White and Dodd hitting top speed in Belgium – Thorp and Hopkins shine

Jon White and Ed Dodd showed their speed with some impressive 800m outings in Belgium.
Cassie Thorp has been running well again - she impressed in the Lakeside 5k as well the Eastleigh 10k and the Southampton Half Marathon. Picture: Habibur RahmanCassie Thorp has been running well again - she impressed in the Lakeside 5k as well the Eastleigh 10k and the Southampton Half Marathon. Picture: Habibur Rahman
Cassie Thorp has been running well again - she impressed in the Lakeside 5k as well the Eastleigh 10k and the Southampton Half Marathon. Picture: Habibur Rahman

Both are making good progress in training and are getting the rewards as the season steps up a notch.

The City of Portsmouth duo are coached by Alex Budd.

They recently went to Belgium to race the International Flanders Athletics Meeting (IFAM) and the Putbos Memorial Meeting.

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White clocked a huge personal best of 1min 50.6sec in the first meeting, while Dodd ran his season’s best of 1.50.9 in the second outing.

Coach Alex Budd was very pleased with what he saw from the duo.

He said: ‘Jon won his 800m heat at IFAM in a big personal best – he has taken off 3.4 seconds this year.

‘It’s particularly good for Jon who’s main event is 1,500m.

‘A week later at the Putbos Memorial meeting Ed ran his season’s best – both have good UK rankings from those performances sitting at 33rd and 41st respectively.’

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Some of the other athletes in the training group have also been making great strides with Katie Hopkins and Cassie Thorp picking up some impressive results.

Budd added: ‘At the Watford BMC Gold Standard meeting, Katie Hopkins, who trains with the Portsmouth seniors but runs for Woking, ran a PB of 2.10.9, ranking her 14th in the UK under-20 rankings.

‘Cassie Thorp finished third at the Eastleigh 10k and won the Southampton ABP half marathon.’

The big performances from Thorp took some recovering from as she continues her improvement after some time out but she’s feeling strong again now.

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