Distance Running News, 14-20 May

22 May 2018

Graham Rush produced a strong performance to finish eighth in the British 10,000m Championship in Highgate. The Cheltenham Harrier lined up in a high class field that also incorporated the European 10,000m Cup event, but was not daunted by the high class line up and struck to his pre-race pacing plan as he attempted to get close to his personal best of 29:04. After passing the 3km mark in 8:34, Rush passed through 5000m in 14:28 before the pace in his pack slowed slightly to reach 8km in 23:26. With a strong finish though the PHD student managed to post his second fastest time for the distance with a pleasing 29:13.28 to finish in 24th position as Italy’s Richard Ringer (27:36.52), France’s Mohad Adoumni (27:36.80) and Italy’s Yemeneberhan Crippa (27:44.41) claimed the European Cup medals and Kent’s Alex Yee (27:51.94) held of the Aldershot pair of Andy Vernon (27:52.32) and Chris Thompson (27:52.56) to take the British title. Whilst Rush took advantage of the cool evening conditions, the hot mid-afternoon temperatures were far from ideal for the athletes competing in the earlier races of the day. In the D race Alex Bampton managed to hold his target pace of 31 minutes for the first half of the race, but the conditions got the better of him as he posted 31:46.25 for twentieth place. Dan Owen had a similar experience in the E race with a 15:40 opening 5km on his way to 32:11.59 for twelfth position. Marcus England handled the heat better than most in the F race as he went through halfway in 16:15. Finishing just fourteen seconds outside his road PB with a time of 32:58.31, England took fourteenth place in a race that saw teammate Charlie Jones finish 23rd in 34:06.81. Also on the track, George Watson contested the guest 1500m race at the Loughborough International where he posted a time of 4:13.74

Earlier in the week Doug Wight took third place in the Berkeley 10k road race in a time of 34:20 as Stroud’s Lee Stopford (33:04) and Gloucester’s Steve Millward (33:10) filled the top two places. In ninth place Mark James (35:45) finished as third veteran runner before Elliot Prince (36:53) and Andy Gore (37:11) claimed top twenty finishes. Dave Rantell (39:09), wheelchair athlete Les Hampton (44:02) and Debbie Smith (46:45) also contested the flat and scenic event. Weekend parkruns saw first place finishes for Dan King (16:10) in Poole and for Dave Aubrey (16:54) in Cheltenham where Dan Minors (18:44) placed ninth. Amber Watson (22:05) meanwhile was the fourth lady home in tenth place overall at the Studley parkrun in Australia.