UK Athletics Championship notebook as Zharnel Hughes claims sprint double 

The UK Athletics Championships in Manchester over the weekend provided no shortage of drama as competitors battled biblical thunder, lightning and rain.

The elements couldn’t stop sprint sensation Zharnel Hughes, however, as he recorded a 100metres and 200m double.

Mail Sport’s HENRY CLARK wraps up some things you might have missed in our UK Championships notebook. 

Christie is still red hot

Those present on Sunday were in the presence of British sprinting greatness with Olympic gold medallist Linford Christie in attendance.

Standing at 6ft 2in, Christie isn’t exactly hard to miss and his attire, a bright red Adidas tracksuit, did little to help him slip under the radar either.

Hughes picked up British Championships gold in both the 100m and 200m over the weekend 

The weather was markedly brighter and warmer on Sunday as Hughes clinched the 200m title

He watched Zharnel Hughes, the man who broke his 30-year 100m British record two weeks ago in New York, claim gold in the men’s 200metres.

Heavy rain decks DJ

The biblical rain in Manchester wreaked havoc for athletes, spectators and journalists alike on Saturday.

Conditions were much brighter for most of Sunday’s action, although one man in particular was still feeling the after-effects of the torrential downpour.

The event’s DJ, a Polish performer who goes by the name of DJ Gambit, had his laptop totally destroyed by the rain.

Thankfully he was able to source a replacement in time for Sunday.

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Thomas cops flack for his trousers

The voices of British athletics, Geoff Wightman and Katharine Merry, were on great form as usual in Manchester.

While the pair’s attention was largely directed to events on the track and field, they did break away for the occasional gag.

Former British 400m sprinter Iwan Thomas, the on-track host, copped a fair bit of attention from Wightman and Merry for his ‘tight trousers’. I couldn’t possibly comment.

On-track host Iwan Thomas (right) copped some unwanted attention from the announcers

The power of Pozzi-tivity

Eagle-eyed spectators will have spotted British hurdler Andrew Pozzi in the stands at the Manchester Regional Arena.

The 31-year-old was consigned to a watching brief here and will miss August’s World Championships in Budapest after suffering a stress fracture of his ankle.

Pozzi still came out to support his team-mates here, not least heptathlete girlfriend Katarina Johnson-Thompson, who was competing in several disciplines across the weekend.

Katarina Johnson-Thompson competes in the shot put competition in Manchester

Lights, (five) cameras, action

Just five cameras were used to bring the Championships into the living rooms of fans watching at home via the BBC iPlayer.

At an Olympic-scale event at least 20 cameras would be in operation, so bravo to the camera crew for providing such a broad range of coverage for viewers who were unable to make it to the north-west.