Weekend update
Boston, USA, delivered many of the weekend highlights with venues closer to home producing plenty of gold dust. Dulwich returned the fastest parkrun times Ellis Cross turned in another quality 28-minute 10k clocking in London.
At the World Indoor Tour in Boston, Neil Gourley (handicap -6.0) ran the third fastest indoor mile by a Briton in history as he won the International Mile race. The Scottish athlete clocked the time of 3:52.84 to open his 2023 season in style. In the women’s 3000m, there was much to cheer about for the British contingent as there was a 1-2-3-4. Laura Muir (handicap -2.2) opened her season in superb form, winning in a time of 8:40.34.
Muir, and all three athletes directly behind her across the line, ran inside the qualifying standard for the European Indoor Championships. Glasgow 2019 medallist Melissa Courtney-Bryant (handicap -1.8) ran a rapid 8:41.09, while there were personal bests for Katie Snowden (handicap -1.5) and Hannah Nuttall (handicap -1.2), who dipped under the standard (8:48.00) in times of 8:47.41 and 8:47.72 respectively.
In the men’s 3000m, James West (handicap -5.0) also revised his lifetime best as he finished third in 7:42.89, which was also within the qualifying standard for Istanbul 2023. In the same race Thomas Keen (handicap -4.9) improved his PB to 7:48.99.
In the 800m races, Issy Boffey (handicap -0.9) again impressed as she ran under the Euro Indoors qualifying time for the second time this season as she crossed the line third in the women’s race. In the men’s contest, Daniel Rowden (handicap -4.8) ran bang on the Istanbul qualifying standard of 1:46.75 as he finished fifth in the race.
Closer to home there was the World Indoor Tour Challenger event in Germany, where there was an indoor personal best for Guy Learmonth (handicap -5.0) as he ran inside the Euro Indoors qualifying standard in Germany. He won the race in 1:46.36, while George Mills (handicap -5.3) was second in 1:47.30.
There was another British winner, this time in the women’s 1500m where Cari Hughes (handicap -0.3) crossed the line in 4:15.46.
For George Mills this was a consistent follow on to his previous win in a world class 3:35.88 in Karlsruhe, where Jemma Reekie (handicap -1.8) ran 2:02.10.
In the London Winter Run, Ellis Cross (handicap -6.6) won in 28:52 winning by over 400 metres consolidating his 8th place UK ranking on the handicap scores. Jonathan Collier (handicap -2.9) was second with 30:19.
Jessica Warner-Judd (handicap -3.2) was the top woman with 31:59 with the classy Steph Twell (handicap -1.6) next in 32:48 just ahead of triathlete teammate Emma Pallant (handicap 13.2) who ran a PB in 32:50 PB.
At the European Champion Clubs Cup Cross Country in Spain, Central AC were the highest-placed British team in the senior men’s race as they finished 12th overall, pipping Leeds City who were 14th on points.
Hamish Hickey (handicap -5.7) was the first across the line for Central athlete in 29th place overall, with Jamie Crowe (handicap -3.3) next in 37th. Luca Fanottoli (handicap -4.2) and Calum Phillip (handicap -5.4) were the next two counters in 53rd and 59th overall.
Graham Rush (handicap -5.5) was the highest-placed Brit in the field running for Leeds City AC.
Meanwhile, the senior women’s race saw Shettleston Harriers finish 20th overall. Hannah Terrance (handicap 3.1) came home first in 60th with Aoife Carr (handicap 2.2) one place further back, Ruth Joss (handicap 3.3) in 63rd and Avril Manson (handicap 3.6) in 94th. Top UK based runner was Edel Monaghan (handicap 1.3) from Enniskillen RC in 40th place.
Top parkruns came from Zak Seddon (handicap -0.3) and Georgie Grgec (handicap -0.3) both in the Dulwich parkrun with 14:38 and 16:15 respectively.
UK runbritain rankings for endurance events and age groups
Other results from the weekend are on the following links: