Cardiff win consolidates Beattie's runbritain grand prix lead
John Beattie (handicap -5.0) tuned up for his Berlin Marathon challenge, at the end of the month, with a commanding win over Dewi Griffiths (handicap -5.6) in the Cardiff 10k yesterday.
The race, which is round four out of six in the 2015 runbritain grand prix, had the best in-depth domestic field in its 30 year history. Beattie got away in the closing stages in warm conditions to triumph in 29.12, six seconds ahead of Griffiths. It adds another big score to Beattie’s 1,035 current points total in the runbritain grand prix for the top men’s individual prize of £2,000.
Griffiths, just back from a spell of altitude training with Steve Jones in Boulder, Colorado, has his sights firmly set on the fifth grand prix event, the Lloyds Bank Cardiff Half Marathon on October 4th, which incorporates the British Championships and the trials for the 2016 IAAF World Half Marathon that will also be held in Cardiff, next March. Beattie will miss the race, the week after his Marathon, leaving the maximum points and time bonus opportunities for other leading Brits.
Further down the field, supervet Martin Rees (handicap -0.8) broke the world master’s age 60+ best with 33.18, just ahead of the leading women. Rachel Felton (handicap -0.3) scored her third consecutive Cardiff 10k win, in 33.27, from Michelle Ross-Cope (handicap -0.9). The performance by Felton, along with Faye Fullerton (handicap -1.2) in fifth were their third high scoring runbritain grand prix performances and could see them in contention for the top women's individual prize when the latest standings are published on Tuesday. The women’s £9,000 end-of-series prize awards could well go right down to the final race at the Age UK Leeds Abbey Dash in November.
With a record entry of 5,000 runners, congratulations are also due to race director Graham Finlayson who has been in charge of the Cardiff 10k for all 30 editions.