12th June 2017
MEEK LEADS WOMEN TO FOURTH IAU WORLD TRAIL CHAMPS
The British Athletics team had mixed fortunes at the 2017 IAU World Ultra Trail Championships held in Badia Pataglia, Italy on Saturday 10 June.
The gruelling race, held over a challenging 50km course with 2700m of climb, saw the British women’s team finish just outside of the podium places for fourth place.
The sextet of women were led home by Jo Meek, a 17th place finisher overall, in a time of 5:31.33 in what were warm conditions, with the Winchester athlete backed up by excellent runs from Katie Kaars-Sijperstein and Helen Bonsor, 23rd and 28th place finishers in 5:37.58 and 5:42.24 respectively.
Behind the trio came Sally Fawcett for 33rd in 5:55.09, with global ultra multi-medallist Jo Zakrzewski posting 6:31.07. Unfortunately Julie Briscoe dropped out of the competition at around the 40km mark after badly twisting her ankle on one of the steep descents.
Of the men, British Athletics debutant Kyle Greig (Lewis Walker) was the first Brit home for 26th in 4:55.49, with fellow debutant Gareth Hughes 33rd as he crossed the line in 5:00.17.
Support to the pair came from Tom Payn, a 40th place finisher overall in 5:05.16, and Calderdale’s Matt Roberts in 6:31.07 as the men secured ninth place in the team standings in an exceptionally strong field.