Athletes from the Reliance Foundation Odisha Athletics High-Performance Centre (HPC) produced a remarkable 17 Personal Best (PB) timings at the finale of the Performance Graded Race series held at the Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneswar last week.

The unique concept of Performance Graded Races, introduced by HPC Head Coach James Hillier, is a significant departure from practice. It features athletes competing against each other entirely on the basis of their timings, irrespective of age or sex.

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A total of 30 individual events were contested at the event with over 200 athletes from across the state joining athletes from the HPC to produce a high-quality competition in what Hillier described as “a vibrant, energising environment for athletes to excel.” For the first time, a dedicated 100m race for para-athletes was conducted with seven athletes competing. Several para athletes also competed in the Long jump.

“I wanted us to create a new concept and something that has never been done before in India,” says Hillier.

“We wanted to create a high-octane athlete centred competitive opportunity for athletes of all levels. I feel we definitely achieved that and that was shown by the huge number of personal bests achieved by athletes at the competition. We also wanted to embed para athletics as a staple of our main able-bodied races, so we put on a para 100 metre race after the able-bodied 100m races.”

Among the athletes Hillier marked out for special praise was sprinter Jyothi Yarraji, who ran an unofficial national record in the 100m hurdles, completing the distance in 13.25 seconds.

Other impressive performances came from Senior Open Nationals Gold medallist Amlan Borgohain, who completed the double in the 100 & 200m in 10.74 & 20.92 seconds respectively, his season’s best timings. Teenager Sabita Toppo, who hails from the Sundergarh district, kept up her eye catching progress, improving her PB from 14.66 seconds in 2021 to 14.50 seconds in the 100m hurdles. Abishek Dalabehera, Aryan Ekka, Graceson Jeeva and Moumita Mondal were among the other HPC athletes who recorded PBs in their respective events.

“Performance Graded Races allow athletes at all levels to be competitive and be the best they can be based on their talent level,” explains Hillier. “It was wonderful to see some of the races that perhaps didn’t contain the most experienced athletes produce many exciting finishes.”