It looks like Asafa Powell and Tyson Gay are going to go head to head just a couple of weeks before the Olympics at the London Grand Prix.  This is a big prize for the London organisers, and to be honest a bit of a surprise that they would put themselves on the line just a couple of weeks before the big meeting.

If we put aside some of the cynicism that has built up around the 100m sprinters in the last couple of years because of all the drug problems then this is a big clash along the lines of some of the great ones over the years (although Usain Bolt may have something to say about this at the Olympics).

The days of Coe and Ovett spring to mind, and it is great to see that the sprinters aren't ducking out of competing with each other as these two did in the 80s.  Having said that, it was always a great build up to the big races they did have with each other, as you were never quite sure how they were going to react when head to head in competition.

The other clash of the 80s was Jurgen Hingsen against Daley Thompson, a two day titanic struggle between two of the greatest ever exponents of the decathlon.

It all led me to thinking about the clashes, across the ages that I would have liked to have seen.  I'll come to that in the next installment, but it would be good to hear some of yours in the meantime.

Heel striking when you run is a common fault for a lot of athletes, particularly those who do longer distances.

It creates a lot of stress on the leg joints in both the ankle and knee and also tends to slow you down if you strike the ground significantly in front of your centre of gravity. 

Here is an idea for a new type of running shoe.  The concept is certainly good, but I think testing is required with significant number of athletes to ensure the problems it cures don't lead to other issues.

Could it be like many of those products that appeared on Tomorrows World, never to be heard of again, or is this truly the breakthrough that many runners have been looking for in their quest to run faster without pain or injury.   

Why not have a look at www.heelless.co.uk and see what you think.  It would be great to hear your comments on these shoes, it is always good to hear what Momentum Sports visitors think.

It has been clear for a long time that what we eat affects how we run.

Here at Momentum Sports we like to give athletes as much information as possible to help them perform at the highest level possible, so we have spent the last few months collating many pages of information about sports nutrition to give you a kick start to making sure that you are eating wisely to produce the best possible performances.

www.momentumsports.co.uk/TtSportsNutrition.asp with give you all the areas of sports nutrition that you might need, with, at the very least, a good starting point to finding out how to eat properly.

If there are any subjects you would like to know more about, please just let us know, by leaving a comment on this post.

My only record - the one and only single record that I know of, that I hold anywhere in the world has gone!!!!

After 13 years, someone has come along and beaten my Championship Best Performance for the Surrey 400m Hurdles.  I guess it was going to happen sometime, but now I'm going to go and get all superstitious seeing as someone has done it at the 13th attempt!

Well done Austin Ferns, on running 52.66 - 0.04 quicker than I got all those years ago.  At 36 I may be a touch old to get it back (and a touch decrepid), but it does give a good incentive to train even harder!

I am not bitter, honest.....

On a brighter note, two of the athletes I'm coaching won U17 gold medals - Tom Parry is currently number 4 in the UK at 100m hurdles and won the Surrey Championships comfortably in 13.8.  Richard Smeaton broke his one week old Pb and has now taken well over two seconds off this time of last year to clock 51.69 in winning the 400m.

Well done to them and all the others who produced the goods over the weekend, it was good to see.

So, what is next.  There are more competitions this weekend and the weekend after and then we turn our attention to the regional champs a few weeks hence, where there will be lots of competition for all the athletes.

It's here - it hot outside and the track season is on.

The first hot weekend of the year saw track leagues up and down the country taking place and the British University Championships as well.  There were some top level performances at the BUSA Champs this year, with a lot of athletes kicking off their seasons in fine style - if it hadn't been for a pretty constant headwind in the home straight some of the sprint times would have been sensational.

As a coach I am always quite nervous before the first races of the year, to know how everyone is going to do - having worked hard for the long dark evenings of winter.

Fortunately, so far so good - there were a whole host of Pbs at the weekend and now I'm excited about what is going to happen next.  It is the county champs this weekend - so bring it on!