28th October 2019
WEEKEND UPDATE 28/10/2019
IAU 24 Hour World Championships, Albi France, 26-27 October
The British team took respective fifth and sixth place finishes in the women’s and men’s team event from the 2019 IAU 24 Hour World Championships in Albi, France.
The women’s team were led by Jess Baker (Road Runners Club), who repeated her performance from Belfast to finish as top scorer, notching a distance of 227.558km, good enough for 16th place overall, with Catherine Simpson (coach: Norman Wilson; club: Sheen) 23rd on her British debut with 220.301km.
Wendy Whearity (Reading Joggers) finished four places further back after amassing a distance of 271.174km as the third scorer for the British team, with Ali Young’s (self-coached; Chiltern) 211.113km and Sarah Morwood’s (Bere Alston) personal best 186.169km completing the women’s team results.
Camille Herron (USA) recording a world record of 270.116km to take the individual title and team title, while in the men’s race, Aleksandr Sorokin (LTU) took the honours with a 278.973km effort.
For the Brits, Paul Maskell (St Austel) had an impressive debut as the first British man in 15th place with a personal best 251.261km his distance. Experienced GB athlete James Stewart (Victoria Park City of Glasgow) also set a new lifetime best of 250.696km as he came home 17th while Dan Lawson (Allison Benton; Unattached) was 23rd in 244.732km to finish as third scorer.
Team stalwart Steve Holyoak (Road Runners Club) once again delivered a strong performance with 234.590km for 35th spot, Grant MacDonald (Garscube) hit 227.734km for 43rd and Mike Stocks’ (Norman Wilson; London Heathside) 209.145km for 71st spot completed the men’s team.
Paul Maskell: “For a first-time GB athlete I was blown-away by the team atmosphere in what is normally an individual event. The crew support behind the scenes was phenomenal. I’m looking forward to building on this performance and helping the team win medals at future championships.”
Jess Baker: “I always run my own race but it was great to share the track with such high calibre athletes and to see Camille smash her own world record. It’s always so inspirational to see my fellow athletes, often against great adversity, pushing themselves to new limits.”
Frankfurt Marathon, Sunday 27 October
Steph Twell ran an Olympic Games qualifying standard in Frankfurt, clocking a fantastic personal best of 2:26.40, also a Scottish record. Taking just over three and a half minutes off her previous best, Twell exceeded Liz McColgan’s previous best of 2:26:52 set in 1997, and moved up to fifth on the UK all-time list.
Racing his first marathon since the Olympic Games in Rio, in the men’s race, Derek Hawkins (Robert Hawkins; Kilbarchan) was tenth in a PB of 2:12.49, beating his previous best by eight seconds.
Warm up to the Worlds meeting, Loughborough, Friday 25 October
Reigning T38 long jump champion Olivia Breen (Aston Moore; City of Portsmouth) warmed-up for next month’s World Para Athletics Championships in Loughborough producing a leap of 4.70 metres in round one which was the best in her series. She followed that up with a 4.69m in round two.
Stef Reid (Aston Moore; Charnwood) continued her preparation for Dubai with a best of 5.19 metres in round one, while Martina Barber (Paddy O’Shea; Stevenage & Herts Phoenix) managed 4,94m as she gets ready for her second World Championships.
In the men’s long jump, Zak Skinner (Aston Moore; Loughborough Students) jumped solidly with 6.40m his best of the series. Luke Sinnott (Roger Keller; Bournemouth) prepared for the T63 long jump in Dubai with 5.19m his furthest effort, coming with his only legal mark, in round one.
Results link to follow.
Jedburgh Running Festival 10km, Sunday 27 October
Ben Rowlings (Ian Mirfin; Coventry) and Sammi Kinghorn (Mirfin; Red Star) fine-tuned their preparations for the World Para Athletics Championships at the 10km festival in Scotland.
Rowlings won the wheelchair race in 23:46 – he will face the T34 100m, 400m and 800m in Dubai in two weeks’ time. Luke Deighan (Mirfin; Red Star) was the next male finisher clocking 27:22.
Meanwhile Sammi Kinghorn overcame a couple of technical problems to post a time of 25:38 while Mel Woods (Mirfin; Red star) was second in 27:23 which placed her atop the power of ten rankings in the T54 category.
Results link to follow.
Leeds Abbey Dash 10K 2019, Leeds, October 27
Omar Ahmed (David Lawrence; Birchfield) held off Ross Millington (Stockport) in a sprint finish to earn victory on his 10k debut on the roads of West Yorkshire, cutting the tape in 28:38.
Millington was a second further back, with Adam Craig (Steve Vernon; Inverclyde) rounding off the top three in 28:45.
Charlotte Arter (Chris Jones; Cardiff) continued her exceptional form with a 43-second PB as she was the first woman home, with Abbie Donnelly (Rob Lewis; Lincoln Wellington) bettering her own personal best by two-and-a-half minutes to take second.
Beth Potter (Shaftesbury Barnet) rounded off the top three, coming home in 32:05, just outside her personal best of 32:02.
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