Bosworth facing title threat from Wilkinson

Last year’s record breaking, and ultimately dance-inducing, men’s 5,000m race walk could this year be taken one step further, with three-time champion Tom Bosworth facing strong competition from young fellow-Leeds Beckett athlete Callum Wilkinson after both managed to break the record at the British outdoor final last season.

Meanwhile, Leeds-based racewalker and 2017 champion Gemma Bridge will have outdoor 5,000m record breaker and Leeds University athlete Bethan Davies standing in her way, as all four athletes prepare for April’s Commonwealth Games with what promise to be two mouth-watering race walk clashes.

Elsewhere, after almost seeming like a personal gold medal library where he could pick up and renew titles at will, the pole vault competition perhaps sees Luke Cutts’s toughest title challenge yet in the form of fellow-Sheffield athlete Adam Hague and Middlesbrough’s BUCS indoor winner Charlie Myers.

The four-time champion was pushed all the way by Max Eaves last year however this one could prove to be even harder, with Myers in the form of his life after clearing 5.50m this year.

Still standing tall at the top of his event however is City of York shot putter Scott Lincoln, aiming for a hat-trick of titles after already seeing off his closest challenger, Youcef Zatat, ealier this month.

Meanwhile, a first ever national competition as a senior sees Sheffield-based British 100m hurdles champion Alicia Barrett take on Olympians Tiffany Porter and Katarina Johnson-Thompson as well as last year’s surprise winner Mollie Courtney in the 60m hurdles.

The Steel City also has Andrew Heyes firmly in the mix amongst a tight-looking 3,000m, taking on the likes of European medallists Andy Vernon and Jonathan Davies, while Hull’s Northern champion Andrew Morgan-Harrison takes another shot at the 200m.