Glasgow - Burgess 5.75, Ecker 5.70, Stevenson 5.45

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Five Nations in Glasgow kicks off season
By Dave Ungrady / WCSN.com

The competitive international track and field season gains momentum on Saturday with three, high-profile meets spanning three global regions. All feature their share of world record holders and Olympic champions.
The Norwich Union International in Glasgow, Scotland, on Saturday will feature teams from Great Britain, Germany, Sweden and the United States taking on a team selected from the best athletes in the Commonwealth. One athlete per event competes for each team, battling to earn points towards their team's overall match total.

Athletes are invited by the meet director to represent the United States at the event, which also is known as the Five Nations Match, based on their performances at the previous national meets. Bernard Lagat, the U.S. 1,500-meter indoor and outdoor record holder, is a high profile U.S. athlete competing in the meet.

Thanks to a knockout season, Lagat was given the choice to compete in the Five Nations event or another weekend indoor track competition -- the 12th Reebok Boston Indoor Games. The States-side meet will feature 11 athletes who have won an Olympic or World Championship title, or hold a world record, competing in their specialty events.

But Lagat chose Glasgow over Boston for a change of pace.

"I've run Boston several times and I wanted to race something that was new to me," said Lagat, who will return from Scotland to run in the Millrose Games on Feb. 2 in New York City. "I'm just getting started with my competitions. I wanted to start kind of easy, with not much pressure. I'm expecting to go out and have some fun, go home feeling good with a win and take the next challenge."

The United States has not competed in the Five Nations indoor meet since 1993, choosing instead to take part in the outdoor version of the competition. But a heavier-than- normal outdoor schedule this year, including the World Championships, persuaded the red, white and blue to compete.

"Any time you can get a U.S. track and field team in your meet is important," said Ian Stewart, the Five Nations meet director. "They're the No. 1 track nation."

Stewart is not troubled with the Boston event scheduled the same weekend as his meet. "It hasn't been much of a problem," he said. "It means there are a lot more athletes getting competition. Boston can't take everybody, and we can't either."

Athletes in Boston and Glasgow have a chance to walk away with prize money. Stewart said about 10 athletes in his meet will receive fees to compete in his meet. They also receive prize money ranging from $4,000 for first place to $200 for fifth place.

Similarly, at the Boston Games, some athletes will receive fees to compete, and prize money ranges from $5,000 for first place to $200 for fifth place. A $25,000 bonus will be given to a runner who sets a world record in the women's 5,000- and 3,000-meter races, and a bonus of $10,000 will be given for setting an American record in the women's pole vault.

The Boston meet is the first of four indoor meets that are part of USA Track and Field's Visa Championship Series. 2004 Olympic gold medalists Meseret Defar (5,000 meters) of Ethiopia and Joanna Hayes (100-meter hurdles) of the United States headline the meet, along with Australian Steve Hooker, the top-ranked pole vaulter in the world. American training partners Alan Webb, a 2004 Olympian in the 1,500 meters, and Chris Lukezic, the U.S. 1500-meter indoor champion, will battle in that event. American Reese Hoffa, the 2006 indoor champion in the shot put, and American Dee Dee Trotter, a 2004 Olympic gold medalist in the 4x400 meter relay, will compete.

The most inconspicuous of the competitions this weekend is the outdoor Queens/Grace Jackson Track Meet, which takes place in Kingston, Jamaica. It features 100-meter world record holder Asafa Powell and other top Jamaican athletes competing in a developmental meet attended mostly by school-aged athletes.

The event, which was started in 2001, honors Grace Jackson, who won a sliver medal at the 1988 Olympics in South Korea. It attracts some 2,000 athletes, including most members of the Kingston-basd MVP Track Club, whose marquee member is Powell. "They basically use the meet as a warmup meet," said Oliver McNaughton, the chairperson of the organizing committee.

Powell plans to run the 400 meters as part of his early season training and, like the other competitors, will not be compensated for his efforts.

"Before he became a star, he ran here as part of his training," McNaughton said. "This meet is popular to all people coming to see him run." It benefits the sports department at the Queens School, where Jackson attended, and attracts some 4,000 spectators.

Other top athletes expected to compete in the meet are Darrell Brown of Trinidad, the bronze medalist in the 100 meters at the 2005 World Championships, and Sherone Simpson, a member of the Jamaica's gold medal winning team in the 4x100-meter relay at the 2004 Summer Olympics Games.

The indoor track season becomes more streamlined on the weekend of Feb. 2. The main meet of attraction will be the 100th Millrose Games, which is considered the top indoor track meet in the world.

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14:00 - POLE VAULT Men OFFICIAL RESULTS

1 COM Paul BURGESS AUS 5.75 SB 5
2 GER Danny ECKER 5.70 SB 4
3 USA Toby STEVENSON 5.45 3
4 GBR Steve LEWIS 5.30 2
5 SWE Gustaf HOLTGREN 5.15 1