By Matthew Brown, BAWA
It is time for members of the British Athletics Writers’ Association to vote for their athletes of the year, with presentations to be made at the BAWA annual dinner at the Royal Lancaster Hotel on October 27.
Despite gloomy predictions – much of them from our own pointed pens – there are four individual senior champions to celebrate, two men and two women who all won titles at the year’s major championships. There are also a number of others who merit serious consideration.
Jason Gardener couldn’t have wished to end his career on a higher note than winning his fourth successive European indoor 60 metres crown. Gardener’s golden moment came in Birmingham’s National Indoor Arena where Phillips Idowu also triumphed in a brilliant triple jump competition ahead of his teammate Nathan Douglas, and Nicola Sanders scorched the boards to obliterate her 400m opponents and lead the world indoor rankings.
Sanders, of course, went on to claim a silver medal in the World Championships in Osaka finishing mere hundredths of a second behind the remarkable Christine Ohuruogu, who became world champion just three weeks after returning from her enforced 12-month absence.
Other names in the frame include: Kelly Sotherton for her battling bronze in the Osaka heptathlon; Jessica Ennis for fourth place and a European under-23 record; and Jo Pavey for her agonising fourth in the world championships 10,000m final. Among the men, we shouldn’t forget Marlon Devonish for retaining both sprint titles at the national championships and finishing sixth in Osaka, and Mo Farah for being top European in the World Cross-country and World Championships 5,000m.
The winners will be announced at BAWA’s annual awards dinner, which this year takes place on October 27 at the Royal Lancaster Hotel, Lancaster Terrace, London W2 2TY; tickets are £55 for members.
Members of the BAWA (this is not a poll for SJA members) have until October 5 to cast their vote and to book their place at the dinner. To do both contact BAWA’s chairman Jason Henderson via post: 35 Moorland Road, Par, Cornwall PL24 2PB; email: jason.henderson@athletics-weekly.co.uk; or text: 07870 239648.
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