Kennedy’s European Tour
24th May
Barcelona
I started the racing season in Spain on the 24th in Pallafrugal. While I had a good lane draw, the conditions were not ideal and my first race was all over at the 350m mark as I tied up badly to finish 4th in a time of 47.64 . It was however, my fastest opener ever but still not as good as I would have liked.
31st May
Geneva
The Following weekend saw me in Geneva, the Mecca of 400m running. Almost 60 400m runners from around Europe were there. As one said to me, it was like a European championships without a few Polish and one or two French. I was drawn in lane 7 and had a reasonable start and got in to a nice position on the back straight. Between the 150m and 200m mark the inside field were making moves on me and from 200 to 300 I really kicked it up a gear and coming into the home straight I was in 4th but closing the field down . The last fifty was superb and I got up for 2nd with a time of 47.06 . It felt like it was all going in the right direction for me now.
3rd June
Malmo
I decided to drop to a 200m race this time to work on top-end speed . The Folksam GP are perfect, good standard races and well organised meets. It was set up to be a tough race and being drawn in lane seven, I knew everything was going to be happening on my inside. The race got under way after several false starts and a disqualification. My first 40 was not the best but the following 60m, I really blistered the track and to everyones surprise was in the lead coming into the home straight . Battling -3 headwinds, I held on to the lead and won the race in a time of 22.49 with a wind reading of -2.7!
Next stop on the tour, Lapua Finland Sunday and a return to the 400m.
Gordon.
Tags: 400m, Gordon Kennedy