopoly money to me.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/olympi ... -Prix.html

[paul]

http://www.diamondleague-birmingham.com ... /Overview/

No Lisa D as far as I can see.

w800m should be fun. No reason why _all_ the Brits can't be happy on the day. Anyone who runs sub-2
should be happy for a start, regardless of where the others come.

I'd like to think that this is the last ever chance for Savinova to see Judd from the front, and that the
rest of Savinova's career will consist of various views of the back of Judd's vest. (But maybe that time is still a year or two off.)

[boysen]

If the info about, Olympics apart,the tax man hammering athletes pay is correct then to equate with foreign payments the off er should be nearer £100k....particularly after to-nite!

[boysen]

If the renewal of the Diamond Meet for next year is dependent on a "points score" then I suspect Brum may be in difficulty. Whereas most meets are laden with pace-makers...I suspect to the pleasure of the crowd...can I assume that those runners in Brum declined to have them or did the promoters decide not to include them? Perhaps it was post-Olympic blues but I found the meet somewhat flat..performances less than Lausanne and I would guess much less that we will see at ZUrich...where they presumably have more cash.Robbie apart gb stars were under whelming.

[paul]

But Grabarz now has a huge lead over everyone except Jesse Williams in the diamond rankings.

Not counting chickens, but a diamond rankings win, if it comes, is not to be sneezed at. We get very very few.

[Kermit]

If the renewal of the Diamond Meet for next year is dependent on a "points score" then I suspect Brum may be in difficulty. Whereas most meets are laden with pace-makers...I suspect to the pleasure of the crowd...can I assume that those runners in Brum declined to have them or did the promoters decide not to include them? Perhaps it was post-Olympic blues but I found the meet somewhat flat..performances less than Lausanne and I would guess much less that we will see at ZUrich...where they presumably have more cash.Robbie apart gb stars were under whelming.

There is a saying that a Scotsman is tight with his money! Perhaps Fast Track ending their promotion contract with UKA may be something that the NGB are rueing.

[sidelined]

If the renewal of the Diamond Meet for next year is dependent on a "points score" then I suspect Brum may be in difficulty. Whereas most meets are laden with pace-makers...I suspect to the pleasure of the crowd...can I assume that those runners in Brum declined to have them or did the promoters decide not to include them? Perhaps it was post-Olympic blues but I found the meet somewhat flat..performances less than Lausanne and I would guess much less that we will see at ZUrich...where they presumably have more cash.Robbie apart gb stars were under whelming.

There is a saying that a Scotsman is tight with his money! Perhaps Fast Track ending their promotion contract with UKA may be something that the NGB are rueing.

But Kermit, isn't the same Scotsman in charge whether it's Fast Track or UKA, so does the change make any real difference?

The size of the stadium must affect the economics of the meet. Brussels is around 40,000 and Zurich is much bigger than Birmingham too, so there's much more ticket money to splash about.

On Boysen's point, I prefer races without pacemakers because they are more unpredictable and more like championship races, and provide good experience for athletes of championship conditions.

[boysen]

Given the economis difficulties it may be that Aviva pulled out and it will surely be difficult for the "amateur" UKA to easily be as professional at fast-track were. Good luck to them but do not hold your breath and with the Govt likely to offer less money belts will have to be tightened . On the basis that promoters want money in from sponsors can we assume that sponsors are in favour of paced races which have been a feature of this type of event since its inception. Meets, we have to accept, are not only for the athletes, as someone sais "follow the money".

[Kermit]

Sidelined I believe that Ian Stewart is the new matchmaker of UKA and he wasn't involved in Fast Track, He may have also spent more of the budget on London than Birmingham. He also upset a few athletes at the London meet including Lolo Jones.

If he continues as matchmaker and head of endurance there will be a lot more people getting upset next year and many of the top names not coming to these shores to compete with devastating consequences to our sport.

[sidelined]

Sidelined I believe that Ian Stewart is the new matchmaker of UKA and he wasn't involved in Fast Track, He may have also spent more of the budget on London than Birmingham. He also upset a few athletes at the London meet including Lolo Jones.

If he continues as matchmaker and head of endurance there will be a lot more people getting upset next year and many of the top names not coming to these shores to compete with devastating consequences to our sport.

Kermit, Ian Stewart used to work for Fast Track. Here's a quote from UKA's announcement of his appointment as head of endurance in 2008:

He will also retain his position as Meeting Director for UKA televised meetings, in which he will utilise his outstanding world-wide athletics contacts to ensure no stone is left unturned in ensuring British athletes have the best competition opportunities on the international stage.

http://www.uka.org.uk/media/news/news-a ... endurance/

This one from 2006 also refers to his work with Fast Track:

http://www.sundaysun.co.uk/sport/other- ... -17185161/

So he's been in charge for years (and also famed for his abrasiveness for years too, by all accounts).

[bevone]

The 2008 announcement there in a way typified the current regime. In days gone by when christie won gold silver or nothing nobody blamed the performance director. Now we seem to looking at the USA for our lead where the head coach is accreditted for everything when really it is the coaches he has, the uni name and the person who successfully recruited them are the real reasons behind the athletes success. How hard do you think it is to recruit for places like Stamford, ULCA, Harvard, Yale or last year's NCAA champions?

Even Crammie has said on TV that this group had barely ever met yet the BBC showed Stewart and co celebrating a few years back when I think it was Mo who won a world or European title as if it was all down to them. Meanwhile the rest of endurance athletics is swimming in mediocrity. In that case shall we blame them for Radcliffe's fall from grace - the lack of distance runners at the top level in both men's and women' especially this year. There is no real wave of anything from any event coming through just the odd one or two here or there which even then you could account to just randomness.

[boysen]

As has been mentioned we have so many blank sheets that after 7(?) years MANAGEMENT have nothing, or next to nothing to show, for their efforts. We regularly pay transatlantic fares for an athlete cos there is NOBODY elseand sadly he is way behind Europe let alone the world.W100 last weeks results from a European meet were frankly embarassing, we had girls over 30 years ago who would, on this evidence have dusted them up.Sick bag please.