The Podium 5k races on Friday evening were as red hot as usual, with Richard Allen breaking the men’s course record in 14:05, and Mhairi Maclennan running a big PB to win the women’s race. A report from the action in Barrowford can be found here.

At parkrun, Chris Olley ran the third fastest time across the UK this year with a 14:17 run at the Pegwell Bay event, and you can read his run and the top times this week at parkrun here.

Brian Goodwin Memorial 10k, Bellahouston, Friday, June 15

GB international Luke Traynor laid down the gauntlet to the rest of the British elite distance runners when he ran a superb 28:32 on Friday evening to break the course record at the Brian Goodwin Memorial 10k in Scotland.

Traynor’s winning time was the third fastest ever by a Scot, only bettered by Allister Hutton and Andy Butchart.

Corstorphine AAC’s Calum McKenzie 30:49 would normally have been enough to easily win any 10k road race in the UK, but the Giffnock North athlete put paid to that with his world-class performance on the fast and flat course.

There was a fierce fight for the final podium position between Inverclyde’s John Bell (31:21) and Cambuslang Harriers’ Fraser Stewart (31:22) with just a second separating the pair.

Inverness’s Jenny Bannerman won her title back from the 2015 edition when she broke the course record in 35:08, just one second shy of her 2017 PB, while second placed Kilbarchan AAC’s Elspeth Curran also dipped under the old course record with a 35:25 clocking. Edinburgh AC’s Lauren Wilson was third in 37:25, running well to maintain her position ahead of club mate Katie Bain, who was never far behind in 37:52.

Summer Speedway 10k, Chepstow, Sunday, June 17

Cardiff’s Matt Clowes ran a solo 30:19 to win his third 10k of the year in the first ever running of this Chepstow race.

Photo: Tosh Simpkin / Chepstow Harriers

Organiser James Blore had set out to attract as many fast runners to the event, keen to encourage a competitive race for those wanting a stripped back racing experience.

Clowes was followed home by Bideford AC’s Shaun Antell in 31:17, with Antell’s club mates Aaron Richmond and Mark Jenkin claiming the next two spots in third and fourth with times of 31:25 and 31:26 respectively, clearly highlighting Blore’s success in creating a competitive environment for fast runners.

Chepstow athlete Katherine Matthews was a clear winner of the women’s race in 37:17, with the V40 Gwent cross country league champion doing well to beat to Fife AC’s Helen Sharpe, who holds a 35:40 PB from 2014 but ran 37:46 on the Beachley course on Sunday morning.

Photo: Tosh Simpkin / Chepstow Harriers

As predicted, Parc Bryn Bach’s Lauren Cooper made it onto the podium when her 38:40 earned her the third prize.

British Masters 5k Championships, Horwich, Sunday, June 17

Although the official results were unavailable at the time of going ‘to press’, the winners were confirmed as Blackburn’s Victoria Mousley and Gala Harriers’ Darrell Hastie.

Eastleigh 10k, Sunday, June 17

John Beattie won an extremely a tight battle for the title when he held off Crawley’s James Westlake by just four seconds, crossing the line in a classy 30:29 to Westlake’s 30:33. Southampton’s Aiden Lennan may have been 90 seconds adrift in third with his 32:04 clocking but it was nevertheless a PB for the 2018 Southampton half marathon title holder.

John Beattie wins the Hendy Eastleigh 10k. @hendygroup pic.twitter.com/6qeXxDs8e1

— Eastleigh 10K-2K (@Eastleigh10K2K) June 17, 2018

Lennan’s club mate Jen Elkins proved her impressive consistency by posting her second sub-35 result this year when claiming victory in 34:52. Elkins was well ahead of her nearest rival, but Fleet & Crookham’s Helen Cozens ran her fastest ever 10k when she finished in 36:47, as did third placed Emma Jolley from City of Portsmouth AC, who posted a 37:03 result.

Guernsey Dairy June Half Marathon, Sunday, June 17

Ryan Burling and Ulrike Maisch, who won the women’s marathon at the 2006 European Championships, but now lives in Guernsey, won the island half marathon.

Burling, who ran a half marathon PB of 66:28 and went to represent England, was the clear winner in men’s race in 67:51, while Maisch took the women’s honours in 85:13.

Fantastic win and 2nd fastest ever time I’ve ran in the Guernsey ‘Milk Run’ half marathon in 67.51. So happy to start the next big block of training with a solid performance. The buildup for autumn starts now… @BBCGuernsey @islandfm @ITVChannelSport @GsyAthletics pic.twitter.com/XHRkTXSmhd

— (@ryanburling) June 17, 2018

Freckleton Half Marathon, Sunday, June 17

This Lancashire half produced some sizzling performances on an otherwise grey, cool June morning. Border’s John Mason smashed his three year-old PB of 69:46 when he won the race of his life in 67:19, 38 seconds clear of Blackburn Harriers’ 65min half marathoner Ben Fish, who ran 67:57 for second place.

Salford Harriers’ David Rigby also ran well to claim the final podium spot with a 69:19 result.

The women’s race was a similarly competitive affair, with the top three separated by less than 90 seconds. Southport Waterloo AC’s Tracey Allan was the first across the line in 91:53, with Jess Kennedy and Jenny Pilling never far behind in 92:46 and 93:16 respectively.

Ranelagh Harriers Richmond 10k, Sunday, June 17

Clapham Chasers’ Steph Davis clinched her fourth road race victory of the year so far when she ran 35:41 to win this highly competitive South West London event ahead of Basildon’s Emma Houchell, who ran a 35:56 PB to take second place. Italy and Serpentine AC’s Marta Bagnati also ran her fastest 10k when she clocked 36:37 for third.

The men’s race saw a clear win for Epsom & Ewell’s Ollie Garrod, who crossed the line in a PB 31:54, while Woking’s Ben Goddard’s 33:05 was also a PB in second. V35 Steve Woolley was only seconds off his lifetime best when he clocked a 33:29 result in third.

The post Luke Traynor stars as fast times are clocked UK wide – weekly round-up appeared first on Fast Running.

Friday’s Podium 5k at Barrowford, Lancashire, will include the usual sub-18 minutes A race and the ‘sub-anything’ B race, but this week’s event will be followed by the first ever sub-16:30 minute ‘elite’ race.

Organiser Chris Barnes has offered up a £250 bonus to anyone running fast enough to top the UK rankings in the race, which would see the men breaking Nick Goolab’s 13:50 and Laura Weightman’s 15:25 (set at the Podium 5k earlier this year). There will be the usual winner’s cash prizes too to add extra incentive for fast times.

Top athletes already confirmed for the elite race include (with their PBs in brackets after their names): Becky Rigby (16:13 and winner of the last race), Ben Fish (14:24), Matt Barnes (14:11), Pat Martin (14:18), Karl Darcy (14:49), Marc Brown (14:32), Andrew Challenger (15:03), Jack Turner (15:20) and Dan Kestrel (15:20).

The last edition of the Podium series – which athletes simply turn up on the night to enter, paying £5 in cash and in return have the chance to run on one of the fastest 5k circuits in the country – saw GB international Tom Lancashire break the course record with a superb 14:19 performance, while Rigby took the women’s race in 16:30.

Photo: Podium 5k

Barnes is well known on the racing circuit for promoting simple format running and encouraging a stripped down racing experience – a fast course, cheap entry, and no medals or t-shirts.

The Ribble Valley Harries athlete and coach has previously spoken to Fast Running about this subject, adding: “I want to encourage the higher end of racing.. it is disgusting what is happening to the sport, with corporate idiots trying to make fast cash at the expense of runners wanting to improve their times.”

Sunday’s Summer Speedway 10k takes place at Beachley, Chepstow, and promises runners a flat and fast course, a slimmed down field, chip timing and a basic £12 entry fee, with any profits going back into cash prizes.

James Blore is organising the event, which will be the first of its kind to rank entrants on their best recorded time since 2012, and only allow entry to the top ranked athletes once the deadline has passed on Thursday lunchtime.

He agrees with Barnes that fast races are more likely to be achieved by simplifying things, adding: “That way you can keep costs low for competitors, and the onus should be on race organisers to make costs as low as possible so the entry price is cheap. Our sport is simple – chuck on a t-shirt, shorts and shoes, head out the door. Why complicate things?”

So far the big favourite for the men’s title of this inaugural 10k is Cardiff’s Matt Clowes, who won the Potters Arf half marathon on Sunday in a 66:53 course record (his PB is 64:38).

Photo: Paul Stillman

Although Clowes’ marathon debut in London didn’t go as well as expected, he has enjoyed success in a number of 10k races this year, and has posted two sub-30 results already.

Bideford’s Shaun Antell ran 31:10 at the recent Vitality London 10,000m but has a 30:04 PB from last year, while Hallamshire’s Tom Bains ran 30:05 on the track in America in March and will use the race as a tempo session.

Cardiff’s Dan Nash has a road best of 30:57 from this year’s Cardiff 10k but ran a far more promising 30:24 at the Highgate Harriers’ Night of the 10,000 PBs, and intriguingly Nash’s club mate and Fast Running’s Class of 2018 member Tom Marshall could be a wild card entry. The 1500m specialist has a 10k PB of 29:50 from when he last contested the distance back in 2013.

Fife AC and Bristol & West’s Helen Sharpe is the leading contender for the women’s title, with a 35:40 PB to her name and a host of local 10k victories under her belt, including the Caerphilly 10k last month.

Sharpe’s closest rival for the top prize could be Chepstow’s Kath Matthews, who, according to sources is capable of a sub-37 minute result and has won the Gwent League cross country series overall in three of the last four years.

Parc Bryn Bach’s Lauren Cooper is reportedly in good shape, has a PB of 37:23 from March’s Newport 10k and recently won the last leg of the Welsh Castle’s Relay.

Blore is also offering cash prizes for the winning men and women in incremental amounts, as well as veteran category and team prizes, with four needed to score for the men and three for the women.

There is still time to enter Sunday’s Summer Speedway 10k here, while entry for Friday’s Podium 5k races is on the night, with more information on the event’s Facebook and Twitter pages.

The post ‘Back to Basics’ pure speed races double whammy this weekend appeared first on Fast Running.

It’s no coincidence that both events regularly record some of the fastest 5k results in the country, their simple formats clearly harking back to the heydays of British distance running, pre-internet, pre-corporately organised road races, pre-jogging boom.

With both events charging £5 or less to enter, graded to ensure runners are competing against those of similar standard, held on flat, tarmac roads and paths and publishing results on the same day, they are a competitive athlete’s dream.

In June, another fast – and potentially furious event for more reasons than one – the Summer Speedway 10k is billed to take place on a flat, two lap course near Chepstow, filtering entries by the fastest athletes.

Once the entry date has passed, only the quickest will be able to race, with a limited number of on-the-day entries for sub-31 and sub-34 runners.

The longer standing Serpentine 5k, based in London’s Hyde Park, boasts course records of 14:35 (Andy Arrand, 1999) and 15:56 (Rachel Townend, 2007), and offers an A and B race option, the former being open only to those able to run the distance in less than 22 minutes.

Entries must be made in advance (due to Royal Parks rules, and, until this year, only by post) for the princely sum of £2 for club runners, but on completion of the race there is no water station, no medals, just an official time posted later that day.

The relatively new kid on the block to basic racing events, the Podium 5k, has courted – and won the attention of – the very best in British distance running to every fixture at its tarmac cycle track 1.1km loop course at Barrowford since its inaugural fixture in October 2014, with new Podium records of 14:19 and 15:25 set this year by Olympians Laura Weightman and Tom Lancashire.

Costing £5 on the night and offering cash prize incentives to winners as well as course record-breakers, it is clearly aimed at those who want to run as fast as they can.

The sole organiser of the Podium 5k, Chris Barnes, does not hold back when asked why he set up the no frills event: “It is disgusting what is happening to the sport, with corporate idiots trying to make fast cash at the expense of runners wanting to improve their times.

“I got sick of the masses of expensive races organised by people who don’t care about runners or fast times. Dave Norman (Altrincham & District AC’s veteran elite endurance runner and Fast Running class of 2018 member) is one of only a few people organising races by runners, for runners (most notably the Trafford 10k), which pushes the top end to faster results.

“Sadly, he is in the vast minority of elite athletes who organise races, they are mostly put on by corporate types who are only in it for the money and don’t care about improving the sport.

“I want to encourage the higher end of racing, and based the idea on the simplicity and competitiveness of the Stretford track races (held at Longford Park, Stretford and hosted by Trafford AC), where you enter on the night, compete in a graded race depending on your form, then go home.

“Likewise, we grade the Podium entrants into either the A or B race, so you’re running alongside others of a similar standard, which encourages faster times.” As Barnes adds succinctly, the A race is for sub-18 athletes, the B race is ‘sub-anything’!

Asked what factors have contributed to national 5k standards falling (with obvious, elite exceptions), he is controversial but forthright in his opinion: “parkrun has given joggers the divine right to hog the racing line, which is a shame as it is a fantastic event but has ruined 5k racing.”

Just one glance at the Podium’s illustrious list of female athletes who have beaten the 17-minute barrier (with six having gone better and run sub-16) on the course, it’s fair to say Barnes is going some way to addressing the quality at the sharper end of the nation’s 5k racing.

Past male winners of the event – held on three to four nights a year – include Matt Clowes, Jonny Mellor and Nick McCormick. The next fixture is billed for June 15th, with a new sub-16 minute elite race added to the evening’s racing alongside the regular sub-18 and open 5k.

Weightman, who set the Podium 5k course record in March, is also the course record holder in the women’s 3k at the Armagh Road Races in Northern Ireland. A unique event where record numbers of men and women continue to break barriers in the 5k and 3k races year after year. It’s a long time established event that attracts the best of Britain and Ireland for its elite men’s 5k, open women’s 3k and open men’s 3k.

These races aren’t alone

The Summer Speedway 10k is due to be held on June 17th, and promises a flat and fast course, a slimmed down field, chip timing and a basic £12 entry fee, with any profits going back into cash prizes.

Organiser James Blore explains why he felt the need to set up a race which will rank entrants on their best recorded time since 2012 and only allow entry to the top-ranked athletes once the deadline has passed: “It’s something I’ve wanted to do for a few years, but now more than ever I’ve felt it’s become something that’s actually necessary to do for the running community. And it’s my way of giving back to the sport that’s given me so much.

“In the past 10 years at Chepstow Harriers I’ve seen races get ever more expensive (though not our club races) and the amount of extra stuff (that you really don’t need) get ever bigger as well.

“I could wear a different race t-shirt every day for six months without washing them! All these things are unnecessary and just add to the costs which are then passed onto the runner.

“Whoever thinks it’s good value to pay £30 for a 10k is nuts. I should say that events put on by running clubs are mostly good value – it’s the commercialisation of the sport we love by profiteering organisations that are ripping off runners and hurting the grass roots that are the lifeblood of athletics.

“There’s a big need for a simplification of things – that way you can keep costs low for competitors, and the onus should be on race organisers to make costs as low as possible so the entry price is cheap.

“Our sport is simple – chuck on a t-shirt, shorts and shoes, head out the door. Why complicate things?”

A fight for race places

Blore goes onto address the issue of races filling up so quickly that the top end runners often don’t get a look in, thus watering down the standards on the day.

He explains: “It is a real bugbear of a lot of people I know – if you’re not up at 4am in the morning ready to enter online, then tough luck, no run for you! This is having a knock-on damaging effect on good club runners and lower performance standards throughout the country.

“These runners are missing out on competing against those of similar or higher ability regularly, and have little or no incentive to get faster.

“We just have to look at race times over the past years to see that average performances have fallen and very few organisations (especially not our governing bodies) have done anything to address this issue.

“The focus for them has been the tiny amount of elite athletes and then the huge number of mass participation runners – not the good club or regional athletes in between who could possibly make the next jump up to higher level competition.

“It seems such an obvious thing to say, but training and racing with faster people makes you faster!”

Blore says his idea of taking the quickest entrants is a fairer system for faster runners, adding: “it’s better than a random shoot-out on the speed of your internet connection, and the response so far from club runners has been very much ‘about time too’ – we just want a real old school burn up”.

The Summer Speedway will begin as a one-off trial race, but if Blore’s concept receives sufficient support he envisages a series where the top end of club runners could compete against each other on a more regular basis.

“Imagine a Leeds Abbey Dash race with the same depth and quality field, but in the South West and South of Wales”, he adds.

Five turned up for the inaugural ‘Last Friday of the Month 5k’

The Last Friday of the Month 5k is organised by Serpentine Running Club, and headed up by Malcolm French, who has overseen every fixture since April 2000.

The event is in its 26th year (although the 5k originally dates back to the late 1980s when it was organised by The London Road Runners Club), and recently passed its 300 race mark.

French explains why the event started, who it was aimed at, and why it has stuck resolutely to its basic format: “The original race director, John Walker, wanted to give people running in the park during their lunch breaks an opportunity to come together once a month for a race.

“He wanted it to be a proper race with an accurately measured course licensed with UK Athletics. Five runners turned up for the first race and we’ve gone on from there.

“It’s no frills racing. Most runners work locally – although a fair number come from much further afield – use their jog to the park as a warm up, do the race, then run straight back to work and are back at their desks having their sandwiches within an hour.

“Essentially, the same is true of the volunteers who do the organisation and marshalling and who also have to fit the races into their work schedules.

“This means we have to keep things simple and what race equipment we do use has to be capable of being brought to the park by bus or tube. 10 minutes before the race, you wouldn’t know anything was going to happen, and 10 minutes after the finish everyone will have gone.

“Although there are medals for the first three female and male finishers, we’ve always taken the view that we will simply charge an entry fee that covers our costs. For a lunchtime race, that’s what the runners are looking for.”

It remains to be seen whether these three events and others like them will help to reverse the long time decline in the nation’s distance running standards.

‘Big’ running events such as the Great Run and Vitality series have their place, offering runners of all abilities the chance to enjoy racing against large fields and – for a sizeable fee – rewarded with a sparkling medal or technical t-shirt in return. parkrun also should be credited for increasing large scale participation in running events across the UK and, indeed, the world.

But it’s the sharper end of competitive racing that 5ks at Podium, Serpentine, Armagh and the new Summer Speedway 10k are trying to address – only time will tell if they succeed in their aim to enrich the top of the rankings tables with cheap, simple, ‘no frills’ race formats. Here’s hoping they do!

The post Do we want fast times? Then let’s get back to basics… appeared first on Fast Running.