We may be less than two weeks into 2025, but we have already seen some incredible performances. This weekend, it was the streets of Valencia that provided the racing highlights, including a new British Record. James Rhodes brings this week’s Weekend Round Up.
Before today, only eight British men had run inside 28:00 for 10km on the roads. Six of those eight did so in the 1980s. Today, two athletes joined that elite club, one becoming the fastest there’s ever been.
The 10k Valencia Ibercaja has become known as one of the fastest races of the distance each year. This year’s edition, despite not the stillest of conditions, was no different.
At the front of the men’s field, Andreas Almgren of Sweden broke the European Record by running 26:53. It moves him to tenth on the all-time list. Behind a whole host of incredible performances came, none more so than Rory Leonard. He entered with a PB of 29:03, although had run 27:38.39 on the track last year.
That track time was one to take note of, as he equalled it to break the British Record, jointly held by Mo Farah and Emile Cairess (27:44). A fantastic performance, which moves him considerably ahead of his dad Tony on the all-time list.
Rory will rightly take the plaudits and attention from the Spanish city, but another runner was very close behind. Charlie Wheeler clocked an excellent 27:42 PB to also run inside the old British Record. It was only his third race over the distance on the roads, with his previous best of 28:40 set at the Telford 10k in December 2023. An excellent start to the year for the Milton Keynes Distance Project athlete who set PBs at every distance he contested last year.
Plenty More Impressive Performances
In his road 10k debut, Alex Yee ran an impressive 28:07. The triathlon Olympic Champion is no stranger to athletics, having run 27:51.94 on the track in 2018, but rarely races outside of triathlon these days.
A further five ran inside 28:30, three setting PBs. Phil Sesemann improved to 28:10, closely followed by Zak Mahamed in 28:13. Zak was only three seconds shy of his lifetime best. Alfie Manthorpe had one of the best performances of his career to clock 28:14, improving his 2021 best by 52 seconds. Marc Scott ran 28:16 and Ellis Cross 28:24, a PB.
There were improvements also for James Gormley (28:33), Logan Rees (28:35) and Jacob Allen (28:35). Such was the depth of performances, this article could solely feature times from Valencia and nothing else!
Speedy Women Too
There were some fine performances in the women’s field also. The best came from Amy Eloise Neale, who ran a superb 31:15 PB to move to seventh on the British all-time list. That is a 51-place jump from her previous placing!
Continuing her welcome return to racing was Jess Warner-Judd, who’s 31:54 improves on her result at the Ribble Valley 10k last month. Amelia Quirk ran the second fastest 10k of her career (32:08), improving by 26 seconds on her Telford 10k outing in December.
Lily Partridge (32:13) was five seconds behind, whilst Sarah Astin improved her PB to 32:19. That time improves her own Belgrave Harriers club record. Hannah Irwin (32:31) and Sophie Wallis (32:34) had good first outings of the year, as did Abbie Donnelly (32:36) close behind.
Beth Kidger (32:47) and Jenny Nesbitt (32:51) also finished in under 33 minutes, a time that Megan Gadsby (33:00 PB) precisely clocked.
Running at the Dubai Marathon 10k, Eilish McColgan ran her fastest time since May 2022 with 31:14. That just betters Amy Eloise’s time from Valencia.
Closer to Home
Abdinasir Mohamoud Elmi continued his excellent form from the end of 2024, clocking 29:00 to be the clear winner of the Stubbington 10k. In total twelve runners finished in under 32:00, with Matt Sharp (30:05) and Christopher Newnham (31:20) completing the top-three. A recent arrival to the UK, Abdinasir ran 13:55 for 5k and 23:10 for five miles in Battersea Park last month. Impressively, he won nine of his ten races in 2024.
Kate Natkiel (35:36) was fastest in the women’s field. The Brighton Phoenix athlete took eight seconds off her PB and finishing precisely thirty seconds clear of second place. That honour went to Rebecca Lord (36:06) with Erin Willmers (37:11) third.
Seyfu Jamaal (31:11) and Melissah Gibson (37:18) were victorious at the Serpentine New Year’s Day 10k. The race was postponed from its original date due to bad weather. Rachel Bailey (41:24) and Ben Brassington (34:10) won the Garstang 10k.
The Hatfield 10k saw Jason Baker (33:02) and Freya Weddell (35:38) set the fastest times. Hannah Taunton (35:12) and Tom Barnes (33:57) did the same at the Stoke Stampede 10k. Hannah, who won bronze in the 1500m at the Tokyo Paralympic Games, improved her PB by four seconds.
Another postponed race was the Salcey Forest Christmas 10k. It saw Andrew Ndlovu (39:13) Christine Dimech (48:18) finish quickest.
Salford Harrier Matt Cooper (33:48) and Laura Coucill (44:54) were fastest at RunThrough’s Run Heaton Park 10k. Sarah Brown (87:57) and Callum Rowlinson (70:00) won the associated half marathon. Another RunThrough event, the QE Olympic Park 10k, provided wins to Chloe Sharp (36:10) and Eoin Pierce (31:58).
On the Track
The indoor season is in its infancy, but that does not stop some speedy performances just twelve days into the 2025.
In Cardiff, Innes FitzGerald provided the racing highlight at the Non Thomas Endurance Grand Prix. The event incorporated some British Milers Club races over 800m, 1500m and 3000m. Innes took to the 3000m, where she won a mixed gender race in dominant fashion, clocking 8:48.30. That is considerably faster than Zola Budd’s British U20 Indoor Record but may not be ratified as a mixed gender race. It was also just 0.3s shy of the European Indoor Championship qualifying standard. Innes expects to race again at the BMC Indoor Grand Prix in Sheffield next weekend.
Archie Davis (7:57.23) set the fastest time overall. Tiarnan Crorken (3:44.10) and Holly Dixon (4:15.50 PB) did the same over 1500m, and Jack Organ (1:52.26) and Shaikira King (2:04.10) in the 800m.
In Spain, Justin Davies ran 1:46.94 at the Miting Catalunya on Friday. That is an indoor PB for the Bath based athlete and not far from the European Indoor Q.
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Source: fastrunning.com