Third race in the Grand Prix brings the half-way shuffle

The third race in the runbritain Grand Prix took place on Sunday at the Bristol 10k.

The Bristol 10k was the third race in the Grand Prix series of six races and brought the spring series to a close whilst shuffling the positions at the top of the table.

The race was won by Paralympian, Jonathan Chesum, from Kenya in 29:18 who crossed the line 43 seconds in front of Run Fast team mate, Vincent Bolt, who finished in 30:01. The first British athlete to cross the line was 3rd placer, Nicholas Torry (handicap -4.0) who was the overall winner of the 2013 Grand Prix. Nicholas picked up 250 points on Sunday to add to the 475 that he has from the first two races at Reading and London. This  moved him into 3rd place behind John Beattie (handicap -5.0) who only managed 12th overall and 9th British athlete on Sunday. His 8th place gives him 242 points but added to his 793 from Reading and London, this increases his lead at the top of the table with 1035. The second British athlete home, on Sunday, was Ben Livesey (handicap -4.4) who will now add 249 points to his 484 (from Reading and London) and move him into 2nd with 733.

The women's race was won by Louise Damen (handicap 1.2) in 33:39. This was Louise's first race in the 2015 Grand Prix and gives her 250 points. Michelle Ross-Cope (handicap 5.4) finished 2nd in 33:57 also giving her her first points with 249. Rachel Felton (handicap -0.2) was 3rd in 34:02 and collected 248 points to add to the 245 that she received in London. This has moved her up the table and into 6th but the first two spots have gone to Emma Stepto (handicap -0.7), who was the 5th British finisher on Sunday, giving her 246 points to add to the 486 (732) she has from Reading and London and Georgie Bruinvels (handicap 0.2) who was the 8th British finisher giving her another 243 points to add to her 485 (728) from Reading and London.

Grand Prix points are awarded for the first 250 finishing positions in the six races that are in the series. 250 points are awarded to the first British finisher, down to 1 point for the 250th British finisher and there are extra points available for fast times. Up to the best four scores from the six available races count at the end of the series. If the athlete scores points in less than four Grand Prix events, their best two, three or single score will count towards the final standings. Prize money totals £18,000 and is shared by the top 10 male and female British runners at the end of the series.

At this half-way point, some runners have done all three races, some have done two and some only one and so predicting the outcome in the autumn is tricky and we are looking forward to some more shuffling in the next three races that will be held at the Cardiff 10k on 6th September, Lloyds Bank Cardiff Half Marathon on 4th October and the Age UK Leeds Abbey Dash 10k on 15th November.

We hope to have the full standings updated soon on this link.