Weekend update
There was much happening around the world from British athletes, not least a new UK mile record from Josh Kerr in Boston, USA. The National Cross Country titles were also contested by the best of the mud larks and the fastest parkruns were in Bushy Park and Highbury Fields.
At the Boston University Last Chance Meeting in Boston MA, USA, Olympic medallist Josh Kerr (handicap -5.7) produced one of the best displays of middle-distance running in British history as he smashed the UK indoor records in the 1500m and mile in the same race.
Kerr won the mile in 3:48.87 to lower Peter Elliot’s long-standing British record, and also the European indoor record. Additionally, it was the third fastest ever in the world over the distance indoors. His 1500m split en-route of 3:32.85, was also a British indoor record which is now the eighth quickest time in history.
At the same meeting Liam Dee (handicap -5.6) and Jamie Dee (handicap -4.1) were in fine brotherly form with 3:58.87 and 7:54.87 performances over the mile and 3000m respectively.
At the ECCA Cross Country Championships in London, Mahamed Mahamed (handicap -5.9) and Jessica Gibbon (handicap -1.4) were the senior winners at the iconic Parliament Hill.
Mahamed was a clear winner ahead of Emile Cairess (handicap -6.4), while nearly a minute further back was Olympic Triathlon medallist Alex Yee (handicap -4.1) who took the bronze medal.
In the senior women’s contest, Gibbon continued her strong winter form to win the national title ahead of Eleanor Bolton (handicap -1.4) with Bronwen Owen (handicap -0.3) capturing the bronze medal. Will Barnicoat (handicap -4.8) and Alexandra Millard (handicap -0.4) took the U20 titles.
The Scottish National Cross Country Championships held in Falkirk saw Mhairi MacLennan (handicap -0.8) take her third gold in the senior women’s race as Central AC’s Jamie Crowe (handicap -6.2) successfully defended the senior men’s title he won for the first time in 2020.
Maclennan had a big advantage over Scout Adkin (handicap 0.0) who took the silver, while Morag Millar (handicap -1.0)was next across the line for the bronze. For Crowe, he topped the podium ahead of Ross Gollan (handicap -3.4) and Andrew Douglas (handicap -4.4).
European U20 Women’s champion Megan Keith (handicap -0.8) backed up her status as overwhelming favourite to repeat her 2020 win as Hungarian-born Kristof Hornyuk (handicap 0.6) took the U20 men’s race.
The Welsh Cross Country Championships in Pembrey, had a gold lining for James Hunt (handicap -4.6) and Lauren Cooper (handicap 0.8) who were crowned Welsh champions over the weekend in the senior races.
Hunt pipped Dan Nash (handicap -5.0) by six seconds in the senior men’s race to take the gold medal, while Adam Bowden (handicap 0.7) was next across the line to earn the bronze medal.
Cooper finished with a 30 second margin ahead of Caryl Edwards (handicap 7.0) who took the silver medal while Chloe Dooley (handicap 3.1) completed the podium.
At the Northern Ireland and Ulster Senior XC Championships in Derry, Catherine Whoriskey (handicap 0.1) earned a narrow victory over Jess Craig (handicap 0.6) as she won the senior women’s race by two seconds. Kerry O’Flaherty (handicap 1.4) followed to claim the bronze medal.
In the senior men’s race, Conan McCaughey (handicap -4.4) ran out the comfortable winner ahead of Eskander Turki (handicap -4.8) and Neil McCartan (handicap -3.1) who claimed the other podium positions.
The fastest parkruns were at the Highbury Fields parkrun where Jacob Allen (handicap -5.5) ran 14:50 to win by almost 3-minutes! At the ever popular Bushy Park parkrun, Tessa McCormick (handicap 0.4) ran 16:38 to be the fastest UK woman over the weekend as she returns to her best form.
UK runbritain rankings for endurance events and age groups
Other results from the weekend are on the following links: