The good, the bad and the hindmost

After months of debate and controversy, the new rule changes which have marked the transition from the old European Cup format into the new European Team Championships made their debut in Leiria, Portugal. Some of them were quite effective, one was a complete disaster, others need fine tuning. The stated aim is to make the event more attractive - well, British athletics enthusiasts have regarded this weekend as one of the most attractive on the calendar for several years and supporters have traditionally attended it in large numbers. The appeal of one of the few genuine team events in the schedule and visiting some of the most attractive venues in Europe has consistently proved a winning combination.

The choice of such a large stadium in Leiria unfortunately proved for me something of an own goal for the organisers, as the sight of an entire empty stand on the back straight with painted seats giving a distant illusion of a crowd gave the impression of a poorly attended event, whereas a smaller venue would have housed those present and given a better TV impact. Also the 200m bend had a wall that looked as if it had been built out of "Sesame Street" building blocks.

Not for the first time in this event the British team mixed triumph and disappointment but will draw positives from the performances of several individuals. Kate Dennison's outstanding pole vault form saw a new British record. Tim Benjamin's welcome return to the form, whilst clouded by slight controversy on the day, will have impressed all those who admire this talented athlete's obvious passion to pull on a British vest.

The "devil takes the hindmost" rule clearly hasn't worked. All it does is (a) causes chaos amongst official, athletes and spectators alike and (b) leads to artificial "sprints" within a distance race. Not one of the administrators' better ideas.

Emily Freeman, Hannah England, the outstanding Mo Farah and the imperious David Greene all had reasons to look back on day one with considerable satisfaction. Still too many of the field events lack quality in depth and come the major championships we may again be struggling to enter any competitors in some field events if we can't make the grades.

Day two was expected to see the British team move downwards from the heady heights of leaders at the end of day one, but victory in the men's 4x400m and further maximums from Andy Turner, Dwain again in the 200m and a second place for Philips Idowu in a closely-fought triple jump meant an overall highly creditable third place.

Not bad considering a number of absentees through injury, as seems sadly to be a common recurrence. The merging of men's and women's teams and the four failures overall in vaulting and jumping both seemed to be reasonably successful. Let's see what changes are made for 2010.