6th November 2017

Weekend update

Leeds Abbey Dash, Leeds, November 5

World Championship finalist Eilish McColgan (Liz Nuttall) continued her fine 2017 form into November as she defended her women’s title at the Leeds Abbey Dash and with it took a third career victory at the event.

McColgan, who finished tenth in the 5,000m at the World Championships in London this summer, took the tape over double the distance in Leeds with a chip time of 32:05 minutes.

That was almost a minute ahead of Belfast AC’s Emma Mitchell (Eamonn Christie) in second with 32:51 while Ashley Gibson of Tonbridge AC was third a further 39 seconds back on chip time.

The men’s race saw 14 athletes dip below 30 minutes with Sam Stabler (Rob Denmark) coming out on top in 29:13 for his first win at the Leeds Abbey Dash. Paul Pollock was given second ahead of Ben Connor (Steve Vernon), who represented Great Britain at the European Cross Country Championships last year, as both clocked 29:20.

Results 

 

ECCA Saucony English National Relay Championships, Mansfield, November 4

Aldershot, Farnham & District and Tonbridge claimed the women’s and men’s senior titles respectively at the ECCA Saucony English National Relay Championships in Mansfield.

The trio of Katie Bingle (Mick Woods), another British international in Emelia Gorecka and Emily Hosker Thornhill (Woods) led Aldershot, Farnham & District to the women’s title in 29:48.05 minutes.

Bingle set the tone with a 9:44.25 opening leg with Leeds City second nearly a minute behind in Mansfield in 30:42.55 and Charnwood third with a combined time of 31:13.55.

The quartet of George Duggan, Charlie Joslin-Allen, Ryan Driscoll, Christopher Olley (All Mark Hookway) combined to give Tonbridge a time of 1:03:11.20 hours and a winning margin of almost three seconds.

Aldershot, Farnham & District’s men almost came close to completing a club double following victory in the women’s race thanks to a strong anchor leg from British international Jonny Hay (Woods) but fell short on 1:03:14.10.

In the junior races, Harriet Knowles-Jones (Paul Roden) anchored the Warrington team to the U20 women’s title whilst Loughborough Students won the men’s equivalent.

Results

 

TSC New York City Marathon, New York, USA, November 5

JohnBoy Smith (Jenny Archer) produced a standout performance in the TSC New York City Marathon as he finished second behind the all-conquering Marcel Hug in the men’s wheelchair race.

Smith, competing for only the second time over 26.2 miles in New York after finishing 14th in 2015, clocked 1:39:40 hours for second as Hug won the race for the third time and added to victories in Boston and Chicago.

Japan’s world silver medallist Sho Watanabe had to settle for third behind Smith, who was fifth in Berlin last month and won the Seville Marathon back in February. Despite being well-placed, Simon Lawson (Ian Thompson) unfortunately had to withdraw in the closing stages due to a tyre puncture.

Jade Jones (Ian Thompson) was eighth in the women’s wheelchair race, which saw Hug’s Swiss teammate Manuela Schar defeat home hope Tatyana McFadden by almost three minutes.

After dominating the sprints in recent times, Richard Whitehead returned to his marathon roots as he joined thousands of runners across New York. Running for the Achilles Freedom Team, Whitehead completed the race in 3:20.14.

Results