Manchester International: Season’s finale
With prize money as well as world ranking points available, this year’s Manchester International provided a suitably memorable finale to what has been a fabulous domestic season. And for a select few it also provided the chance to apply the finishing touches to their World Champs preparations.
It was one of those on the plane for Tokyo, which starts in a fortnight, who got things going on a blustery afternoon. Jade O’Dowda (John Lane, Newham and Essex Beagles) opened her account in the long jump with 6.39w, her longest outdoors this summer. She followed that with 6.53w, the perfect way to get ready for the Worlds. “It was quite gusty, so it was hard to get your run-up right, so I’m happy with how it went. My second jump felt really good and overall it was a good performance,” said O’Dowda.
Also putting her finishing touches to her Tokyo training was London Diamond League pole vault winner, New Zealand’s Olivia McTaggart. She won with 4.60, slightly shy of her 4.73 best, but was nonetheless happy with how things unfolded. “I’m sort of happy with that, but I’ll take 4.60 battling the cross winds all day. I just wanted one more stadium meeting before the Worlds,” Olivia said.
The 400H was won in some style from Jake Minshull (James Wright, Coventry) in 50.62, more than a second clear of the field. It’s a bit of a favourite track for the European U23 fifth placer as he won the BUCS title on it earlier in the season. “Typical Manchester wind on the back straight,” he laughed. “I was on the wrong take off leg over the first hurdle, but I got my stride going after that.”
In the women’s race, the ever-consistent and England champion, Hayley McLean (Chris Zah, Shaftesbury Barnet) was equally dominant on her way to 57.31, eight of her best times this year all within one-second of each other.
A very competitive hammer saw the lead change hands three times in the first couple of rounds. Jake Norris (Windsor Slough, Eton and Hounslow) ended round one with 71.12 to take the lead over his Greek rival Michail Anastasakis (GRE) who retook the top spot with his second round 71.75. Norris responded with 72.69, which was good enough to win. “It was great to compete against different competitors for once. Today was all about getting consistent and not worrying too much about distance,” he said, adding that the wind wasn’t too much of a bother for him although it was blowing the cage slightly which made precision out of the circle all the more important on this occasion.
Charlotte Payne (Ian Payne, Newbury) enjoyed a similar victory in the women’s hammer. She needed a third round 67.31 and then 67.84 in the fifth to edge away from her American rival Jillian Shippee to win who rallied late on with her final throw of 67.06.
Back on the track, Phil Norman (Tomas Plibersek, Woodford Green and Essex Ladies) took the lead in the first lap and pulled away to win in a good for the conditions, 8:35.95 not far short of the M35 British record of 8:28.35.
Along with the Challenger events – where the winner took home £400 – there were a selection of good quality track finals. Perhaps Mabel Akande (Denise Timmis, Linc W) produced the best run of the day in those events, taking the 100m in a windy 11.37. Good running for the U20 athlete who competed the European U20 champs this summer. Mathew Ajayi (Peter Griffiths, Watford H), also U20 caught the eye with a 10.46w victory in the men’s race.
It was good to see Niamh Emerson (Ashley Bryant, NEB) back in action in the women’s 100H. Winner of the silver medal in the European Indoor pentathlon in 2019 and world U20 champion in 2018 she’s been out for a few seasons, but her 14.21 in the pouring rain provided more than enough evidence she’s on the way back!
Para Events
Hannah Cockroft, T34 (Paul Moseley, Leeds City) is without any shadow of a doubt one of England’s finest athletes ever so it was great to see her in the wheelchair 400m. Her time of 57.51 was on the slow side for the nine-time Paralympic champion (she has a best of 52.80) but that mattered not. Conditions – the weather, her tyres and the track surface – weren’t conducive to really a really fast performance. Plus, she had literally got back from high altitude training just a few hours earlier. “I drove 15 hours from Switzerland last night and it was definitely worth the bother. I wanted to do this event as preparation for the World Champs so to hit 18mph on this track makes me very happy,” she said. “Ideally there would have been a little less wind, but this is Manchester,” she joked, continuing the weather theme for the day. “I love this sport, never settle for what you’ve done and strive for a bit more,” she added. Nathan Maguire, T54 (Steve Hoskins, Kirby) the Olympic relay bronze medallist took the men’s race in 3:21.61
In the long, U20 athlete Rebecca Scott, F46 (Paul Keeble, Stevenage North Herts) jumped 4.76 for the longest jump of the day although once the Raza points were calculated the win was given to Olivia Breen, F38 (Aston Moore, City of Portsmouth) thanks to her opening round jump of 4.70.
On the track Kyle Keyworth, T35 (Michael Fennell, Manchester H) won the Challenger 100 in 12.37w, his fastest-ever outing over the distance, albeit with an over-the-limit tailwind. Kieran O’Hara (Patrick Gahagan, Havering) looked every bit the national champion he is with a solid 4:07.03 win in the 1500m. The England international has been in great form in 2025 with nine performances under 4:10.
*The prize structure for all non-development events was: 1st place £400; 2nd place: £300; 3rd place £200 and 4th place £100.
Results
All the results can be found here.