Breakthough performances for James Young and Charles Hicks over 1500m and 5000m
James Young made a breakthrough 1500m performance in California with a sensational seven second PB win. Also in on the west coast was Charles Hicks who, following his recent 28:25 over 10,000m, made an impressive debut over 5000m. Elsewhere there were wins for Kate Avery and Charlie Roberts at the BMC 3k in Tameside. The 5k in Mallory Park had the first three men and women fighting to the line to be separated by less than five seconds at the end.
Both James Young (handicap -5.5) and Charles Hicks (handicap -5.6) were in winning form in the USA. The recent NCAA Division 2 Indoor mile Champion, James Young exploded at the Bryan Clay invitational with a 3:37.72 win over 1500m. This was a seven second improvement! Charles Hicks took a surprise victory in his debut over 5000m at the West Coast Classic in Eugene, Oregon with 13:34.63.
Saturday saw the 3k edition of the British Milers Club’s Road Races at Tameside. Kate Avery (handicap -1.1) took a comfortable victory in the women’s main race with 9:31, well ahead of Alyssa Davey (handicap 10.3) in second. The men’s a race was a close affair, with just three seconds separating the top three. It was Charlie Roberts (handicap -4.1) who won, finishing in 8:26, one second ahead of Max Wharton (handicap -4.1) and Alex Miell-Ingram (handicap -2.9) with 8:29.
Mallory Park saw some close racing over 5k and 10k. The men’s 5k had the top 12 all running under 14:30. Sam Hart (handicap -0.8) won in 14:12 a second ahead of Jonathan Escalante-Phillips (handicap -5.4). Connor Bentley (handicap -1.9) closed in with 14:15. At the front of the women’s event were Olivia Mathias (handicap 9.7) in 16:13 with Nikki Barlett and Annabel Morton both clocking 16:17 to complete the podium.
Elisha Tait won the Mallory Park 10km, with a big PB of 35:11, just ahead of Sarah Mackness and Hannah Robinson. In the men’s event, Dominic Jones (handicap -3.8) was another big PB runner with a timely 29:59. Charlie Davis (handicap -4.8) was second in 30:12, ahead of the masterful M40 Alastair Watson (handicap -4.4) with 30:21.
In her first race since winning the 3000m at the European Indoor Championships, Amy-Eloise Markovc (handicap -2.2) ran 4:09.52 at the Virginia Challenge.
UK runbritain rankings for endurance events and age groups
Other results from the weekend are on the following links: