A wonderful weekend of Welsh PB performances!
There were some blistering performances over the weekend, particularly from two Welsh road stars, Jake Smith and Charlie Hulson over half marathon and 10 miles respectively. Welshman, Andy Davies celebrated his 40th year with an impressive win in the Preston 10 as Welsh women Eli Kirk and Ali Lavender were winning too!
At the Semi Marathon Boulogne Billancourt, in Paris, Jake Smith (handicap -5.5) put himself among illustrious company as he ran a huge half marathon personal best and British under-23 record. Smith, who ran the 10,000m at the European Under-23 Championships back in the summer, clocked 62:02 to finish fifth in the 13.1 mile event in France. That took almost two minutes off his previous best with the British record now his and only Mo Farah (handicap -7.6), Callum Hawkins (handicap -6.6) and Dewi Griffiths (handicap -5.3) ahead of him in the runbritain rankings for the half marathon this year.
In Cumbria the annual Brampton to Carlisle 10 mile event was an ideal place to run fast times as shown by Charlie Hulson's scintilating 47:24. However Charlie was in good compant with Phil Sesemann (handicap -5.6) close behind in 47:45. Marc Brown (handicap -3.7) of Salford Harriers also broke the 50 minute barrier with 49:41 for third. Ali Lavender (handicap 1.2) continued her fantastic recent form to cross the line as the winner running 56:00 with her nearest challenger being Annabel Simpson (handicap 0.3) in 58:09.
In the Preston 10, M40 superstar Andy Davies (handicap -4.7) was a class act with a 49:10 win from Matt Crehan (handicap -5.2) and Michael Cayton (handicap -2.7) who were close behind in 49:32 and 49:35. The women were led home by another Welsh PB winner Elinor Kirk (handicap 0.1) in 55:51 ahead of Emily Japp in 56:45 (handicap 0.6).
The Derby 10 mile had an impressive line up of stars too with Ben Connor (handicap -6.5) who ran fluidly for first place with Doug Musson (handicap -4.5) just three seconds down. Connor was timed at 49:42 ahead of Musson (handicap -4.5) in 49:45. The women’s race in Derby was won by Natalie Bunce (handicap 5.0) running 62:46 in what was also her 10-mile debut.
Other results from the weekend are on the following links: