The first Saucony BMC GP of 2021 saw a big turn-out of athletes in Manchester hungry for PBs despite cool weather conditions

Alexandra Bell ran the fastest 800m by a British woman outdoors in 2021 with a scintillating performance at the opening British Milers’ Club Grand Prix of the season at Trafford on Saturday (May 8), Kevin Fahey reports.

The Pudsey & Bramley runner took on the race from the start and powered around the second circuit in splendid isolation to cross the line in 2:00.14 in her first outing over two laps this year.

Intriguingly that is the fastest time she has ever recorded for her opening 800m of the year and comes after she launched her 2021 campaign with a win over 1500m at the BMC Gold Standard event at Birmingham University.

Only Leigh junior Keely Hodgkinson has run quicker this year with her PB of 1:59.03 in Austria in January, which was set a few weeks before she won the European indoor title in Poland.

Hodgkinson reverted to the 400m at this Trafford meeting in Manchester, smashing her lifetime best with 53.73 to finish runner-up behind Blackheath & Bromley’s Louise Evans (51.67).

Bell’s victory, in which she took the lead after 350 metres and struck out on her own, was the highlight of the meeting supported by Saucony and which attracted a huge field for the 29 races.

The men’s 800m was won by in-form Brighton Phoenix athlete Archie Davis in 1:46.65. That represents his second PB of the season having already posted a best of 1:47.26 to win the Worthing Open the previous weekend.

Prior to this year Davis’s best stood at 1:48.51 but he now he moves up to second in the UK outdoor rankings for the summer and will surely have his sights on going even quicker.

Davis just edged out 2019 European under-20 silver medallist Ben Pattison of Basingstoke and Mid Hants as he clocked 1:46.77, just six hundredths of a second off his two-year-old PB. Third was York’s Alex Botterill in 1:47.09.

In the 1500m races there were wins for Jeremy Dempsey of Shaftesbury Barnet Harriers (3:42.29) and Ireland junior international Sarah Healy (4:11.98).

Loughborough University student Tom Mortimer dipped under 13:40 for the first time to win the 5000m in impressive style with a PB of 13:39.79, well clear of runner-up Jonathan Davies (13:53.06) of Reading.

There was a similarly emphatic victory for Jennifer Nesbitt in the women’s 5000m as she ran a season’s best of 15:40.10 to finish 13 seconds clear of Brighton Phoenix runner Beth Kidger.

Fine win tonight for Jenny Nesbitt in the https://t.co/Gb427bPKOG the Trafford BMC meeting @AthleticsWeekly @BritishMilers @jennynesbitt pic.twitter.com/X7d8klgFDF

— Mark Shearman MBE (@AthleticsImages) May 8, 2021