Top ten road running moments of 2015

Geoff Wightman, MD of runbritain, picks the top ten road running moments in 2015.

1. Paula's farewell Marathon in London. She bowed out on her own terms with a 2.36 finale but had had Achilles tendon problems that stopped her running in the weeks leading up to it. We always watched Paula with our hearts in our mouths and on the edge of our seats. I thought she had gone out too fast but she looked great at the finish and got a fantastic reception.

2. Mo's Great North win. We take him for granted a bit at present, with a double world track title only good enough for seventh place in BBC Sports Personality of the Year but after he retires in a year or two we will not see his like again.

3.Haile's farewell at Great Ethiopian Run where he ran last few hundred metres barefoot, the way he began.

4.Tatyana McFadden winning New York wheelchair division and breaking course record by seven mins - aiming for seven Paralympic golds in Rio.

5.The 500m road event at the Great North City Games, won by Mark English of Ireland. Road racing doesn’t have to be 10k. I love innovation in the sport and that was a thrilling finish with 400m runners and milers all lining up in racing flats on the Gateshead Quayside.

6.Chris Evans completing Virgin Money London Marathon, one of the 15,000 first timers every year - but he has kept running and racing as everyone should, despite busy schedule.

7. Scott Overall and Callum Hawkins, Sonia Samuels and Alyson Dixon - all running 2016 Olympic Marathon qualifying times in Berlin and Frankfurt.

8. Final finisher, from EDF Energy team, in inaugural Diamond Relays who crossed the line with Lynsey Sharp and became the last ever person to race on the 2012 Olympic surface before it is re-laid next year. Entries are now open for 2016 via this link, which also has more information: http://www.diamondrelays.com/

9. The golden oldies Olympians race at the Bupa Westminster Mile, won by Steve Cram on 30th anniversary of his mile world record. He didn’t look any different than 1985 whereas my club vest has got much smaller during that time.

10. The 3.5 million completed parkrun performances anticipated in 2015. parkrun is becoming a global phenomenon but it was born and nurtured in Britain.