The popular and fast no-frills race at Salford Sports Village attracted a top field of club runners as always selling out in advance and reaching its limit of 750 runners.

Liverpool Harriers John Ashcroft was the clear the men’s title on Friday morning crossing the line in 30:17 for a 16-second win.

Ashcroft, who ran the third fastest long leg at the Northern Road Relays last weekend ran his fastest time over the distance since 2016.

It was a close contest for other podium spots with seconds between the next three runners. Matthew Grieve won the battle for second, with the Border Harriers runner crossing the line in 30:33, one second ahead of Will Mycroft.

Last year’s winner, Marc Brown of host club Salford Harriers, just missed out on the top three in 30:35.

Five men finished under 31 minutes with Vale Royal’s Matthew Sheen dipping under the mark running a personal best 30:58.

Laura Hesketh, who was ninth in last year’s race, powered to victory in the women’s race crossing the line in 34:38 for an eight-second win.

It’s been a fast seven days for the Clayton-le-moors Harrier ran the second fastest time at UK parkruns last weekend.

Taking the runner-up spot was Georgia Malir in 34:46. The Leeds City runner ran the sixth fastest short leg at the Northern Road Relays last Sunday.

Completing the podium was 2017’s runner-up Danielle Fegan in 35:11. The Sale Harrier equalled her personal best time which she also ran last year in Salford.

Rotherham’s Samantha Hughes was fourth in her first competitive race over the distance in 35:40.

Top 10 men

1) John Ashcroft (Liverpool Harriers & AC) 30:17
2) Matthew Grieve (Border Harriers & AC) 30:33
3) Will Mycroft (Enfield and Haringey AC) 30:34
4) Marc Brown (Salford Harriers & AC) 30:35
5) Matthew Sheen (Vale Royal AC) 30:58
6) Robert Danson (Wesham Road Runners & AC) 31:06
7) Michael Tanner (Birchfield Harriers) 31:09
8) Michael Hoyle (Leeds City AC) 31:11
9) Daniel Kestrel (Rotherham Harriers) 31:19
10) Russell (Bentley Kent AC) 32:00

Top 10 women

1) Laura Hesketh (Clayton-le-Moors Harriers) 34:38
2) Georgia Malir (Leeds City AC) 34:46
3) Danielle Fegan (Sale Harriers Manchester) 35:11
4) Samantha Hughes (Rotherham Harriers) 35:40
5) Fiona Davies (Rotherham Harriers) 36:12
6) Becky Briggs (City of Hull AC) 36:50
7) Zara Knappy (Rotherham Harriers) 36:51
8) Charlotte Wills (Leeds City AC) 36:55
9) Sarah Howard (Liverpool Harriers & AC) 37:18
10) Sarah Louise Cumber (Halifax Harriers & AC) 37:36

Full results can be found here.

The post John Ashcroft and Laura Hesketh win Salford 10k appeared first on Fast Running.

Also of note, former GB international Colin McCourt survived 17 tattoos after an impressive 15:37 clocking.

After a fast start on the specifically designed course in the darkness of Lancashire, a large group passed the half way point all on target for sub 15-minutes.

Heading into the final lap it was John Ashcroft of Liverpool Harriers who was leading. Ashcroft managed to hold the lead and crossed the line in a superb personal best 14:27. Just three seconds behind was the chasing Matthew Crehan (St Helens and Sutton) in 14:30.

Liverpool’s David Devine, also a Paralympic T12 athlete, clocked a fantastic 14:31 for third. A further 12 athletes then pursued to break the 15-minute barrier.

Kendal AAC’s Rebecca Robinson won the women’s title in 16:39 following a close finish with Olympian Hannah England.

Robinson has battled back impressively after being involved in a heavy fall while representing Team GB in the World Mountain Championships in July.

The incident was the result of a push at the start of the race, but despite a lot of pain and bruising the tough athlete battled on to finish. Side-lined for a number of weeks, the Doctor in Sports Medicine is now getting back into good form, including a fine 33:46 at Leeds Abbey Dash.

Hannah England used her 1500m speed to finished strongly, but couldn’t quite close the gap and crossed the line one second behind Robinson in 16:40.

Third went to Jacqueline Fairchild of Preston Harriers. Like England, Fairchild is usually seen lapping 800m or 1500m on a track but showed great strength in clocking 16:53 over the longer distance.

The quick course also saw a return to racing from former GB athlete Colin McCourt. McCourt represented Britain at the 2010 European Championships, Commonwealth Games at 1500m and the European Indoor Championships in 2011. After retiring in 2012 and gaining weight, the middle distance athlete made a bet with friends that he could get in shape and break 16 minutes for 5km in 2017.

Failure to do so would entail getting all seventeen of his friend’s names tattooed on his body. This weekend’s Podium 5km was billed as the venue to achieve his goal or face the ink consequences! The former 3:37 1500m and 1:46 800m man rose to the challenge and crossed the line in 15.37 comfortably winning the bet.

Full results can be found here.

The post John Ashcroft and Rebecca Robinson win Podium 5K appeared first on Fast Running.