Winner Victoria aims to raise Barr

May 24 2007 By Bill Mcguirk, The Evening Chronicle

Victoria barr left seasoned international Donna Fraser in her wake at the Loughborough International last weekend.

However, that 200m victory in a new personal best of 23.99sec did not entirely please the Chester-le-Street-based sprinter - even though she has forced her way into the UK's top 10.

It was Barr's first competitive outing over the distance this season and her winning time was a big improvement on her 24.6sec she recorded last year after linking up with Jared Deacon and his training group at Gateshead Stadium.

"Even though I won I was slightly disappointed as I was hoping to run a bit quicker," said 25-year-old Barr.

"It's always nice to get the better of the likes of Donna and that shows I'm improving competitively.

"But it would have been nice to clock something more convincing like 23.7 or somewhere close to that.

"On reflection, though, I suppose my winning time was OK as I wasn't feeling 100% throughout the race.

"I didn't get a particularly good start and I only began to pick it up in the final 50m, so all in all I have to be reasonably pleased."

After her earlier individual outing, Barr took her place in the Loughborough University 4x400m relay team and, running the first leg in 54.3sec, helped the squad to a new meeting record.

Apart from a disqualification for two false starts in the 200m in the North Eastern Counties Championships, Barr's early-season form has been impressive, and has earned her a call-up into the Norwich Union Grand Prix in Glasgow on June 3.

Before that, Barr, who runs in the Rugby and Northampton colours, will double up in the 100m and 200m at this weekend's Inter-Counties Championships in Bedford.

"I've been invited to run in Glasgow over 300m which has been billed as an attack on the British record.

"But first I have the Inter-Counties this weekend which looks like being a little demanding for I'll have to get through the heats in both the 100 and 200 to get into the finals."