Caroline Ford was the sole Cambridge Harrier competing at the British Indoor Athletics Championship in Birmingham this weekend. World championship places were up for grabs so the field was very competitive being made up mainly of full time athletes. Caroline was in the first and as it proved fastest heat. On paper she had a chance of getting to the final but with only the first three and two fastest losers to qualify it was a big ask on the back of merely one indoor race so far this season. She started well and looked strong throughout earning an indoor pb of 4-30-23 but not getting close enough to her outdoor pb of 4-20-75. So she just missed out this time.
The championships were being used as a test event for the World Indoor Athletics Championship due to take place in March. It has to be said that there are a lot of advantages to Birmingham over the more usual venue of Sheffield. Its closer, easy to park etc. The downside was that the Arena was very hot and dry making the conditions hard for the middle/longer distance runners but the sprinters seemed happy.