Alex Smashes pb at Loughborough International

Alex Beck (coach Mark Upton) clearly enjoys running at Loughborough as he smashed his way through the 48 sec barrier by recording a time of 47.68 secs in coming 3rd in his 400m guest race at the Loughborough International on Sunday.In front of a big crowd, Alex ran a nerveless race to record his 2nd time under the commonwealth youth games qualifying standard and although a UK in U20 terms sitting proudly on top of the UK U20 rankings, as on 06 birthday, 16 year old Alex remains an U18 in world terms and as such moves to equal 12th on the U18 world lists. Alex's performance earns him over 1000 world ranking points which is a sign of a world class performance and he seems to get better with every race with coach Mark clearly getting Alex in great shape as the season progresses.The Loughborough International marked a significant moment for the club as it was represented by 4 athletes for the first time in its history. All of which recorded top 3 finishes.Annie Mann (coach James Mann) made her debut for GB juniors in the George Gandy mile. The pedestrian first 2 laps didn't suit Annie but nevertheless the Romsey 17 year old ran a very quick last 800 metres to finish 3rd and will have learned an awful lot from the race against more seasoned senior athletes.Toby Cooke (self coached) ran in the 3000m and put in a fine performance to go 2nd on the clubs all time lists with a time of 8 mins 07.68 secs. It can be easy to forget about this Midlands based athlete who has remained very loyal to the club but we are proud to call him a WADAC member and Toby assures me he has a full track program planned for this Summer.Arabella Wilson (coach Andy Fisher) finished 2nd in her 400mh guest race with a strong finish to go under the 62 sec mark and Bella appears to be getting faster with every race as she also hunts down a commonweath youth games qualifier of 61 secs for this event.Both Head of Track & Field Andy Fisher and Chair & Head of Middle Distance James Mann were at Loughborough to witness all 4 fantastic performances which once more demonstrates WADAC are proving a real force in UK athletics but star of the day was undoubtedly Alex who is in the form of his life just now.