Distance Running News, 5-6 October 2019

06 October 2019

Phil Wylie made his marathon debut with second place at the Bournemouth Marathon. With a limited training build up to the event,the 40 year old GB elite duathlete, who ran a 68:43 half marathon earlier this year, was using the race purely to get used to the distance with an eye on potentially racing the event more seriously in the future. Running isolated in second place for the entire race, Wylie went through halfways in 75 minutes before slowly slightly in the second half to stop the clock at 2:33:27 in an event that saw Mercia’s Lloyd Biddell take the win in 2:25:48 and Poole’s Steven Yates finish third in 2:41:08.

At the Cardiff Halm Marathon Dan Schofield ran well to record a time of 80:36 whilst wheelchair athlete Les Hampton stopped the clock at 98:17. Simon Critchley meanwhile crossed the line in 90:59 at the Cricklade Half Marathon. Rachel Longstaff contested leg one of the national road relays in Sutton Coldfield where she placed 22nd in a time of 15:41 for the undulating 4.33km course.

The week’s heavy rainfall meant that many of the weekend’s parkruns became ideal preparation for the upcoming cross country season. James Bingham (16:56) was in fine form at the Gloucester North event on Plock Court’s all grass course as he took first place whilst Rachel Underhill (19:30) finished as first lady home in fourth place overall. Bingham’s time placed him third on the event’s all-time list as he set a new V40 record whilst Underhill’s run placed her sixth on the all-time ladies list at the four year old event. The Tewkesbury parkrun certainly resembled cross country running, but this did not prevent Kaitlyn Sheppard (19:19) beating all the men home for the second week in a row whilst mum Sarah (21:47) was second lady and eighth overall. There was an all Harriers top three in Cheltenham’s Pittville Park where Dom James (16:37), Eliot Taylor (17:13) and Will New (17:50) led the way before Steve Linton (18:16) ran well for fifth place. There was also a first place for Charlie Jones (17:22) in Hereford where Chris Cleary (17:40) was second man home. In Cirencester Marc Fallows (17:44) placed second whilst Jo Wilkie (22:57) finished as second lady in ninth overall.