Where to begin? What a week! On the roads and the track indoor and outdoor our athletes have really been putting their winter training to the test and reaping the rewards.

Mageean stars at the AIT International Grand Prix

Getting us off to a flying start was Ciara Mageean (City of Lisburn AC/ Team New Balance) who broke her own Northern Irish Senior record, ran a PB and a Stadium Record at the AIT International Grand Prix in the Women’s 3000m on Wednesday night.

After battling with GB’s Rosie Clarke from the start the Northern Irish Olympic hopeful won out and Clarke had to settle for second in 8:49.49. Third place also went to team GB – Beth Kidger finished in 9:18.53 and Eloise Walker set a GB U20 record to finish fourth in 9:21.30. Read more here.

The Men’s Mile was similarly competitive. Ethiopia’s Samuel Tefera ran a PB of 3:55.86 for the win, followed by Ireland’s Brian Fay who bettered his previous indoor record to take silver in 4:00.77 ahead of Brazil’s Thiago Andre (4:01.55). Also heading home with a PB was Adam Craig who placed sixth in 4:03.34

Møller and Clarke win in Armagh

It was a night to remember at the Armagh International Road Races. Not just for the scrappy beginning of the men’s race that saw several tripped, stumbling or even falling in the crush to get a fast start.

Near perfect conditions led to 50 women running under 10 minutes in the Intersport Women’s 3k. 135 men ducked under 15 minutes (113 last year) in the 5k, with 21 going sub 14. In that depth of field it is not surprising that it took a new course record to secure the win for Anna Emilie Møller in 8:58 with Adam Clarke clocking 13:42 in an exciting finish.

Blazing after Møller in the women’s 3k was Alex Bell, who would normally race over 800m but appears to have plenty to offer over longer distances. According to her twitter she rather enjoyed the chance to stretch out her run and was rewarded with the silver in 9:06. Amy Griffiths was just behind Bell to take third in 9:09 and Kate Avery was fourth in 9:10.

Tight race for men’s podium

For the gents, it was Johnny Davis and Phil Sesemann who were both just two seconds behind Alex Clarke in the 5k to take second and third with the same time of 13:44. As suggested by the crazy start, the race was a battle for every place, and the next two positions were also neck and neck at 13:46 for Phil Norman and Jake Shelley.

In the team competition England was victorious in both the men’s and women’s competition. An astonishing average of 13:50 won it for the guys, led by team captain, Phil Sesseman (3rd, 13:45), Jake Shelley (4th, 13:46) and Graham Rush (12th, 13:55). The ladies scorers were Charlotte Dannatt (7th, 9:21), Laura Brenton (16th, 9:32), Rebecca Johnson (19th, 9:34) and Kirsty Longley (31st/1st W40, 9:44).

 

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When you realise that the race record is within reach, and the finish line smile changes slightly Had good fun racing my first 3k on the road last night! Didn’t really focus on the time – just on the . Enjoyed the great atmosphere in Armagh, a nice little town in Northern Ireland. Definitely worth coming back for Ciara had left, so this time the race was NOT cancelled. Last weekend I wasted a trip to Holland, where I was meant to run a 10k, which Ciara cancelled.. So I was pleased to finally get to do a road race again | : Keith McClure

A post shared by Anna Emilie Møller (@anna_moeller97) on Feb 14, 2020 at 11:55am PST

Scott, Reekie, Muir and Learmonth impress on the track

In Seattle, Washington the Husky Classic 3000m was part of a weekend of indoor racing and resulted in a 7:46.11, a little indoor PB and second place for Mark Scott of Cambridge & Coleridge who was running for Bowerman Track Club in this setting. James West who was running for Oregon but is a Tonbridge athlete when on home turf ran a sizeable PB to place sixth in 7:47.10 with Jack Rowe 10th in 7:51.00.

It is weekends like this when athletes thank their lucky stars for indoor meets. With races being cancelled left right and centre on Saturday, the Müller Indoor Grand Prix Glasgow was a safe haven for runners wanting to burn it up on the track. In the Men’s 800m Adam Kszczot of Poland took the 10 points for top spot in 1:46.34. Scotland’s Guy Learmonth ran a 1:47.16 for third with Josh Kerr and Elliot Giles fourth and fifth but with the same time of 1:47.40 and Alex Botteril seventh in 1:47.77

What a day!!! Thanks so much for all the messages today, love being back to my old self!!
Put so much graft in the last few months to get back here and I couldn’t be happier. My team is the best in the world!
Now the ball is really rolling!! #TeamNB #F8TC pic.twitter.com/PFd1vobyZS

— Guy Learmonth (@GuyLearmonth) February 15, 2020

The Men’s 1500m victory belonged to Bethwell Birgen of Kenya in 3:36.22. First home for GB was Piers Copeland who took fourth place in a new PB of 3:38.81. Following him for GB were Geroge Mills in 3:39.25 for sixth (also a PB) and Archie Davis in seventh 3:44.48. Charlie Da’vall Grice sadly had a fall midway through the and Jamie Webb also did not finish.

Laura Muir proved that although she’s battled injury over the winter she can still command a strong victory in the Women’s 1000m. The Scot said it was a tough race, commenting “I was a little down at 600m and oh that last lap was so sore“, but nevertheless she took home the win in 2:33.47 and will “be back out training in the wind and rain tomorrow” ready for the outdoor season.  Adelle Tracey couldn’t quite reach Muir and had to settle for second in 2:37.95 to make it a GB one-two.

It was Muir’s training partner Jemma Reekie though who grabbed everyone’s attention yet again. After breaking the national 800m, British indoor mile and British indoor 1500m records just weeks ago Reekie just went and churned out a 4:04.07 to grab top spot in the 1500m ahead of Ethiopia’s Dawit Seyaum (4:04.24). Reekie said ““It was a good race and a good confidence boost. I try to focus on myself out there because I’ll only ever work with the pressure that I put on myself and I don’t feel it off other people.”

Goolab claims British 5km record

On Sunday morning at RunMonaco, the 5k World Record was smashed to smithereens by Uganda’s Joshua Cheptegei. He went into the race ‘thinking of sub-13’ and he certainly achieved it with his 12:51. That makes him 27 seconds faster than the previous best.

Britain’s Nick Goolab (Belgrave Harriers) ran an absolutely sensational race to finish third in a new British record of 13:27 – three seconds faster that Mo Farah and Rob Denmark’s joint record. France’s Jimmy Gressier was second in 13:18.

Connor and Arter lead home strong British challenge in Barcelona

Meanwhile it may not seem very spring-like here at the moment, but the season for long distance road running IS warming up and athletes were tuning up and testing out at the Barcelona Half Marathon.

Good conditions at the start gave way to a bothersome headwind at 15k. This caused a lot of runners to slow in the latter part of the race but didn’t stop some impressive times. Kenya’s Victor Chumo broke the tape in 59:59 to go sub-1hr for the first time.

Ben Connor placed ninth with a speedy 61:34 – not far off his PB and only two weeks after winning Murcia Half Marathon. Kristian Jones finished 22nd in a 22 second PB of 63:33 ahead of Josh Griffiths (29th in 63:34, PB) Frank Baddick (38th in 63:54, PB), Scott Overall (42nd in 64:23), John Travers (48th in 64:42), Eoghan Totten (52nd in 64:58), Eric Keogh (55th in 65:11), Conor Bradley (60th in 65:35) and Thoman Hayes (63rd in 65:58). There were many other fine performances under 70 minutes so be sure to check out the full results list.

Went for it today. 28.37 through 10k and a few seconds outside 46mins through 10 miles, then blew up a little. still happy to hold on for a 61.33, my second fastest time over the distance. In a good place with 10 weeks to go #Londonmarathon #ne… https://t.co/WwVbovOTwg pic.twitter.com/2pZSjWbiZw

— BEN CONNOR (@bdconnor) February 16, 2020

Arter 6th as Brits pack top 40

Charlotte Arter has a good history with the race, having run a Welsh record there last year to finish fifth in 69:40. This year she was chasing the likes of Ethiopia’s Ashete Bekere who won in 66:37. She couldn’t quite beat her 2019 showing but came close, placing sixth in 70:00 right behind Valencia Marathon winner Rosa Dereje. Ireland’s Fionnuala McCormack finished just outside the top 10 in 71:39 and Samantha Harrison ran a huge PB to scrub out her 73:01 on Power of 10 and replace it with a 71:43 and 13th place.

Other top performances came from Ann-Marie Mclynn (16th in 72:12), Tracy Barlow – who went out in gutsy style and hung on in that headwind to run a PB of 72:12 (17th), Clara Evans (19th in 72:29, PB), Jenny Spink (30th in 74:09), Danni Nimmock (32nd in 74:47), Fionnuala Ross (34th in 74:54), Lucy Niemz (58th in 78:47), Rosemary Jennings Maun (59th in 78:36), Catherin Whoriskey (65th in 79:55) and Georgina Weston (67th in 79:55).

UK road racing roundup

A rather different half marathon experience awaited those taking part in the Kinloss to Lossiemouth Half. The point to point course had forecast a tailwind gusting into the 30s. We’re awaiting official results but a bit of Strava stalking suggests that Kenny Wilson was blown to a PB of 64:55 and Robbie Simpson ran 65:00.

In Chessington the Valentine’s 10k saw some good results. Daniel Cheeseman (City of York) raced home in 31:42. Ollie Garrod of South London Harriers (33:00) was 2nd and Ben Chown (33:20) 3rd. Isabel Brinsden of Epsom and Ewell Harriers brought home the win for the women in 36:06 with Suzannah Month (36:57) and Lisa Rooney (39:29) shortly after her.

RunThrough Battersea Park 5K / 10K beat at least the worst of the storm on Saturday morning in London. Lucy Reid was a little way outside her PB with 35:29 but claimed the win. Steph McCall of Herne Hill Harriers followed her with 35:42 and Lou Hunter rounded out the podium with a 35:53.

For the men, Matthew Dickinson of Clapham Chasers raced over the line in 31:33 ahead of Nick Bester (Herne Hill Harriers) in 31:52 and Ewan Cameron in 32:23. A mysterious man-with-no-name topped the 5k race in 16:59. Nacho Garcia (17:44) and John Ross (19:10) took the other two awards. Hannah Pullen of Waverly Harriers won the women’s 5k in 17:57, followed by London Heathside’s Amy Cook in 19:18 and Marta Acosta in 19:30.

Soggy conditions didn’t deter runners at Devon’s Tavy 5k. Local boy Lewis Mill of the Tavistock Run Project was champion of the day in 19:04 in a comfortable lead over Lee Herbert (19:20) and first lady, third overall Jodi FIsk (19:25).

The Harrow Hill 10k does what it says on the tin. Harrow AC’s Lucy Ashe took 4th overall and won the women’s race in 39:34 just two weeks after her PB at Watford Half Marathon. Sarah Gerrie came second in 42:36 and Joanne Kent was next home over the hill in 43:23. For the men, Thomas Grimes (East London Runners) took top spot in 37:26 ahead of Adam Horne (38:37) and Werner Kranenburg (38:51).

Jo Meek hit the trails in Arizona and took fifth place at the Black Canyon 100k in 9:49. In Costa Rica the Coastal Challenge, a multi stage race over 6 days with 10, 000m+ of elevation over 236k through rainforest, mountains, river valleys and beaches sounds like a beast of a race. It was enough to stop Oxford City’s Rebecca Ferry who finished the whole lot in 17:57:12. Susie Chan finished third with an overall time of 21:14:31.

I tried my hardest but it wasn’t good enough. 5th in #blackcanyon100k

My goal for a @wser golden . I had time on the trail (the later half of 9hrs 49mins!) to come to terms with it.
Blog to follow

@aravaiparunning for hosting such a great race

Run Run pic.twitter.com/5PauYwIZSb

— RunningSquirrel • Ultra runner (@jo_meek) February 16, 2020

Most Cross Country races seem to have been cancelled or are awaiting results. Club runners could still have their fix against each other in the North East Road Relays. Gateshead Harriers were victors in the women’s race in a combined time of 52:33 thanks to their team of Chloe Wellings, Gillian Manford Jane Giles and Innes Curran. For the men it was Kieran Hedley, Taylor Glover, Dan Melling, Rowan Bennett, Sam Hancox and Adam Pratt who grabbed the premier honours for Morpeth Harriers.

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The post Top racing in Armagh, Barcelona and Monaco – weekend roundup appeared first on Fast Running.

Charlotte Arter continued her impressive form with a 69:40 run to finish fifth at the Mitja Marató de Barcelona on Sunday (February 10).

The 27 year-old, who was the first European runner across the finish line, improved her personal best by almost two minutes after running 5k splits of 16:29, 16:23, 16:31 and 16:44 before her 69:40 finish.

Arter’s performance was 16 seconds quicker than the previous fastest half marathon by a Welsh female athlete – 69:56 ran by Susan Tooby (Wightman) in 1988 – and sees her jump from 21st to eighth on the UK all-time rankings.

Just last week, Charlotte Purdue also ran inside 70 minutes for the first time and both British athletes will race at The Big Half next month in London.

Meanwhile, Irish international Ann-Marie McGlynn finished seventh after posting her first sub 72 minute half marathon with a big personal best 71:59.

Also in the women’s race, Sonia Samuels ran a PB of 72:19 to finish ninth, with Lily Partridge running the same time in 10th place.

There were also a number of other strong performances by British athletes in Barcelona, including Tracy Barlow who ran 72:26, Eleanor Whyman-Davis ran a PB of 72:44, as did Clara Evans who clocked 72:49, while Jenny Nesbitt ran 73:14.

In the men’s race, Kevin Seaward, who finished fourth in the marathon for Northern Ireland at last year’s Commonwealth Games, finished 14th after running inside 64 minutes for the first time in a PB of 63:38.

Dan Studley crossed the finish line in 17th place running 63:58, while there were new bests for Dominic Shaw (64:28), Lucian Allison (64:29), Josh Griffiths (64:53), Andy Davies (64:57) and Will Mycroft (65:16).

The overall victories went to Kenya’s Eric Kiptanui and Ethiopia’s Roza Dereje. Kiptanui clocked a time of 61:04 to win the men’s race, with Dereje running 66:01 to claim the women’s title.

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Running can be an entirely individual sport a lot of the time. From miles alone to racing alone, and not forgetting Saturday nights waiting for Sunday’s long run.

And yet, behind it all operates a mass of people providing support in innumerable ways. Despite often ploughing a lonely furrow, and often doing so through my own choices, I’m lucky enough to be surrounded by many people without whom the entire journey would be pointless, and infinitely more difficult.

These past two weekends have been a great example of the support in full swing. First up was the European Club Cross Country Championships in Mira, Portugal.

Raheny Shamrock AC was Ireland’s representative in the senior men’s race on the back of our inter-club title in November. As our club captain Dick Hooper said: “travelling with your club is always easier than going away with your country.

“You’re with the people you know best in the sport, people you’ve spent countless miles at the side of, and people you go through it all with.”

Where would we be without support?

Not just the athletes go abroad, but the coaches and club members from Raheny travel strongly with the sole purpose of supporting the team.

The past two years travelling to the European Clubs are a great reminder of the benefits of a strong club structure that I’m lucky to come from.

Sunday night post-race was spent with members of the Leevale senior women’s team and the Galway City Harriers junior men’s team, each with their own support network, toasting the success of each other and remarking on the tremendous work going on behind the scenes in every club.

The clubs would be nothing without the volunteers that support them. I’ve been lucky enough to have coaches entirely willing to sacrifice their time to help me and others in the training group.

On the back of Portugal I only had a few days to get myself recovered and sharpen up before the Barcelona Half Marathon. Thankfully my coach, Jerry Kiernan, decided that the work was done by then and all there was left to do was run easy and get ready for the half.

Again my support structure fully kicked in for this trip, with the Marathon Mission supporting my flights and accommodation and taking care of my entry.

Enough can’t be said about the great work done by Jim Aughney to support Irish distance runners.

My mum also insisted on travelling, seemingly not trusting me to look after myself before a race. But her constant support and wisdom is still always appreciated.

Even Jerry decided to make the trip across; conveniently the half marathon fell on a weekend where both Barcelona and their ‘B’ team were at home so he deemed it worth his while to travel.

Luckily the race saved what could have been a disastrous weekend for Jerry as in 180 minutes Barcelona’s teams didn’t score, with the B’s losing 0-1 and the main event being a 0-0 draw.

A great month

The slog of January miles gratefully paid off in the past two weekends and I could achieve my goals in both races. Firstly Raheny finished ninth in Europe, moving up from 12th the year before.

We’ll take nothing for granted, but as a club, we’re hungry to get back to that level again next year and move up the continental rankings.

Barcelona was a very good day for me personally, taking over a minute off my half marathon PB and sneaking three seconds inside the World Championship standard. Thankfully, when things started to get particularly tough the last four miles I just about held it together.

Watching the clock tick along on the seemingly unending home straight I wasn’t sure I’d made it until I checked my watch for the fourth time after crossing the line. Now I can begin to plan the next phase of the year, hopefully taking in the World Half Marathon Championship in Valencia in late March.

While it felt long, this was actually a reasonably short training block, but after a hard cross country season that left my body particularly banged up. However, being able to compete strongly off five weeks of pure training in back to back races, gives me confidence that things are going in the right direction.

As I hobbled through Barcelona Airport on Sunday afternoon my mum turned to me and said she “couldn’t even imagine how miserable the journey home would be if I had been four seconds slower”. She was entirely right.

It’s a brutal thing when success is defined on such fine margins; I was lucky enough to be on the right side of the clock this time around but over the course of the career know I probably won’t always be so fortunate.

If that moment comes, as hard as it will be, at least I’ll be able to take comfort in the network of friends, family and coach to help roll through bad times, just as they are around in the good times.

Kevin Dooney is part of the ‘fast runners: class of 2018’ and during 2018 he will share his running journey every month. You can find out more about Kevin here and further information on the ‘class of 2018’ can be found here.

The post You can’t do it alone… it takes a village appeared first on Fast Running.

Connor crossed the line in a big personal best 61:12 to finish eighth on the streets of Barcelona, with Ethiopia’s Mule Wasihun taking the win in a course record 59:44 that was previously held by Eliud Kipchoge.

The 25-year-old, racing for only the second time over the distance, shows no signs of slowing down after an impressive cross country season in the British vest.

Connor improves on his previous best of 64:12 that dates back to the Great North Run in 2016 and now moves to number eight on the UK all-time rankings.

The Team New Balance Manchester runner was closely followed by another second timer over 13.1 miles – the impressive Luke Traynor with another PB.

Traynor’s time of 61:55 takes a huge two minutes chunk off his 2017 Manchester Half Marathon winning time. The young Scot’s time is the third fastest ever by a Scottish runner and well under the 65-minute qualifying mark for the World Half Marathon Championships next month.

2:12 marathoner Jonny Mellor also made it into the top ten crossing the line in 63:17, less than a minute outside his 62:23 best in New York last year, while Daniel Studley finished 18th in 64:23.

Irish runners Kevin Dooney and Paul Pollock finished 24th and 28th respectively in times of 64:56 and 65:40. For Dooney, who features in the ‘class of 2018’ it was a PB by over a minute.

While Swiss runner Julien Wanders clocked a PB 60:09 to finish second and move to fifth on the European all-time list.

Elsewhere, Eoghan Totten finished 32nd in 66:14 and Nick Samuels finished 40th in 68:18.

Olympian marathoner Sonia Samuels was the leading British runner in the women’s race clocking 72:40 to finish seventh among a top field.

Most impressively the time was just four seconds outside her 2013 best – an encouraging performance for the 38-year-old ahead of the marathon at the Commonwealth Games in April.

Katrina Wootton was in hot pursuit and crossed the line ten seconds after Samuels with a personal best 72:50. Wootton’s eighth-place finish takes over 30 seconds off her previous best.

Irish Olympian Lizzie Lee wasn’t far behind in 11th with a four-second personal best 73:23.

GB World Championships marathoner, Tracey Barlow, also sealed the qualifying standard for the World Half Marathon Championships crossing the line in 74:23 for 16th.

Julie Briscoe was the first W40 with 76:08 with Gladys Ganiel from Northern Ireland posting 77:38 to finish 25th.

Victory in the women’s race went to Bahrain’s Tejitu Daba in 68:36, with Ethiopian Dibabe Kuma second with 68:37 and Rwanda’s Salomé Nyirarukundo completed the podium in 68:48.

Moving from the roads in Barcelona to the indoor boards in Boston, there were personal best performances from Chris O’Hare, Jake Wightman, Steph Twell and Sarah McDonald among others. Catch up on the New Balance Indoor Grand Prix action here.

The post Ben Connor and Luke Traynor star at Barcelona Half Marathon appeared first on Fast Running.

Jonny Mellor along with Ben Connor and Sonia Samuels head the 12 British runners set for the streets of Barcelona this weekend. While Olympian marathoner Paul Pollock is the leading Irish runner of six.

Mellor, who clocked a 62:23 personal best last year in New York will hope for a good performance in the Catalan city as he continues his preparation for the London Marathon in April.

Joining Mellor on the men’s start line is Team New Balance Manchester teammate Connor who will compete in his second half marathon. The 25-year-old has had an impressive cross country season over winter and most recently finished fifth at the Great Edinburgh XCountry.

Luke Traynor, who finished eighth at the Antrim International Cross Country in January, is another second timer over the the distance. In his debut outing over 13.1 miles last year the 22-year-old won the Manchester Half Marathon in 64:07.

Elsewhere, Paul Martelletti, Daniel Studley, Eoghan Totten, Nick Samuels and Thomas Stevens are the other British men hoping to impress.

Paul Pollock, who recently spoke to Fast Running about his aims for the year ahead, is the fastest over the distance among the British and Irish with 62:09. In his last race, the Irish national cross country champion, clocked a 29:12 personal best on the roads of Madrid.

The 31-year-old will be joined by fellow Irish distance runners Kevin Dooney and John Travers. Dooney, who features in the ‘class of 2018’ has a half marathon PB of 66:05 from 2017 and most recently competed at the European Cross Country Club Championships.

Travers, 26, has a PB of 67:42 and will full of confidence after beating Olympian Mick Clohisey at the Raheny 5 mile road race last month.

In the women’s race, Samuels, who most recently ran 33:26 over 10k in Madrid on New Year’s Eve, will be aiming for a strong run now back down at sea level following altitude training in Kenya.

The Olympian has a 72:36 PB and her main target this year is the Commonwealth Games in April. Joining Samuels is British World Championships marathoner Tracy Barlow.

London Marathon bound Barlow has a 72:48 best and along with Samuels will compete alongside Britain’s best female distance runners at The Big Half next month.

The pair will be joined on the Barcelona start line by Jenny Spink (73:02) and Katrina Wootton (73:25), winner of the Chichester Priory 10k on Sunday (Feb 4).

Irish female distance runners set for the 28th edition of the race are Maria McCambridge, Lizzie Lee and Gladys Ganiel. McCambridge is the quickest over the distance with 72:26, while Olympian Lee and Ganiel have bests of 73:27 and 75:08 respectively.

Going for the top podium spots the leading entires in the men’s race include Kenyan’s Leonard Langat and Meshack Koech, Ugandan duo Moses Kurong and Abdallah Mande, and Mule Wasihun of Ethiopia.

Meanwhile, in the women’s field, Kenya’s Susan Kipsang, Bahrain’s Mimi Belete and Ethiopian pair Tejitu Daba and Dibabe Kuma will be among those battling for the top podium spot.

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