Festive racing update
There were some impressive performances across the country with breakthrough performances from Ben Branagh in Belfast and Ryan Thompson at the Tilli 10k. Fiona Matheson ran a UK W60 10k best, Jonny Mellor celebrated his birthday by winning the Ribble Valley 10k and Jess Piasecki was in 31-minute form.
The Titanic Festival 10km in Belfast saw a surprise PB victory for Ben Branagh (handicap -4.2) in 29:39 over the popular Olympian Stephen Scullion (handicap -6.6) with Eskander Turki (handicap -4.4) running a PB of 30:00 in third place. The top woman was Gillian McCrory (handicap 2.4) in 38:34.
Local runners, Gerard Heaney (handicap -2.4) and Dearbhla Cox (handicap 3.5) won the supporting Titanic 5k events in 15:36 and 17:51 respectively.
There were fireworks at the Tilli 10k in Tillicoultry near Stirling with wins for Ryan Thomson (handicap -4.1) in 29:45 and Morag Millar (handicap -1.2) with 34:02 but the big news was W60 Fiona Matheson (handicap 4.4) running a 38:49 gun time (38:40 chip) to record a UK W60 best. M65 Alastair Walker (handicap 1.6) took advantage of the Scottish weather with his 35:50 performance.
The Ribble Valley 10k in Clitheroe again produced outstanding results with Jonny Mellor (handicap -6.4) celebrating his birthday with a sub 29 minute clocking for a comfortable victory in 28:58. Josh Griffiths (handicap -6.1) was next in 29:25 with young Chris Richards (handicap -4.1) a further 20 seconds behind. Jess Piasecki (handicap -3.2) was on fire with 31:38, and had to be as Laura Weightman (handicap -3.1) chased her up the final straight to close in with 31:45.
At the Boxing Day 4 mile event in Clevedon, Felix McGrath (handicap -4.2) retained his title in 19:20, some 15 seconds faster than his 2019 effort. The 27-year-old medic enjoyed an 11 second margin ahead of Jack Bancroft (handicap -3.8).
Laura Gent (handicap 2.2), Emma Pallant (handicap 6.7) and Anna Hughes-Davies (handicap 2.7) were the top three women, with a narrow 4-second victory in 23:52 for Gent.
Phil Nicholls (handicap 0.5) was turning back the clock for a 25:38 victory at the Wolves Winter Warmer 5 mile event. Amelia Samuels (handicap -0.6) was impressive with a 27:15 win over the women’s field.
UK runbritain rankings for endurance events and age groups
Other results from the Xmas weekend are on the following links: