Super Slaughter

Targeted as the man to beat, Slaughter faced stiff competition from the largest field put together for the event.

Main challengers were British No2 John Mayor and newcomer Andrew Waddington.

Hastings AC s Wayne Martin travelled up with Slaughter to compete in his first ever championships.

A strong headwind did not stop Slaughter from winning his 100m heat, giving him 2nd place behind Waddington.

Waddington then went on to win the long jump, with Slaughter in 4th.

The Bexhill athlete hit back in the shot put with the day s best throw of 10.92m with Martin finishing 6th (8.43).

Waddington upped the pressure by winning the high jump to Slaughter s 5th place, with Martin clearing a season s best.

In the final event of the day, Waddington won the 400m in 52.77 compared to Slaughter s 54.66 and Martin s 65.77.

Despite the new challenger winning all but one of the five events, Slaughter s consistency meant he was only 200 points adrift in 2nd place, with Mayor 3rd and Martin 10th.

Mayor took the 110m hurdles, but a big victory in the discus for Slaughter catapulted him into the lead by 100 points. Martin finished 3rd with a throw of 29.58m.

Both local athletes produced season bests in the pole vault with Slaughter (3.1m) in 2nd and Martin (2.5m) 4th, while another good throw in the javelin saw Slaughter again finish 2nd. Martin came home in 5th.

The gruelling 1500m saw Slaughter finish 3rd behind Waddington and Mayor but this was still good enough to clinch his third championship by a margin of 450 points.

Slaughter s win guarantees him a place in the British team for their match against the USA next year. Martin finished a superb 8th in his first championship.

Both competitors would like to thank everyone who supported their preparations as they now take a well-earned rest from competition.

Result: 1 Brian Slaughter (Bexhill/Hastings) 6,097, 2 Kenneth Lyon (Aberdeen) 5,647, 3 John Mayor (Stevenage) 5,618, 4 Andrew Waddington (Basingstoke) 5, 558, 8 Wayne Martin (Hastings) 3,870.