2011 Round Up

2011 was definitely 'Year of the Bronze' for Meghan – three championships 3 bronze medals.

After winning bronze medals in the European U23 champs, UK champs and World University Games Relay, Meghan is very pleased with her season's achievements. Having also achieved Personal Best times in her 400m hurdles, 400m flat and 200m confirms to her that her training is going well.

She is currently taking a couple of weeks off training and a holiday in the sun before starting her winter schedule in readiness for the most exciting year in the athletics calendar yet, with her sights set firmly on making the Olympic 2012 team.

World Student Games Finalist!

Meghan made it through to the final of the World Student Games championships after achieving automatic qualification by coming second in her semi final race on Tuesday

Unfortunately, due to picking a virus which kept her in bed most of the day, she ran a very 'under par' race in the final finishing in eighth place. She was disappointed but at the same time satisfied that she had made it to the final.

She will now start a well deserved break for a month before starting her winter training.

World University Games Selection

Meghan has been selected to compete in the GB team in the World University Games in Shenzhen China. She will be flying out this week in order to recover from the jet lag before her first race on Tuesday 16th August.

Being able to compete in two major championships in one year is a great opportunity and Meghan hopes to make the final before taking a well deserved month off!

Birchfield win UK Womens League
Meghan was part of the Birchfield team who won the last match of the season this weekend in Lee Valley and also won the league for 2011.

The City of Manchester team have been the winners of this for many years so the club were really pleased to finally take the title. Winning this league gives the club the chance to represent the country in the European Club Championships which will be held in Spain May 2012.

Hopefully the men's team will be joining them, this will be decided in their last match next weekend.

UK Championships
Meghan came third in the recent UK Championships and World Trials.

She breezed through the heats finishing first but had a far from perfect run in the final coming third behind Perri Shakes-Drayton and Eilidh Child.

Although she has gained two B qualification standards for the World Championships in Daegu this will not be enough this year for selection but fortunately for Meghan she had already been selected for the World University Games in China so will be heading off there instead.

European U23 Bronze Medal and a Massive PB in Ostrava!
In an exciting final, Meghan ran the race of her life - she came 3rd to the two Ukrainian girls with a Lifetime Best time of 55.69. She was ecstatic after the race and is looking forward to the World Trials in Birmingham at the end of July.

2 new personal best times in Geneva
Meghan ran 2 new personal best times in Geneva in both the 400m hurdles and 200m last weekend. Her new hurdles PB of 56.21 is well within the 'B' qualification standard of 56.55 for both this year's World Championships in Daegu and the Olympic Games next year.

She followed this up with a 200m PB of 23.72. She has a few races lined up in the UK and in Europe over the coming weeks and has her sights firmly set on improving on this time in readiness for the U23 European Championships in Ostrava in July.

Her next race is at the Bedford Games on 12th June.

BUCS 2011
Meghan retained her BUCS title for the third consecutive year in Bedford at the weekend at the BUCS championships. As usual for these championships the wind was out in full force, but in spite of this and the effects of jet lag after only returning from warm weather training a few days before, Meghan ran a respectable 58.17 to reclaim her title.

She was also a member of the winning 4 x 400m relay team and once again Loughborough were the Championships winner overall.

During her month in Los Angeles Meghan competed at the Mt Sac Relays and achieved the qualifying time for the European U23 championships which are being held in Ostrava in July.

Commonwealth Games
Meghan’s first senior major championships at the Commonwealth Games in Delhi was a great experience and a big success! Coming home with a silver medal in the 4 x400m relay was an amazing end to what has been a very difficult year.

The 400m hurdles started off well with an automatic qualification into the final after coming third in her semi-final with a time of 56.95seconds. However, lack of strength after missing so much training due to her injuries showed in the final when she came home in 7th place.

Meghan was given a days rest and cheered on the English relay team from the stand as they made it through to the final the following day. The noise in the stadium was deafening from the home crowd as they cheered on their girls who stormed through for a victory and took the gold medal. The English girls came in in bronze medal position but were promoted to silver a few days later after a failed drugs test from one of the Nigerian girls. A great finish to the year so roll on 2011!

Commonwealth Games selection for Meghan!
Meghan has been selected to represent England in the Commonwealth Games in Delhi in October. She will be running the 400m hurdles and the 4 x 400m relay.

After the disappointment of missing so much of the season due to a torn quad Meghan was thrilled to be selected. She was back on track last weekend at the Bedford International Games and won her race in a reasonable time. She now aims to compete over the next 3 weekends to regain her strength and speed heading up to the games.

She will fly out to the holding camp in Doha at the end of September to acclimatise and prepare for the competition which starts 6th October 2010.