BASILDON Athletics Club’s Abigail and Isobel Ives both gave strong accounts of themselves as they lined up against the best talents in British 800m running on Saturday.
The UK Athletics Championships, which also act as the trials for the World Athletics Championships taking place in Budapest later this summer, saw the Ives sisters take to the start line in separate heats on a damp but mild afternoon in Manchester.
Younger sister Abigail Ives, aged 19 and a GB representative at the World Junior Championships last year, fought hard in the early stages of her 800m heat and stuck with the opening pace set by Aberdeen’s Hannah Cameron.
Luton’s Revee Walcott-Nolan and Liverpool’s Stephanie Driscoll edged ahead in the home straight, with Ives slipping to third place to finish in a time of 2:04.68sec.
Though her performance saw her miss out on tomorrow's final, Ives explained an inflamed tendon in her foot had interrupted her preparations in recent weeks.
She said: “I’ve had a bit of a niggle in my foot, so I’ve missed a couple of weeks of training – I think that took a bit of an effect on the last 100m.
“I should have had the legs in me in the last 100m, but overall it was quite solid.
"There’s no pain running, so I can’t complain too much - it’s completely fine now.”
Ives added she is hoping to gain selection next week for the European Junior Championships, which take place in Jerusalem later this month.
“That’s been the aim the whole time, so hopefully we can just work on that if I do get selected; if not, I will have a rethink of my races this year and do a few races abroad to see what I can do.”
Little more than 15 minutes later, it was older sister Isobel Ives’s turn to take on the two-lap distance.
The 25-year-old, who balances training alongside her role as a full-time civil engineer in Chelmsford, explained she was keen to avoid getting swept along with the early pace set by GB internationals Isabelle Boffey and Jemma Reekie.
“I was pleased with the performance - it’s taken a while to get back racing.
“It went out fast so I was quite pleased I managed to restrain a little bit and not go out too fast.
“It went off very quick and potentially I’ve had a little bit of a lack of racing this year; generally I was pleased with it, but I would have liked to have run a little bit quicker overall.”
A time of 2:08:81 saw Ives finish fifth.
She added: “My job is quite demanding and fitting training in around that is a learning curve. I haven’t quite found the balance yet.
"I think that’s probably [what I need to work on.]”
On Sunday, Basildon’s Sam Bennett will contest the 110m hurdles.
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here