Distance Running News, 4-9 June 2019

09 June 2019

Dan Owen, Joe Turner and Jacob Pickering all produced personal best performances as they excelled at the British Milers Club meeting at BIrmingham University. Having set a PB and club record in the 2000m steeplechase whilst winning last months BMC grand prix, Owen went into the race looking to surpass his 3000m steeplechase PB of 9:06.40 that he set back in 2015 whilst in the same race Turner was looking to beat his PB of 9:29.96 set last year. With a fourteen strong field setting off quickly, it meant the runners were fighting for space as they approached the barriers with the Cheltenham athlete sitting in the main pack. Whilst Notts runner Doug Musson unsurprisingly demonstrated that he was the class of the field and moved clear, a pack of five that included Owen remained locked together as Bracknell’s Matt Seddon led them through 2000m. With 300m remaining Owen moved past Seddon before going on to claim second place in 9:00.51 behind Musson’s impressive 8:40.20 whist Seddon took third in 9:04.26. Whilst Owen was frustrated that such a small margin cost him a first ever sub nine run, it was by a much smaller margin that Turner set a new PB as clipped five hundredths of a second off his previous best to stop the clock at 9:29.91.

At the same meeting, Pickering was opening his track season with a rare outing over 3000m. Finishing seventh in a strong quality field, the Birmingham University student produced one of his best distance performances to date to smash his PB with an excellent 8:42.47. At the Irish Milers Club meeting in Kildare Liam Roarty continued his good recent form with a 1500m personal best of 4:16.73 for sixteenth place. Several Harriers contested the 1500m at the Gloucester Open meeting, with Matthew Dwerryhouse placed second in the A race in a PB of 4:27.14 before Roger Mullins (4:34.30) and Dan Schofield (4:54.06) finished fifth and eighth respectively. V60 runner Nick Holliday impressed with 5:09.42 for eighth in the C race whilst the D race saw Caroline Cotterell post 5:27.83 for fifth position and LV60 runner Kathryn Morton post 6:01.04 for eighth place.

On the roads, midweek action saw Mark James finish second overall and first veteran at the Bitton 5k with a  time of 17:15 that saw him 32 seconds adrift of Southvile’s William Smith. James was also back in action at the weekend’s Fairford 10k where he placed eighth to finish as third veteran in 37:28. Caroline Cotterell was fifth lady in 44:19 whilst V75 athlete Martin Ford was first over 70 athlete home in 46:13. Local parkruns saw James Bingham (17:07) first across the line at the Cheltenham event in Pittville Park whilst the trio of Gareth Edwards (18:20), Matt Lambourne (18:41) and Dan Schofield (19:34) finished third, fourth and seventh respectively at the Gloucester City event.