2009 Graeme Briggs Memorial Athletics Classic
Domain Athletics Centre, Hobart
Friday, 30 January 2009

The fourth annual Briggs Athletics Classic is one of only six national series meetings held throughout Australia. As an Oceania Area Permit event, it is the first major meet of the world outdoor track & field calendar and the line-up of athletes was fitting for the season opener, which carried $25,000 in prize money plus more in record bonuses

For the Coburg Harriers, Bola Lawal was in the 100 m and 200 m with fellow Harrier Craig Brown in the B section of those events. With them, six Beijing Olympians would kick off their 2009 Australian athletics season at the Classic, in what organisers billing as the best line-up of domestic athletics talent seen in Tasmania since 2000

Lawal was pitted against Stawell Gift winner Josh Ross, current Australian Champion Otis Gowa, World Junior Champs rep Jacob Groth, Aaron Rouge-Serret, Matt Davies and Beijing Olympian Sean Wroe. Such was the depth of sprint talent, event organisers added a 4 x 100m relay to this year’s program. Australia’s fastest man, Patrick Johnson, would run in the Jump Start to London Indigenous team

A balmy evening saw Craig Brown first up in the Men’s 200 metres B Race. With a very slight headwind of 0.2 metres per second, Brown ran a season best 22.04 seconds to finish in third place, only 0.08 seconds behind the runner up

Next up was Bola Lawal in the 200 metres A Race.  With a tailwind of 0.4 metres per second, a blanket finish saw Lawal finish in fifth place with 21.60 seconds, an agonising 0.20 seconds off the club record

The 100 metres B Race was run into a strong 1.4 metres per second headwind featured Craig Brown and he again stepped up with a season best 10.99 seconds, becoming the second Coburg Harrier this season to go under the eleven second mark. In a sensational finish, Brown dead heated for fourth place, with the third placegetter just one hundredth of a second in front of them. Remarkably, there was a deadheat for first and second place also

In one of the strongest 100 m fields seen outside of an Australian Championships event, Bola Lawal finished seventh in the 100 m A Race crossing in 10.60 seconds into a one metre per second headwind

Well done to Bola Lawal and Craig Brown on representing your state and club at the first National Meet of the season