RECORD BREAKERS DAFNE SCHIPPERS AND DINA ASHER-SMITH SET TO GO HEAD TO HEAD AT GLASGOW

Current European record holder and 200 metre world champion Dafne Schippers will face Britain’s fastest ever woman, Dina Asher-Smith (coach: John Blackie), over 60m at the Glasgow Indoor Grand Prix on 20 February.

Each athlete has beaten the other once over 60m with both setting their personal bests at last year’s European Indoor Championships in Prague; 7.05 for Schippers and 7.08 for Asher-Smith, the first of five British records she set during 2015.

The Glasgow Grand Prix is the single best day of indoor athletics ever staged in Scotland and can now boast the top sprint head-to-head in European athletics.

The Indoor Grand Prix is consistently ranked as the number one indoor annual event in athletics and is moving to Glasgow for the very first time.

Asher-Smith confirmed that Glasgow will be integral to setting the stage for the rest of the year. She said: “2015 has been a special year for me and I couldn’t be more pleased. Now I’m looking ahead and I am absolutely thrilled to compete with Dafne in the Glasgow Indoor Grand Prix. The atmosphere in the Emirates Arena will be amazing and a strong start to 2016 is going to be important for me in my build up to the Olympic Games in Rio.”

She continued: “I think I surprised myself when I realised I beat Kathy Cook’s 200 metre record time of 22.10 earlier this summer. Glasgow Grand Prix now gives me the perfect platform to build on my 2015.”

Dafne Schippers has been one of the stars of global athletics this year culminating in winning Gold in the 200 metres at the IAAF World Championships in Beijing. Her 200m winning time of 21.63 seconds broke the 36 year old European record and gave her the title of third fastest woman in history over that distance.

She said: “Clocking 21.63 in the 200 metres in Beijing was a huge win for me. I kept thinking if I pull this off, there’s nothing stopping me from doing this again in Rio. I’m even more committed to putting on an amazing performance, especially in Glasgow where the atmosphere is always electric.”

The Glasgow Indoor Grand Prix will be the first major athletics event of an action packed 2016 season and a great opportunity to see world-class talent at such close quarters. With the Olympic Games in Rio just months away, this competition will be an exhilarating start as champion athletes prepare themselves for the summer.

Niels de Vos, Chief Executive of British Athletics said: “The Glasgow Grand Prix will be the best one-day indoor meeting anywhere in the world in 2016. Having Dafne Schippers facing Dina Asher-Smith is the most exciting head-to-head in European sprinting and the Scottish public will be in for a treat.”

Paul Bush OBE, VisitScotland’s Director of Events, said: “The Indoor Grand Prix is one of the gems in the athletics crown, so it is with great excitement that we look forward to welcoming the event to Glasgow in February. In an Olympic year, this event has even greater significance and having Dafne Schippers and Dina Asher-Smith going head-to-head will add to what is always a tremendous atmosphere at the Emirates Arena.”

For tickets to the Glasgow Indoor Grand Prix please visit www.britishathletics.org.uk

LONDON MARATHON BALLOT RESULTS GO OUT NEXT WEEK

• Record number of applications for 2016

• Every applicant to be given access to a free download of the Digital Virgin Money London Marathon

 

The wait is nearly over. From next Wednesday (30 September) the 247,069 applicants for the 2016 Virgin Money London Marathon will find out if they have been successful in the ballot and have a place in the race on Sunday 24 April.

 

The record number of hopefuls applied for a place through the ballot after the decision was made to keep the application process open for five days. More than 55 per cent of the applications were from people who have never run a marathon and more than 42 per cent of the applicants were women.

 

Everyone who has won a place in the ballot will receive a confirmation and magazine through the post. Unsuccessful applicants will receive either a magazine or will be emailed an e-zine. 

 

Applicants who have not received their ballot result are asked to wait until Wednesday 7 October before contacting the London Marathon helpdesk.

 

In addition, every applicant in the ballot – successful or unsuccessful – will be sent a link for a free download of the full Digital Virgin Money London Marathon when it is launched later this year. This year, the digital marathon download will be available only for use on iPhones or iPads. 

 

“We know that there will be a huge number of disappointed people and therefore decided to give everyone who applied a free download of the Digital London Marathon when it’s available later this year,” said Hugh Brasher, Event Director of the Virgin Money London Marathon. “I’d also remind everyone that there is still a chance to gain a place in the 2016 race by fundraising for a charity. Charities with places available are listed on our website.”

 

Runners in the 2015 Virgin Money London Marathon raised more than £54.1 million for charity setting a new record for an annual single day charity fundraising event for the ninth successive year. That brought the total raised for charity by the world’s greatest marathon past the £3/4 billion (more than £770 million) since the event was founded in 1981.

Some pictures that you may not have seen

 

 

I know it has been a while and we have all been busy but I cannot let these pictures drift off into the internet without showing them to you.

They were taken at RideLondon Expo and are just nice shots.

Shots are of Rochelle Gilmore – manager / owner of the women’s cycle team Wiggle Honda.

No slouch in the saddle herself, she got on stage and did her ‘party piece’ which you may have seen on YouTube.  If you haven’t, look it up!

 

Other pics are of her team and some candid shots as well thrown in.

 

All thanks to a great snapper and friend Stuart Stevenson, head of Creative at Prudential.

Riders getting into a pickle this year on The Beast

 

 

Riders completing the Durham Big Ride and Beast in September will have their ‘after ride sustenance’ all sorted with a new venture.

 

Cheese and Pickle, the outside catering arm of The Court Inn from Durham City has the catering contract for the Beast as well as its little brother Durham Big Ride this year. The Beast will see something like a thousand people take to the roads on a ride famous for its 52 miles of hills.

“The Court Inn has an excellent reputation for good food and the outside catering will be no different” said Colin Wiles, ride organiser, “ When people have finished the ride they look forward to a nice treat and the local produce that Cheese and pickle provide fits that bill exactly.”

The Ride, now six years old is not for the faint hearted with almost two miles of vertical climb in the 52.  “The riders of the first one gave the event the name and they often say – if you are not going up you are going down!” said Colin.

 

The Beast, two weeks later, is for the more experienced riders and takes in 52 miles of hills around the Durham City area.

For more information and how to sign up go to www.durhambigride.co.uk

 

Bolt to light up Anniversary Games

The world's biggest athletics superstar, Usain Bolt, will lead a stellar global cast at the re-opening of the London Olympic Stadium on Friday 24th July.

Fans are expected to flock to the stadium to relive memories of 2012, as the Sainsbury's Anniversary Games deliver the best of the Olympics and Paralympics in three days of action-packed athletics.

The cast for the reopening of the stadium following its conversion features Bolt, Team GB's Super Saturday stars Mo Farah and Jessica Ennis-Hill, world record holder and London Olympic 800m champion David Rudisha and more than a dozen world or Olympic champions.

The Mayor of London Boris Johnson said: 'The opening night of the Anniversary Games has attracted the strongest field ever assembled for a single night of athletics, providing Londoners with another 'I was there' moment. The chance to see a living legend like Bolt is very rare and we are delighted to be able to welcome him to the reopening of the stadium where he so thrilled us all at the 2012 Games.'
"It is a beginning of a new chapter for the Stadium and there will be many more amazing nights to come - it is wonderful that we are starting in such style".

Bolt - considered to be one of the greatest sportsmen of all time last competed individually in the UK at the Sainsbury's Anniversary Games in 2013 where he won the 100m in 9.85 seconds.

The 100m and 200m world record holder, winner of six Olympic and eight world titles is looking forward to returning to the scene of his spectacular Olympic triumphs.

Bolt said: "London is a special place where I love to compete and I am looking forward to the Sainsbury's Anniversary Games on July 24.

"I have great memories of competing in the Olympic Stadium in the summer of 2012 and in the previous Grand Prix meets in London.

"The British fans are always great and I expect there will also be a lot of Jamaican fans in the stadium. It will be amazing to put on another great show for them under the floodlights on the Friday night."

The Sainsbury's Anniversary Games includes a two-day Diamond League meeting on Friday 24th and Saturday 25th July, with the Sainsbury's IPC Athletics Grand Prix Final taking place on Sunday 26th July.
The event takes place just four weeks before the IAAF World Athletics Championships in Beijing and will be the final time the original London 2012 track is used, before a new surface is laid for the London 2017 World Championships.

British Athletics have secured the right to host athletics in the former Olympic Stadium for one month every year for the next 50 years from 2016.

WIGGINS TOPS THE BILL AT CLASSIC

The legendary Sir Bradley Wiggins, Britain’s most decorated cyclist, will line up on the start line of the third Prudential RideLondon-Surrey Classic on Sunday 2 August, part of the Mayor of London’s annual festival of cycling.

 

It will be Wiggins’ first race on UK roads following his sensational performance at the Olympic velodrome earlier this month, when he set a new UCI World Hour Record of 54.526km.The winner of the 2012 Tour de France, four-time Olympic gold medallist and six-time track world champion will lead out his newly-formed team WIGGINS. 

 

Twenty-five teams of six riders will contest the 200km race, which this year starts on Horse Guards Parade in St James’s Park and offers the world’s largest prize fund for a one-day race. Also confirmed is Mark Cavendish - the Manx Missile - and his Etixx – Quick-Step team. BBC Sport will televise the race live, with coverage distributed worldwide.

 

“It’s always fantastic to race on home roads and this race is very special,” said Wiggins. “My team is really looking forward to it. I was amazed how many people were out watching last year in that appalling weather. The whole Prudential RideLondon festival shows how much cycling has grown in this country.”

 

“Every race wants Wiggins,” said Mick Bennett, Race Director of the Prudential RideLondon-Surrey Classic. “He now has rock star status and generates massive excitement wherever he races. We expect hundreds of thousands of spectators to line the route to cheer him on. His team is packed with great athletes likely to feature in the Team Pursuit in the Rio Games next year and they should perform well in a race of this nature.”

 

The Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, said: “Huge crowds will once again line the capital’s streets this August to roar on some of the world's top cyclists. I’m sure British fans will be shouting even louder at the sight of former Tour de France champion Bradley Wiggins shooting past our grand landmarks.

 

“London continues to showcase its ability to host world-leading sporting and cultural events, and Prudential RideLondon is yet another one of our superb showpieces that helps to attract tourists, drive the economy and inspire people of all ages and backgrounds on to their bikes. It’s a festival of cycling that caters for everyone, whether you are a top professional, a committed daily commuter who loves riding their bike or a family looking forward to a leisurely day’s cycling along some of the capital’s most famous streets.”

 

Richard Walsh, Surrey County Council’s Cabinet Member for Localities and Community Wellbeing, said: “Sir Bradley is a cycling superstar so we can expect huge crowds on the route in Surrey again – and perhaps he will inspire a future icon of the road to emulate his incredible achievements on the bike.”

 

The third edition of the race, rated Category 1.HC on the UCI Europe Tour, will start at the iconic location of Horse Guards Parade in central London before going out through the capital to Kingston upon Thames, Hampton Court and then over the River Thames into Surrey. After 57km of racing, the first challenge the riders will face is the 2.4km climb of Staple Lane in the Surrey Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. 

 

The peloton will then race through Dorking before taking the southern approach to the ascent of Leith Hill, the highest point in Surrey. With a further three circuits (one more than last year) of a loop through Dorking and up the testing 6.7 per cent climb to Ranmore Common, this year’s race is set to be a true classic. 

 

 

The riders will then race up the famous zigzags of Box Hill, through Leatherhead, Oxshott and Esher before returning back through Kingston upon Thames. From there the peloton heads towards central London, through Raynes Park, Wimbledon, over Putney Bridge and alongside the River Thames through Chelsea. The closing stages of the race go through Parliament Square and up Whitehall to the famous 1km to go marker from Trafalgar Square through Admiralty Arch, where the riders will start the final sprint along The Mall towards Buckingham Palace and the finish line.

 

The Prudential RideLondon-Surrey Classic is the fifth and final event of Prudential RideLondon, the world’s greatest festival of cycling. More than 95,000 riders will participate in the five events over the weekend of 1-2 August.

           

Fat Buddha helps St. Cuthbert's with 'Dine and Donate' fundraising

 

Diners in a Durham restaurant not only had a good time but raised money for one of the City charities during a 'Dine and Donate' deal during May.

 

Fat Buddha Durham, in the Walkergate area of the City centre, got together with St. Cuthbert's Hospice to raise money during May.

Bob Senior and Kay Welsh toast a successful 'Dine and Donate' month

 

 

During the month customers of the Durham based Asian bar and kitchen were offered the ' Early Buddha' menu that would donate five pounds to the Hospice.  Some 175 people took up the offer of great food and adding to the funds of a very well respected local charity.

 

" The hospice has done a great job for the people surrounding the City for years and we were looking at some way to help them.  Not only did the diners have a delightful meal in great surroundings but they also helped to raise money and awareness of the work that St. Cuthbert's does." said Managing Director of Fat Buddha Bob Senior.

 

Fat Buddha has been in Durham for over eight years and now has a sister restaurant in Newcastle with another in Sunderland opening during the summer.

 

Kay Welsh, Senior Donor Development Fundraiser  at the Hospice was delighted to collect the cheque from the restaurant fro £875:

 

“We are grateful to each and every one of the diners who came along to Fat Buddha and helped raise this money. Of course we’d also like to thank Bob and his staff for thinking of us in this way. It created great interest as well as much needed funds. Fat Buddha served us up a treat.”