Weekend update
The weekend saw the long awaited return of Mo Farah at the Vitality 10 000 with a surprise defeat at the hands of Ellis Cross. There was another Scottish record from Eilish McColgan and there were UK U23 records from Charles Hicks and Elise Thorner.
At the Vitality 10000, Ellis Cross (handicap -4.6) pipped Mo Farah (handicap -4.7) to the win in the men’s race. Eilish McColgan (handicap -3.8) set a Scottish record as she was victorious in the women’s race on the streets of London,
Ellis Cross, a former junior international, caused an upset as he bided his time before perfectly executing the final stages of the race to hold off Farah and win by four seconds in a time of 28:40. Mohamud Aadan (handicap -5.4) completed the top three with a time of 28:48. Cross will next target the Night of the 10,000m PBs on May 14 at Highgate.
For McColgan, her time of 30:23 was just two seconds outside the British and European record, which is held by Paula Radcliffe. However, the new leading Scottish mark improved the best previously held by her mother. The run was so impressive; the next finisher in the senior women’s race was over a minute behind with Jess Piasecki (handicap -3.5) bagging second in 31:28, while Samantha Harrison (handicap -2.4) completed the podium place with a time of 31:44.
In the USA at the Payton Jordan Invitational, there were two British U23 records for Charles Hicks (handicap -6.3) and Elise Thorner (handicap 0.0) who are both enjoying a solid spell of form.
Former multi event athlete, Thorner improved her 3000m steeplechase best to 9:32.42, which was also inside both the European and Commonwealth Games qualifying standards, and also moved her to the top of the 2022 UK rankings.
As for Hicks, he improved Dave Bedford’s long-standing British U23 record in the 10,000m, clocking 27:40.16, which was well inside the European qualifying standard.
Elsewhere, there was an encouraging return to racing for Commonwealth and European medallist, Melissa Courtney-Bryant (handicap 0.3). After returning from injury she ran inside Wales’ Commonwealth standard over 5000m with a time of 15:25.90.
The fastest parkruns were run by Della Hatfield (handicap 3.8) at the Hull parkrun with 16:56 for women and there was a tie for fastest man, with both Sam Gilson (handicap -2.6) at the Long Eaton parkrun and Harry Smith (handicap -3.2) at the Bushy Park parkrun, Both ran 15:18.
UK runbritain rankings for endurance events and age groups
Other results from the weekend are on the following links: