Captain Christian
Wednesday 20 May 2009
Cardiff AAC and Olympic athlete Christian Malcolm will be the home team captain at next month’s Super8 competition to be held at the capital’s Cardiff International Sports Stadium on Wednesday 10th June. Christian Malcolm said of his appointment: “It really is an honour to be asked to captain Cardiff at the first Super8 competition, not only to lead the Welsh athletes but also to do so on home turf is going to be very special.
Christian competes for the club's BAL team whenever possible and was fifth in last year's Olympic Games 200m final behind world record breaking Usain Bolt. He has competed for Great Britain & Northern Ireland for over a decade and is one of the country’s top sprinters. He will lead Cardiff into action against teams representing Birmingham, Manchester, Newcastle, London South, Glasgow, Sheffield. The exciting two-hour City versus City concept is being piloted in the Welsh capital with leading British athletes giving their full backing to the idea.
Christian Malcolm said of his appointment: “It really is an honour to be asked to captain Cardiff at the first Super8 competition, not only to lead the Welsh athletes but also to do so on home turf is going to be very special.
“The competition is a great idea and I can see some friendly rivalry between the GB&NI athletes building already which will make for some interesting events. I hope the people of Cardiff will come out to support the home team and give the other cities something to live up to when Super8 takes place in their city.”
Other team captains include: Olympic 400m gold medallist Christine Ohuruogo for London North, Olympic 400m hurdles bronze medallist Tasha Danvers for London South and UK Indoor 800m champion Jenny Meadows as captain of Manchester. More big names will be announced in the coming days.
Even if the concept of this new competition has widespread support the date is more controversial as it is only 4 days after the important first rounds of the British Athletic League and UK Womens' League series (to be held in Cardiff on the Saturday before) and a mere 3 days before the Welsh senior championships. A more suitable date should, and could, have been found as it is unfair that athletes should have to choose between 3 important competitions.
The team representing Cardiff is NOT a club team but is a composite team to be selected by UK Athletics.
If the pilot event is successful the plan is to organise eight such competitions annually in future (with venues rotating between the participating teams). How these can be fitted into the already complicated summer season is not yet known but we can foresee conflict between the Super8 and the senior leagues. Let us know if you have any thoughts on this.
The provisional timetable of the Super8 is as follows.
7:00 PM Men POLE VAULT
7:00 PM Women HIGH JUMP
7:05 PM Women 100M HURDLES
7:10 PM Women JAVELIN
7:10 PM Men LONG JUMP
7:15 PM Men 110M HURDLES
7:20 PM Men SHOT
7:25 PM Women 400 METRES
7:35 PM Men 400 METRES
7:45 PM Women 800 METRES
7:55 PM Men 800 METRES
8:00 PM Women POLE VAULT
8:00 PM Men HIGH JUMP
8:05 PM Women 100 METRES
8:10 PM Men JAVELIN
8:10 PM Women LONG JUMP
8:15 PM Men 100 METRES
8:20 PM Women SHOT
8:25 PM Women 1500 METRES
8:35 PM Men 1500 METRES
8:45 PM Women MEDLEY RELAY 200 200 400 600
8:55 PM Men MEDLEY RELAY 200 200 400 600