Season's best for Okoro (From Times Series)

Shaftesbury Barnet Harrier Marilyn Okoro continues Olympic Games preparation with season's best in Belgium

9:40am Friday 13th July 2012 in Sport

It was a busy week for Shaftesbury Barnet Harrier Marilyn Okoro as she took in two meets in Belgium as part of her preparation for London 2012.

Last Thursday, at the Meet International de la Province de Liege in Naimatte-Xhovemont, she competed in her first ever 600m race, finishing second in a time of 1.24.36.

That was followed up with a season’s best in the 400m at the KPC Night of Athletics in Heusden on Saturday.

Okoro again crossed the line second, stopping the clock in 52.67 and is now ranked seventh in the UK in 2012.

Gemma Nicol was in action in the same event but just missed out on a top three placing, running a personal best of 53.20 to take fourth.

At the BMC Grand Prix in Stretford on Sunday, Anthony Whiteman broke the V40 World, European and British Masters 1500m record in Race A when he clocked 3.42.02.

The previous World and European best had been set in 2010 by Russia’s Vyacheslav Shavunin (3.42.65) while the British record had stood since 1987 when Ron Bell ran 3.53.8.

Whiteman is ranked as number one V40 in the UK for 2012 and his time is even quicker than his V35 club record of 3.42.40 set in 2010.

Elsewhere at the meet, Jake Shelley ran in Race C and claimed a season’s best 3.48.96 while in Race A of the women’s event, Amy Campbell enjoyed a tremendous victory by taking 2.25 seconds off her personal best to run 4.15.27.

Shaftesbury Barnet also claimed gold medals at the Under-20 Southern Championships at Crystal Palace.

Melissa Courtney took a comprehensive victory in the 800m, winning by over seven seconds after posting a time of 2.14.04.

She was joined on the top of the podium by Louisa James, who threw 58.30m in the hammer throw to beat her nearest rival by nearly five metres.