Ted Chamberlain made it a hat-trick of 800m Club Records as he ran an emphatic 1:48.19 to win the Men’s BMC A race at Trafford on Tuesday.
Chamberlain had only dipped under the 1:50 barrier for the first time ten days previously at Watford with 1:49.57, a result Chamberlain was hoping to replicate at Trafford.
Tuesday saw Chamberlain’s lifetime best and Club Record tumble by 1.38 seconds, meaning his lifetime best over 800m has also decreased markedly by 3.55 seconds in the last month. Certainly not something you see very often in 800m racing.
The race was expertly paced by Trafford AC’s 400m man Reece Ingley, with Trinidad & Tobago’s 2022 Commonwealth Games athlete Nicholas Landeau leading through 400m in a brisk 52.2 seconds and Chamberlain tucked in safely behind.
Landeau’s previous efforts this season at Trafford, which have been victories in 1:49.16 and 1:48.92, have been characterised by brutal accelerations with 300m to go. Nothing changed this time round as Landeau wound up the pace in typical fashion, this time with Chamberlain only a metre or so behind.
As the race headed into the home straight, Landeau tired, giving Chamberlain the perfect opportunity to pounce and snatch his maiden BMC Gold Standard A race win ahead of Leeds City’s Eddie Hunter – who himself ran a huge personal best – and Landeau in third.
Chamberlain crossed the line before pointing at the electronic clock, visibly astonished by the time he’d run, a result which moved him up to 34th in the 2023 UK rankings.
Earlier in the evening, Kai Sunman earned himself a richly deserved 2:00.35 – a new 800m lifetime best, while Ruby Sykes – having not raced over 800m since August 2019 before Sunday’s Northern League match at York – made it two 800s in three days with a gutsy 2:19.71.
Both Sunman and Sykes were delighted to throw themselves back into racing over two laps of a track after some highly impressive XC and road performances over winter.
Sunman had also competed for Holmfirth Harriers in the Northern League on Sunday so the pair certainly showcased their excellent powers of recovery before racing at Trafford.
