Scott Overall extends Grand Prix lead in race number 4

The fourth race of the runbritain Grand Prix took place yesterday at the BMC 10k track festival, in perfect running conditions, giving Scott Overall (handicap MINUS 5.3) his third overall win in the series and an extra 100 bonus points for breaking 30 minutes.

In very still conditions, although damp for the early races, 10,000m runners of different levels of experience from novice to elite, tested themselves over 25 laps of the track. The first of the six races was won by Phil Ramsey (handicap 5.7) who, until yesterday, had done all of his racing on the road. He ran 39:49.16 for the distance, breaking 40 minutes for the first time.

The next race was won by Brahma Pochee (handicap MINUS 1.6) who is a fairly experienced track runner and has had a go at 10,000m previously when he ran 34:49 at the Highgate Harriers Night of the 10,000m PBs. Yesterday, Brahma ran 32:49.13, which is a full two minutes off that previous time. This second race of the day also saw the fastest female. Sarah McCormick, from Ireland finished 9th in the race in 33:38.20. 

Marc Brown (handicap MINUS 0.2) took the honours in the third race of the day and, in his first ever 10,000m on the track, ran 22 seconds faster than he has achieved on the road. His time was 34:14.15. Samantha Amend (handicap 2.0) was the first female to finish in this race. She ran 35:37.51 and will take 250 Grand Prix points as first British female. Samantha is currently in 4th place on the score board with 701 points. This will take her into the lead with 951 points.

Alan Kelly won the fourth race comfortably in 34:59 and Caroline Lambert (handicap 2.1) earned herself 249 points for achieving the second fastest female time. She ran 36:44.27 and also claimed the title of Northern Champion. This was Caroline's first race in the Grand Prix series.

This was followed by the 'B' race that saw Chris Greenwood (handicap MINUS 3.0) run almost a minute faster than his previous 10,000m time and 44 seconds faster than his 10k on the road, He stopped the clock at 30:39.64.

So, the pace of the races was heating up and, just as the runners for the 'A' race stepped onto the track, the sun also came out to accompany them! Scott Overall won this race in 29:18.39 from John McDonnell (handicap MINUS 3.7) who also picks up an extra 100 bonus points for his time of 29:53.61. Scott is currently leading the Grand Prix with 948 points. This win, plus the extra 100 bonus points for breaking 30 minutes will give him 1298. John is currently in 20th place on the Grand Prix score board with 460 points after only having done two races. After adding 349 to this score he will now have 809. Running his first Grand Prix race of the year, Aaron Scott (handicap MINUS 4.0) finished 3rd in  30:06.36 and so picked up 248 points.  Carl Hardman (handicap MINUS 4.4) also made his first appearance for the year and finished 4th in  30:14.65. He also gained the title of Northern Champion. Paul Martelletti (handicap MINUS 4.5) finished 5th in  30:24.37. Paul is currently 3rd in the Grand Prix with 722 points after having done all three previous races. He will now have 968 points. Nick Torry (handicap MINUS 4.7) finished 6th in 30:25.27 and so added another 245 points to his current score of 593 off two races (total of 838).

We hope to bring you full results and an update of the Grand Prix standings very soon.