ATHLETICS: Coaching masterclass at Castle track (From Somerset County Gazette)

ATHLETICS: Coaching masterclass at Castle track

7:20am Thursday 7th March 2013 in Sport

COACHES from the Taunton Athletics Club and from across the South West were treated to a visit from leading UK sprints and hurdles coaches at the weekend.

As part of the local coach development programme the National Coach Mentors for Speed, Clarence Callender and hurdles coach Tony Jarrett delivered a technical coaching workshop at the Castle Athletics Track.

Callender a 10.38s 100 metres sprinter in his day, competed at the Seoul Olympics in 1988 where he was part of the 4 x 100 metres relay squad that won silver.

Callender now coaches a number of the country’s leading young sprinters and is a mentor and coach educator.

Had the more famous sprint hurdler Colin Jackson not been around at the same time, Tony Jarrett would probably now be recognised as one of the greatest British hurdlers of all time.

His performances over the years have been somewhat overshadowed by those of his GB compatriot.

But with four bronze, six silver and one gold medal from major World, European or Commonwealth Games Championships, Jarrett is one of the most medalled GB athletes of all time.

The workshop provided an invaluable learning opportunity for local coaches and it is hoped that further workshops will take place in Taunton in the future.

Meanwhile the Taunton AC’s young sprinters and jumpers have been limbering up for the summer on the indoor competition circuit.

Competing at the Cardiff Indoor Arena, 14-year-old Elliot Scott won the 400 metres to take the South West Regional Title in a time of 53.3 seconds.

He followed this with a new personal best time of 51.20s at the England U15 Championships in Birmingham.

With indoor 400 metres racing throwing up the additional challenges of running four bends rather than two and also having to contend with rough and tumble of running out of lanes, Scott certainly looks set to get close to the breaking the 50 second barrier this summer when he races outdoors.

Training partner Luke Reynolds (16) contested the shorter distance of 60 metres in Cardiff where he finished second in the U17 Mens race.

He then converted this to a win at the Midlands Open Meeting in a time of 7.6s.

Reynolds also added two silvers in the Long Jump and Triple Jump at the South West Championships, jumping distances of 6.01 metres in the long jump and 12.14 metres in the triple jump.

There were more titles in Cardiff for Taunton AC’s U13 Boys Andrew Paulin and Iain Adams.

Paulin won the 60 metres in 8.8s seconds and came second in the 60 metres hurdles in 10.7 s.

Adams won the 200 metres in a time of 30.5s and finished third in the 60 metres hurdles.