Athletics Australia – News – Offereins, Boden take victory in Shizuoka

National 400m champion Ben Offereins and national 400m hurdles title-holder Lauren Boden have continued their stellar starts to 2010 with wins at the Shizuoka International track and field meet in Japan.

Offereins, whose win over 400m at the national championships in Perth capped a stellar domestic season for the Western Australian star, took out his premier event in Shizuoka yesterday afternoon in 45.75 ahead of fellow Australians Joel Milburn in fifth (46.82), James Gurr in seventh (47.52) and Matt Lynch in eighth (47.96).

Offereins was joined on the winners’ list by Delhi-bound 400m hurdler Lauren Boden, who posted a new personal best and meet record time of 55.49 to take out the women's one-lap hurdles event.

The ACT athlete took .26 seconds off her previous best mark of 55.75 recorded at the Sydney Track Classic earlier this year to move to No. 4 on the Australian all-time list.

The result continues a strong start to 2010 for 21-year-old Boden, who claimed the national 400m hurdles crown in Perth last month to secure nomination to her second Commonwealth Games team.

Video footage of the race can be viewed here.

Training partner and fellow national 400m hurdles champion Brendan Cole placed fourth in the men’s event in 50.36.

Following her win over 100m at the Oda Memorial meet in Hiroshima last week, national 100m title-holder Melissa Breen stepped up to the 200m distance, crossing the line in 23.69 to place third.

The seven athletes in action in Shizuoka yesterday afternoon will be joined in Japan by a larger contingent of Australians for the IAAF Osaka Grand Prix this Saturday night.

Joining Breen (100m), Boden (400m hurdles), Cole (400m hurdles), Offereins, Milburn, Gurr and Lynch (4x400m relay) in Osaka this weekend will be James Kaan (1500m), Eloise Wellings (5000m) and world discus champion Dani Samuels (discus throw), setting up what should be a big night of track and field action for the stars of Australian sport.

Samuels will use the Osaka hit-out as a warm-up for the inaugural Diamond League meet on Friday, May 14, in Doha, Qata

Athletics Australia – News