Weekend update
The weekend was full of activity dometically, at the British Track Championships in Manchester, further afield internationally and on the roads too.
All of the action from Friday and Saturday at the British Athletics Championships can be found on this link. The top performance on the track was Aimee Pratt's (handicap -0.9) steeplechase that achieved the world leading performance for 2020 with 9:30.73.
Over the last few days, Laura Muir (handicap -3.1) has secured back-to-back 1500m victories and bagged a meeting record of 3:58.24.
Yesterday, at the World Athletics Continental Tour Gold in Chorzow, Poland, Muir shattered the previous record of 4:01.80 with a comfortable run, finishing more than a second clear of closest challenger, Sofia Ennaoui (POL), who herself was just outside the Polish 1500m record. Eilish McColgan (handicap -3.3) clocked 4:06.35 to secure fifth position.
Over two laps of the track, Guy Learmonth (handicap -6.2) recorded a season’s best of 1:45.57 in a closely fought 800m, moving himself up to sixth on the British rankings for 2020. The time was Learmonth’s fastest clocking over 800m for two years.
In Marseille, France, on Thursday, Laura Muir (handicap -3.1) and Jemma Reekie (handicap -3.0) continued their winning streaks as they secured victories in the women’s 800m and 1500m races respectively.
Muir was in commanding form, sealing the win in 2:00.16. Fellow Brits Adelle Tracey (handicap -2.1) and Shelayna Oskan-Clarke (handicap -0.6) were fourth and eighth in times of 2:01.86 and 2:05.54 respectively.
Reekie held off the challenge of Romania’s Claudia Bobocea to take the win in the 1500m, recording a time of 4:02.20, whilst Eilish McColgan (handicap -3.3) was fourth in 4:05.59.
Elliot Giles (handicap -6.3) ran a personal best over 800m, lowering his time to 1:44.68, to go top of the UK ranking in 2020. Four British men have gone sub 1:45 since the return to action, and Giles joined that list following his second place finish behind world bronze medallist, Ferguson Cheruiyot (KEN). Guy Learmonth (handicap -6.2) was third in 1:46.57, whilst Kyle Langford (handicap -5.6) was seventh in 1:47.55.
Meanwhile, Piers Copeland (handicap -6.2) ran a lifetime best of 3:37.00, over 1500m, which now tops the 2020 runbritain U23 rankings over the distance.
On Friday night, at the Wanda Diamond League in Brussels, Sir Mo Farah (handicap -6.5) recorded the one hour world record as he racked up 21.330 km. In one of the Diamond League’s world record showpiece events, Farah and Belgium’s Bashir Abdi went toe-to-toe for much of the contest, but it was Farah who emerged on top with a late kick away from his rival, to record the longest distance on a track in history over a one-hour window of time.
Charlie Da'Vall Grice (handicap -6.5) was fifth over 1500m courtesy of a 3:38.22 performance in Brussels too.
The RunThrough Battesea Park event saw a top 10km performance from Joshua Dickinson (handicap -4.2), with a 40 second personal best of 30:48. Julia Bijl was the top woman with 35:34, followed by Tara Bage who registered 35:58.
The 5km was lively at the front. James Westlake (handicap -2.8) won with 14:29 PB. Following him was Kevin Moore (handicap 1.9) in 14:39 ahead of Josh Burgess (handicap -2.3), in 14:52.
Georgia Bell (handicap -4.3), took the win in the women’s event with a impressive debut time of 16:34 ahead of Laura Gent (handicap 1.9) in 17:02 and followed by Laura Boehm (handicap 3.1), in 17:17.
At the Folkestone Coastal 10km, Charlie Brisley (handicap -3.6) was an impressive winner in 31:02 to go 5th on the 2020 runbritain U20 rankings over the 10k distance with Holly Dixon (handicap 1.6) the top woman with 34:45 to go 3rd on the runbritain U23 rankings for 10k.
The Centurion Thames Path 100 heads out to Oxford and this year athletes were staggered over a couple of hours as they took on the 100 mile challenge. Russell Arnold (handicap 17.4), who clocked 14 hours 13:40 was fastest overall with Samantha Amend (handicap 3.3) clocking an impressive 16 hours 28:08 to win the women's event.