Bank holiday weekend update

The roads of Bristol and Newport saw some great performances from Chris Thompson and Matt Clowes respectively as they ran strongly to 29 minute wins. The British Universities Championships (BUCS), in Bedford saw a few new faces emerging with perhaps the most impressive being Josh Lay who won the 1500m with tactical craft along with great speed. In Edinburgh, Kris Jones returned to winning form to take the Scottish 5k title as did Morag Miller to post a sub 16 minute 5k ahead of Mhari Mclennan. 

At the Simplyhealth Great Bristol 10K  Chris Thompson (handicap -5.8) was a popular winner in 29:35 while Kate Reed (handicap -0.2) took the women's event in 33:11.

In nearby South Wales at the ABP Newport Wales 10K,  Matt Clowes (handicap -5.2) was returning from a hamstring injury to win in 29:43 by three seconds. Charlotte Taylor-Green (handicap 1.0) held off the 2018 winner, Rachel Fenton (handicap 0.7), to win in a new course record of 34:44.

At the British Universities Championships (BUCS) there were numerous outstanding performances, particularly from BUCS record breaker Aimee Pratt (handicap 1.2) who stopped the clock in the women’s 2,000m steeplechase with 6.26.14 to move to third on the UK all-time list. Tommy Horton (handicap -4.0) was similarly impressive, in the men's event, but more for his finishing ability as he hurdled the final water jump to pull away from defending champion Dan Jarvis (handicap -4.1).

The men's 1500m and women's 5000m saw some of the finest talent in academia in scintillating form. Josh Lay (handicap -2.6) was the fastest finisher closing in with a 1:53 final 800m to win from James McMurray (handicap -2.5), after George Mills (handicap -4.9) had pitched his bid earlier.

Denmark and St Mary’s student Anna Moller (handicap -1.3) took gold in the 5,000m, leading Jess Judd (handicap -1.6) and Amelia Quirk (handicap 0.0) to season’s and personal bests of 15:56.96 and 16:02.47 respectively, the latter achieving the European Under-23 qualifying mark.

Class acts Alex Botterill (handicap -5.0 ) and Isabelle Boffey (handicap -0.5) took their respective 800m titles in tactical races.

Out in California at the Payton Jordan Invitational, Marc Scott (handicap -6.0) and Alice Wright (handicap -1.3) both set fantastic 10,000m personal bests, breaking noteworthy barriers in the process on another great night of distance running in California. Scott set an 11 second personal best of 27:56.19 to finish second, whilst Wright was twelfth in a world class women’s race, crossing the line 31.56.52.

The stand out 5,000m performance undoubtedly came from Amy-Eloise Neale (handicap 0.3) as she smashed her best to finish third in a world class women’s race, crossing the line in 15.21.58 to go second in this year's 5000m rankings behind Laura Muir (handicap -2.8). In the men’s race Andrew Butchart (handicap -5.9) was also third in 13.18.16, a season’s best but more importantly a World Championship qualifying standard. Chris O’Hare (handicap -6.2) had a rare run out of the longer distance, crossing the line in 13.48.66, whilst it the B race Tom Farrell (handicap -2.9) continued his return with a solid 13.45.50 run.

Over the 1500m, William Paulson (handicap -5.9) was the top Brit, with an impressive 3.39.04, whilst in the steeplechase Adam Visokay (handicap -3.8) set a personal best of 8.34.92 to go top of the Power of 10.

The Run and Become Scottish 5km Road Championships in Edinburgh saw 2018 European Cross Country Championship team silver medallist from 2018,  Kris Jones (handicap -5.5), produce the goods to reclaim the Scottish 5km road championships title in 14:26 seconds. His young club mate Jamie Donald (handicap -3.7) followed in 14:31 and with that claimed the Scottish under 20 title. Last years champion, Lachlan Oates (handicap -4.5) was third in 14:39.

A fierce battle between Mhairi MacLennan (handicap -1.2) and Morag Miller (handicap -0.2) saw the women’s race go down to the wire, with the latter eventually emerging the victor, smashing the course record of 16:09 as she clocked 15:49, with MacLennan six seconds further back in second. Fionnuala Ross (handicap -0.1) ran a 16:18 PB in third place.  

Some of the bigger events over the weekend were: 

Did you race this weekend and did you improve your handicap score? If so, be sure to #clickyourclock on your result before the competition finishes for this week on Thursday at 0900hrs.

Remember - anyone who improves their score has an equal chance of winning - good luck!