Easter weekend update
It has been a busy Easter weekend for runners in the UK and further afield. The Isle of Man Easter Running Festival was a highlight for many clubs and universities, competing on three consecutive days over 10k and 5k, on the road, and a 4 mile hill race. The outdoor track season got well underway with best times for many and our beloved parkrun is back to its best once more.
The Isle of Man Easter Running Festival comprises of three races - 10k on the Friday evening, a 4 mile hill race on Saturday afternoon and the 5k promenade race on Sunday. The Universities of Manchester, Edinburgh, Cambridge and Leeds are regular competitors and often provide the overall champion who is usually versatile in all three disciplines. This year, the overall winners were Scott Stirling (handicap -4.9) with positions 2nd, 3rd and 1st, over the three days, and Beth Garland (handicap 1.3) with 6 points for her 3rd, 1st and 2nd positions.
Good Friday was particularly good for Linton Taylor (handicap -5.4) as he took the opening 10k event in 30:27 from Scott Stirling in 30:34. Holly Page (handicap 0.2) was the top woman in 34:41 with 21 seconds to spare.
Saturday saw Cambridge man, Oliver Fox (handicap 0.3), winning over the brutal double climb in the picturesque seaside town of Peel. His victory margin was 10 seconds ahead of Oxford’s Jack Millar (handicap -6.3). Beth Garland was victorious, just 4-seconds ahead of Katie Lowery (handicap 1.5), in an epic descent that demonstrated superb skill on such a steep gradient.
The final 5k races saw a great sprint victory for Katie Lowery in 17:32 with Scott Stirling flowing to a 14:41 victory in the men’s event.
Battersea Park hosted the Comeback 5000 with some of the top domestic talent on show. Ben Connor (handicap -5.9) and Zak Mahamed (handicap -6.5) pushed the pace in men’s event. Connor came out on top with 13:49.15 ahead of siblings Zak Mahamed in 14:01.05 and the older Mahamed Mahamed (handicap -6.8) who registered 14:07.45. Samantha Harrison (handicap -2.2) was on fire from the off in the women’s race. Her winning time of 15:32.07 was almost 200m ahead of second placed Hannah Irwin (handicap -0.7) in 16:07.66 and Georgia Bell (handicap 9.4), who ran a 16:08.42 PB for third place and a fast improving running handicap score.
At the North Tyneside 10k, Danielle Hodgkinson (handicap 1.1), ran 33:29 for a new course record and a road PB well ahead of the next woman. David Green was top man with a respectable 31:09.
At the Salford 10k Scout Adkin (handicap -0.2) was the women’s winner in 34:42 with Victor Urquhart Smangs, from Sweden, the overall winner in 29:50.
The Mt SAC Relays, near Los Angeles in California, saw several top drawer performances not least was a 15:11.72 5000m performance from pictured Jess Judd (handicap -2.4). Further back, Roisin Flanagan (handicap -0.7) ran a PB of 15:28.41. Logan Rees (handicap -4.5) ran a breakthrough 10 000m performance with 28:45.65 and his college buddy Jack Leitch (handicap -4.8) posted 29:33.92. Bella Williams (handicap 0.8) ran a pleasing 33:59.39 10000m.
On the far side of Los Angeles in Orange county, the Bryan Clay Invitational saw Thomas Staines (handicap -1.6) run a PB of 1:45.28 over 800m with Reece Sharman-Newell (handicap -4.8) also improving to 1:45.56. In the 3000m steeplechase and 1500m, Elise Thorner ran impressive PBs of 9:40.98 and 4:15 10 respectively. In the men’s 1500m, Adam Fogg (handicap -5.7) ran 3:38.15 and Tom Dodd (handicap -4.3) ran 3:39.23 for new PBs. Katy-Ann McDonald (handicap -1.2), won over both 800m and 1500m in new PBs of 2:00.98 and 4:13.07 respectively.
Nathan Dunn (handicap -4.3) posted a positive, but slightly frustrating 14:00.31 PB over 5000m and 1500m with 3:49.22.
At the UCONN Northeast Challenge, Callum Elson (handicap -5.1) posted two new PBs for 800m in 1:50.39 and 1500m with 3:43.55.
The fastest parkruns came in Pontypridd and Cardiff from Adam Bowden(handicap -5.1) with 15:01 and Olivia Tsim, (handicap -0.2) with 16:44.
A special mention to Graham Green (handicap 3.0) who now rises to number two on the M55 parkruns with an impressive 16:22 at the Stretford parkrun in his 58th year. The retired firefighter was topping the U13 age groups back in 1976! Lee Aherne (handicap -1.1) is the top M55 with his 16:16 at Cardiff.
UK runbritain rankings for endurance events and age groups
Other results from the weekend are on the following links: