Weekend update including 1000m record in Boston and area cross country news

At the World Athletics Indoor Tour, in Boston USA, Jake Wightman (handicap -5.8) was in record breaking form with an outstanding 1000m performance. Domestically, the area cross country championships took place across the country.

Jake Wightman (handicap -5.8) broke the British indoor record for 1000m as he recorded a time of 2:17.51 to take 2nd place at the New Balance sponsored event.

Ciara Mageean (handicap -1.5) impressed with a new Northern Ireland and Irish record of 4:06 over 1500m and  Chris O'Hare  (handicap -5.0) continued his great form on the boards in the US, winning the mile event in 3:59.62. Jamaine Coleman (handicap -3.4) clocked a personal best over the 3000m, posting 7:58.95.

At the Scottish National Indoor Championships in Glasgow, Guy Learmonth (handicap -5.3) lowered the Championship 800m record, set 26 years ago by former world and European indoor champion Tom McKean, to 1:48.77 to take the Scottish title comfortably.

At the Northern Counties Cross Country Championships, Jessica Judd (handicap -2.1) and Calum Johnson (handicap -3.6) were victorious in North Yorkshire, while Olivia Mason (handicap 1.1) and Joshua Dickinson (handicap -3.1) claimed the junior titles.

Judd was impressive as she comfortably dismantled the challenges of the course to win ahead of Georgia Taylor-Brown (handicap 7.9) and Mhairi MacLennan (handicap 0.3).

Johnson prevailed ahead of Joe Steward (handicap 0.2) and Linton Taylor (handicap -4.6) in the senior men’s contest.

At the Midland Cross-Country Championships in Loughborough, Gemma Steel (handicap 0.6) and Omar Ahmed (handicap -6.3) ran out as senior winners while Lily Higgins (handicap 3.7) and Joshua Lay (handicap -4.2) took the junior titles home.

Steel added another Midlands title to her collection as she moved away from Cloe Hubbard (handicap 2.0) and Juliet Potter (handicap 1.3) to earn the senior women’s crown.

Ahmed claimed number one spot ahead of Ben Dijkstra (handicap 2.7) and Kadar Omar Abdullahi in the senior men’s contest.

The 14k course at Parliament Hill was used for the South of England Cross Country Championships in London. Adam Hickey (handicap -5.8) produced a phenomenal display to win the championships on the muddy course, while Jessica Gibbon (handicap -0.4) earned her first title in the senior women’s event.

Hickey enjoyed a big lead ahead of Alexander Leprêtre (handicap -5.1) and Dylan Evans (handicap -5.0) in the early stages and never looked back as he powered to the win.

For Gibbon, she had to work hard to stay ahead of Nicole Taylor (handicap -0.6) and Lizzy Janes (handicap 0.3) to make her way to the top of the podium.