Distance Running News

15 May 2016

Alex Lee claimed his first road race victory as he set a new personal to win the Tewkesbury Half Marathon. After an opening mile of 5:24 Lee and Mark Ryall (Milton Keynes) quickly established a significant gap over the rest of the field and a two way dual at the front of the race was to follow. The two protagonists then matched each other stride for stride as they went through four miles in 21:47 and eight miles in 44:21. The pace then went back below 5:30 pace in the ninth mile before Lee sensed that Ryall was falling slightly off the pace at around 9.5 miles. The Cheltenham athlete then picked up the pace again with a 5:25 mile that opened up a decisive gap which he extended to 25 seconds by the finish. Lee’s time of 72:29 was 50 seconds quicker than his previous personal best recorded when finishing fifth at the Cheltenham Half last year. In fifth place Dave Aubrey ran an isolated second half of the race to equal the 79:52 he ran at Cardiff in March whilst Matt Evans placed thirteen with 82:13 and Michael Imeson crossed the line in 1:56.04.

Oli Mott continued his winning ways by claiming the 5000m tile at the Gloucestershire Championships in Gloucester. Having won the recent Aztec West 5k and Brewer Games 3000m by sitting in and kicking for victory in the closing stages, Mott employed a change of tactics as he hit the front from the start. An opening 400m of 70 seconds instantly opened a lead over county cross country champion Dan Owen who never got back on terms as Mott went through the opening kilometres in 3:01 and 6:03. Splits of 9:05 and 12:10 followed as Mott went on to cross the line and take the gold medal in 15:14.1. Running the whole race isolated in second place Owen recorded a personal best of 15:31.2 in just his third outing over the distance. Also running the whole race isolated Will New crossed the line in third in 16:25.7 to ensure a Harriers clean sweep of the medals. Back in fifth place Andy Prophett ran his fastest time as a veteran with 16:37.0 before Jacob Pickering finished as the leading under 20 runner with a PB of 16:49.8. Seventeen year old Ben Williams impressed in seventh place with a fine 16:53.2 debut over the distance and Mark James ensured there were seven Harriers in the top eight with 17:08.0. Hilary Mott took the ladies 5000m gold medal with a time of 18:26.9 whilst Rachel Longstaff finished third in the 800m in 2:23.9. The men’s 1500m saw Mark James take fourth in 4:26.0, with Mike Gray fifth in 4:28.6 and Iain Devlin seventh in 4:37.1

At the British Milers Club Grand Prix in Manchester James Miller placed fourth in the 800m G race in 1:56.28 and Richard de-Camps finished fourteenth in the 1500m E race in 4:04.01. Earlier in the week Tomasso Migliuolo recorded a PB of 9:49.20 as he represented the hosts in a match at Loughborough University. In Chepstow Harriers Rose Inn 4 mile road race Mark James placed fifth in a time of 22:49. Weekend parkrun results saw Gavin McCaugherty finish second in the Cheltenham event in 17:30 where James Wilkinson (18:30), Gareth Edwards (19:30) and Steve Hall (19:52) also had a run out. At the much slower course at the Newent parkrun Megan Brinley was first lady home and third overall in 20:43.