Distance Running 10-14 July 2018

15 July 2018

Rachel Longstaff continued her fine recent form with a seventh place finish in the ladies 1500m at the British Milers’ Club Gold Standard meeting in Watford. In a race won by USA international athlete Sarah Pagano in 4:18.94, the Cambridge University student’s 4:37.5 was her second fastest time over the distance and just three seconds outside her recent personal best. Unsurprisingly, the clash with England’s World Cup semi-final meant that entry numbers were down as the Harriers hosted the second of their Midsummer Open Meetings. However, George Hawthorne ran well to post a season’s best of 2:05.2 for second place in the 800m as Will Ferguson (CLC) took the win in 2:02.6. The 3000m saw Nick Brown and Henry James finish fifth and sixth in 9:51.0 and 10:06.9 respectively as Oxford’s Will Gardiner won a closely contested race in 9:30.8. The previous night Dan King made the trip over the Welsh border to contest the Chepstow Harriers organised Rose Inn 4 mile road race, where he finished ninth in a time of 21:41.

On a quiet weekend of action several Harriers made good use of various parkruns ahead of their upcoming track races, with four athletes recording first place finishes. Dave Tomlin set a course PB of 16:44 as he claimed the win at the Kingsway event in Gloucester, whilst recently crowned duathlon age group world champion Alex Doherty lowered his course PB to 17:04 to cross the line first at the Evesham parkrun for a record fourteenth time. Dave Aubrey (17:26) led the field home at the Cheltenham event in Pittville Park where Dan Minors (18:31) set a course PB in fifth place and Oscar Godden (19:25) also enjoyed a run out. Kaitlyn Sheppard’s 20:31 saw her finish as the leading lady in Tewkesbury and Matt Lambourne recorded 19:16 for fifth place in Daventry.