GB senior teams dominate Euro XC

Andy Butchart led the men’s team to a golden victory over their 10k course at the European Cross Country Championships this weekend. Butchart placed 5th and was joined in the three-to-score spots by trials winner Ben Connor who snuck his way into the top ten to place 9th and Kristian Jones who secured the top podium placing by finishing 22nd. Patrick Dever ran to 26th, team captain Adam Hickey 36th and Tom Evans 44th. Belgium took team silver and Spain bronze. Robel Fsiha of Sweden won the individual men’s race.

After a long wait watching all the other races, an experienced team of Senior ladies hit the 8k course in Libson, Portugal. Reigning champion Yasemin Can of Turkey dominated from the start and kept her individual title but convincingly bringing it home for Britain were Jess Judd in 6th, Charlotte Arter in 7th and a standout performance from Abbie Donnely in 13th. Amy Griffiths took 15th, Jenny Nesbitt 29th and Kate Avery 30th.

Ireland’s Fionnuala McCormack, who has been eating XC for breakfast for 16 years, ran a great race showing confidence by holding back early on and then powering up the hills in the latter stages. Sadly she couldn’t quite catch Sweden’s Samrawit Mengsteab on the final straight through and leaves Lisbon with a 4th place. She does however take home a sliver team medal.

In the mixed relay GB bagged another Gold thanks to the sterling efforts of Sarah McDonald, James McMurray, Alex Bell and Jonny Davies who brought it home in the anchor leg.

Hardest race I’ve ever done! Makes it all worthwhile finishing 6th individually and 1st team, especially with my lovely roomie who is probably the nicest person you’ll ever meet! Extremely grateful to share this experience with such a lovely team! pic.twitter.com/o1emW94kU0

— Jess Judd (@jessjuddxx) December 8, 2019

3rd and 4th for UK u/23 teams

Bronwen Owen ran her first U23 XC for her country and held on brilliantly for a 7th place despite the tough course sapping her energy with a lap still to go. Owen led home the rest of the U23 ladies to a bronze team medal with Amelia Quirk taking 15th, Poppy Tank 18th, Hannah Nuttall 31st and Eleanor Bolton 33rd.

Mahamed Mahamed has plenty of experience in the U23’s and was up for a fight, pushing hard and getting himself into third for some of the race. He was disappointed with an eventual 8th place finish but can claim top GB runner in his category. The U23 gents placed 4th in the team rankings with Alex Yee in 12th, Sol Sweeney 29th, Euan Makepeace 56th and Emile Cairness 60th.

Golden trip for the u/20s

In the U20s women’s race the team rankings were as much of a roller-coaster as the undulating course as Italy and GB tied for first place, with Italy initially announced as having taken the Gold only to have that changed to give GB the top-bling. That decision was made because Britain’s 6,11,12 placings were better than Italy’s 1,3,15.

Kicking off proceedings the U20 GB lads set the team-gold tone for the day thanks to a convincing 13 point margain to take yet another team-gold ahead of Norway (including one rather well known Jakob Ingebrigtsen who romped home to his 4th solo title) and Ireland. Charlie Hicks had a fantastic race to finish 5th, Matt Willis was 9th and Zak Mahamed 11th. For the rest of the team Will Barnicoat ran home in 22nd, Hamish Armitt 31st and Matthew Stonier 72nd.

Ockenden runs 3rd fastest 5000m indoors

Verity Ockenden moved to 3rd on the AT UK indoor 5000m rankings as the Tony Houchin coached athlete clocked 15:34 at the Sharon Colyear-Danville meet at Boston University in the US.

Craig and Harrison lead home deep fields at Telford 10km

Back in the UK and on the roads there was one race that dominated the racing this weekend. The Telford 10k was a riot of talent with 159 runners sub 35 in the men’s race and 56 women sub 38. Samantha Harrison of Notts AC led home the women in 32:33 (PB 33:29) followed closely by Dani Chattenton of the MK Distance Project who updated a rather old 10k PB by over 10 minutes to 32:37. Third place went to Welsh athlete Clara Evans in 33:08, also a PB. With times that would normally secure you a podium spot, AFD’s Lauren Hall had to settle for 4th and a PB in 33:16 and City of Stoke’s Kate Holt 33:18 gained her 5th place – not bad for your first recorded 10k!

Back from his win in Ireland at the Bobby Rea International Cross Country, Adam Craig gave his coach Steve Vernon an early Christmas present in the form of a number one spot and 30 second PB. He broke the tape in 28:31. Birchfield Harriers’ Omar Ahmed was second in another PB of 28:38 and third place went to Serpentine’s Callan Moody in 28:56 (PB). Jack Gray was 4th with a fine 28:57 with Welsh marathoner Josh Griffiths 5th also in 28:57 (PB).

The sheer depth of field leaves us wanting to spend all day on these results but we have to stop somewhere so if you want to go and marvel for yourself, check out the full results here. There were some particularly impressive results for masters athletes notably V45 Will Green (30:31) and V55 Claire Elms (36:54).

 

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PB and the win for @adamcraig95 today at the #Telford10km #TeamNB

A post shared by New Balance Manchester (@teamnbmcr) on Dec 8, 2019 at 5:36am PST

Busy weekend of domestic XC action

Many Cross Country leagues held their final races before Christmas. Full results and links to pending results are below, where possible.

Horspath, Oxford may not sound quite as glam as Lisbon but there was an equal amount of grit on show there at the SEAA County Cross Country Inter Counties Championships. Essex’s Elisabeth Davies (22:21) led the women home, followed by Lily Coward (22:40) for Kent AC and Rachel Wiseman (22:53) took third to cement Essex’s team win.

In the Liverpool and District League Ross Harrison of Liverpool Pembroke & Sefton AC was first home in the Senior Men’s race. The women’s results are tbc. At London’s Met League match the river crossing proved no barrier to the win for Herts Phoenix runner Elizabeth Janes or Dylan Evans of Shaftsbury Barnet Harriers both of who claimed victory in their Senior races. Michael Ward (Uni of Birmingham) was winner in the Birmingham League but again, women’s results are tbc.

British athletes shine in the Caribbean

Run Barbados was hosting a range of events this weekend from 1 mile to 26.2 of them and two UK ladies have been making their mark. Sarah Inglis came first in the mile race in 5:01, Natasha Wodak won the 10k in 36:09 with Inglis second in 36:20 and both ladies were due to run the half marathon this morning. Inglis has won two years in a row and will be looking to retain her title – results tbc. The Reggae Marathon in Jamaica was won by Ros Ponder, time TBC.

 

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Yup. Just won the Jamaican marathon! (giant trophy for overall winner, additional little trophy for being so old) A relentless course in boiling conditions with no marathon training in my legs… but nothing like a bit of reggae and the world’s friendliest people to keep you going. #onelove #jamaica #reggaemarathon #marathon

A post shared by Ros Ponder (@ros_ponder) on Dec 8, 2019 at 7:54am PST

Festive fun on the UK roads

The Milton Keynes Winter Half saw a convincing win for under 20 Heathside athlete Seyfu Jamaal in 66:05 with the winning woman Johanna Sharples running 83:53. The men’s podium was completed by Edward Mallett (70:39) and Ryan Hogan (74:17). 2nd and 3rd in the women’s race were claimed by Ginevra Stoneley (85:01) and Olympian Claire Hallissey (85:23).

Lancaster AC hosted their Power of 5k race and Matthew Crehan posted an impressive 14:38 to take the win ahead of Karl Billington (15:34) and Reuben Copley (15:40). Layla Foley was the winning woman in 17:55 ahead of Jade Smith (18:24) and Suzanne Smith (20:25)

The Andy Reading 10km was won by Alex Miell-Ingram in 33:08 ahead of Ben Kruze (33:35) and Stephen Herring (35:08). The top three women were Rebecca Duxbury (37:30), Helen Mulhall (39:37), Becky Hodgson (41:10).

The Osterley Park Winter 10km saw Tim Lawrence claim a narrow win in 34:23 edging out Joe Gomes who clocked 34:26 with George Bailey 3rd in 35:11. Emma MacAlister-Hall was the winning woman in 38:18 ahead of Rachael Turner (42:01) and Magdalena Walbaum (42:17).

At the Willowbrook Halewood 5K Series Thomas Boardman of Leigh harriers won in 15:57 and Louise Jackson of host club Knowsley Harriers finished first for the ladies in 19:31. At the Beccles Turkey Trot 10 Matthew Jeffries (Waveney Valley AC) trotted his way home to first place running 10 miles in 54:47 with a 4 minute lead on his nearest rival. Waveney took top sport in the women’s race too thanks to Samantha Jacks running 1:03:29.

Also getting festive was Robert Spencer (32:07) and Diane Leggot (40:57) with their Christchurch Christmas 10k win and the ever popular Mince Pie 10 mile trail race was won by James Baker in 55:14 and Tara Shanahan in 1:06:43.

Full XC League Results

Chiltern League
Met League
Liverpool and District League
Manchester Area League
Birmingham League
Midland’s Women’s League
North Midland’s League
Gwent League
CC6 League
East Yorkshire League
North Yorkshire & South Durham League
Southern League

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The post Fantastic field at Telford and action from the Euro XC – weekend roundup appeared first on Fast Running.

The Night of the 10,000m PBs was another pageant of 10km racing. The noise of the crowd is still ringing in our ears. The inspiring performances from the likes of Steph Twell and Ben Connor is still fresh in our minds. So what better time is there to think about setting yourself a goal 10km?

In this article we summarise some of Europe’s best 10km opportunities in the autumn and winter. It’s not an exhaustive list so be sure to get in touch and shout about the races you’ve PB’s at and would recommend.

If you want top tips on how to run your best 10km race then check out our recent article.

Age UK Leeds Abbey Dash – Leeds, UK (October)

The ‘Abbey Dash’ has been a firm favourite of British PB hunters for years. A quick glance at the top 100 10km road rankings on the Power of 10 and you’ll soon realise that alongside Telford 10km this is one fast race!

With changes to the course in 2019 it is expected to be even quicker this year. The out and back route follows the flat course of the River Aire taking in Kirkstall Abbey. Like Telford, however, it is the density of fast runners taking part that makes this race such a hit.

Check out more on the race here

Tilburg 10km – Tilburg, Netherlands (September)

Tilburg 10km takes place on the same day as the famous 10 mile race of the same name.

The flat fast 10km course however attracts a high qaulity field. The separate elite women’s race has seen some spectacular performances over the years including the course record of 30:30 set by Tirunesh Dibaba in 2013 and Shalane Flanagan who broke the American record here with 31:03 in 2015.

The Dutch have a fantastic pedigree of putting on super fast races with great support for elites including Dam tot Damloop and Parelloop 10km.

All the details on the Tilburg 10km can be found here

Telford 10km – Telford, UK (December)

The depth of quality is what makes Telford special. In 2018 49 men ran sub 31 minutes and a 34:00 clocking saw you finish 192nd. The qaulity of the women’s times reflects the depth of the race too with 12 women breaking 35 minutes and 59 breaking 40 minutes.

Track back through the videos and social media posts of previous years and you’ll know to expect a lightening quick start. Find your train and hang on!

The December timing works well for many runners, with the endurance from cross country season beginning to bed in this is one of the last opportunities to crack a PB and hit the new year on a high.

Check out the Telford AC website to enter

2018 Leeds Abbey Dash. Photo credit: Leeds Abbey Dash

Ladywell 10,000m – London, UK (September)

If you were inspired by the Night of the 10,000m PBs and fancy a crack yourself the Ladywell 10,000m could be just the ticket. Organised by Kent AC, who know a thing or two about distance running, this event is becoming an increasing popular option for athlete’s wanting a high quality track race.

Taking place on the beautiful track at Ladywell Fields the event sees seven seeded races across the day. With music, food, pacemakers and a brilliant family atmosphere this is a proper celebration of 10,000m running.

Paul Martelletti and Katrina Wootton (who ran 31:45 here in 2017) have been winners in recent years so if you are looking for fast times you are bound to have company to help get you there.

The details on all the races can be found on the Kent AC website

Corrida de Houilles – Paris, France (December)

Julia Wanders broke his own European 10km record in the 2018 edition of this famous race running 27:25.

Naturally the course is fast, but it does have a few undulations as it works its way around three laps of the Paris suburb. The race has an excellent atmosphere with locals coming out to support creating a real buzz in the town centre which is easily accessible by train from central Paris.

The separate mass participation race takes place earlier in the day with elite race starting at 16:30. This just adds to the atmosphere with many of the runners from earlier in the day staying on, often with a drink or two in hand, to see the elites battle it out.

Last year four British men broke the 30 minute barrier here and in 2017 Ben Connor ran 29:03, Rosie Clarke 33:04 and Katrina Wootton 33:33.

Taking place at the end of December it’s not a bad place to stay on and bring in the New Year either!

Check out the race website for all the details on the mass participation and elite races

Valencia 10km – Valenica, Spain (December)

Taking place on the same day as the increasingly popular Valencia marathon this is a race made for fast times.

Valencia brands itself the ‘city of running’ and over the last few years some of the spectacular times we’ve seen here seem to back that up. With the world half marathon records for both men and women set in Valencia it’s a city that knows how to set up a fast race.

The 10km is no different. With long stretches of straight, pancake flat road the final 1km is invitingly downhill leading to the spectacular finish outside the Ciudad de las Artes y las Ciencias.

There is good support offered for international elite athletes and travel is easy from major airports in the UK.

For all the details on the race and how to enter click here

Runners in the sun at the start of Valencia 10km. Photo credit: Tom Craggs

Cardiff 10km – Cardiff, UK (September)

Wales’s biggest 10km race takes place at the beginning of September each year. Run by the same team who organised the World Half Marathon Championship when it took place in Cardiff the race is perfectly set up for quick running.

With past winners including Dewi Griffiths (29:10 – 2018) and Lily Partridge (33:27 – 2018) Cardiff 10km attracts some top athletes looking for a fast early race.

The flat single lap course is blessed with very few twists and turns and attracts some good local support to cheer you on your way.

The Cardiff 10km website can be found at this link

San Silvestre Vallecana – Madrid, Spain (December)

Another race allowing a good New Year party is the San Silvestre Vallecana in Madrid. The prestigious race has taken place on New Year’s Eve since 1964 with up to 40,000 runners taking part in two races.

The elite race has seen course records set by Paula Radcliffe (31:16) and Jacob Kiplimo. Kiplimo’s time of 26:41 is the fastest road 10km ever run but the net downhill course does not allow for it to be an official world record.

To get into the ‘elite’ race (which has 1000 places) you’ll need to have run inside 39 minutes if you are a man and 45 minutes if you are a woman.

Click here to enter one of the world’s fastest races

Birell 10 km Race – Prague, Czech Republic (September)

The annual Prague Grand Prix is part of the excellent Run Czech series of races which offer good support for travelling international elite athletes.

Four of the top 10 fastest women’s times in history have been run here and it has by far the most sub 28 men’s times of any race in the world. Joyciline Jepkosgei set a new womens world record here of 29:43 in 2017.

Aside from being about the fastest race on this list the race has a unique atmosphere. Taking place at twilight in one of the most beautiful cities in the world no matter how your race goes you’re likely to have a great weekend here.

Check out all the details on the Prague 10km and the other Run Czech races here

We Run Rome 10km – Rome, Italy (December)

As if you didn’t have enough fast New Year choices already here is another! Taking place on New Year’s Eve the We Run Rome 10km is now in it’s ninth edition.

With nearly 10,000 runners taking part there is something for everyone, especially those hunting fast times. The 2018 race saw winning times of 31:46 from Lonah Chemtai Salpeter and 29:05 from Daniele Meucci.

The We Run Rome website has all the details you’ll need to enter

Ben Connor & Callum Hawkins @ Corrida de Houilles 2017. Photo credit: Tom Craggs

Foulees Monterelaises 10km, Montereau-Fault-Yonne, France (October)

With records of 28:16 and 31:28 the course is fast and the field is strong. The 2018 edition of the race saw 106 men run sub 35 minutes. Whilst the depth of the women’s field was not quite as strong with 14 women inside 39 minutes it’s clear the race allows the opportunity for quick times.

Montereau is a pretty town that sits on the confluence of the Seine and Yonne rivers. It’s a little over an hour’s drive South East of Paris. The location of the race beside the two rivers allows for a fast two lap course.

As with all French races you’ll need to have a stamped letter from your GP or sports doctor to confirm your readiness to race.

The race website gives you all the details on the course and how to enter

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The post Winter wonders: your guide to Europe’s best 10km races appeared first on Fast Running.