The 2:26 marathon runner enjoys victory in Northern Ireland as we bring you our latest endurance running results round-up Natasha Wilson (née Cockram), who ran 70:06 in Spain earlier this year in her only other recorded outing, found 72:47 enough to see off the challenge of Anne-Marie McGlynn by nine seconds to take the women’s race. Barnaba Kipkoech won overall in 62:48. 1 B Kipkoech (KEN) 63:48; 2 F McNally (N Belf) 67:04; 3 B Gebrebrhan (ETH) 68:24; 4 A Oukhelfen 68:32; 5 C Gallagher 68:34; 6 R Hagan (Newc) 70:22; 7 C Grant (N Down) 70:22; 8 S Donnlley (Strive) 72:23 1 T Murphy (BARF) 74:13 1 N Wilson 72:47; 2 A McGlynn (L’kenny, W40) 72:54; 3 M Silva 74:59; 4 J Bleakley 75:56; 5 G Ganiel (N Belf, W45) 78:12; 6 I Anderson 79:29 1 S Benton (N Down) 88:28; 2 L Smith (N Belf) 89:15 1 L Press 1:40;43 1 M Slocum (IRE) 88:48 1 W Zerom (AShf) 31:12; 2 B Stephensen (Dart, M40) 32:26 1 R Tomlin son (M&M) 36:39 1 G Saker (Ton) 38:41 1 N Hanicom (S’oaks, W45) 36:42 1 M Heslop (Ton) 38:37 1 O Adedeji (NEB) 31:38 1 N Filer (Col H) 33:48 1 P Graves (T’tree) 38:05 1 L Gason (Ips J) 39:02 1 V Jennings (Ips J) 45:30 1 J Nixon (St Ed) 78:03; 2 L White (Tun W) 70:44 1 C Jacobs (H’leigh) 80:29 1 J Suttle (B&W) 53:48; 2 M Ellis (W’bury, M40) 55:04 1 K Summers (Weston) 56:28 1 D Bruce (B&W, W35) 58:15 1 N Morgan (Chep) 68:57 1 J Anderson (NSP) 71:37; 2 M Banks (Morp) 72:52 1 M Kearney (Elvet) 75:07 1 D Smithers (Knaves) 75:10; 2 R Watkinson (Roth) 75:33 1 W Pearson (Crook) 79:47; 2 D Parkin (Leeds) 79:49 1 R McGrath (S’port W) 80:16; 2 D Parker (St Ther) 81:14; 3 K Davies (St Ther) 81:55 1 C Hall (NSP) 89:47 1 A Sneddon (J&H, W35) 79:07; 2 C Williamson (W40) 79:56 1 H Warr (Almw) 83:13 1 R McDonnell (Inv EK) 86:43; 2 D Richardson (Quakers) 88:47 1 K Neesam (N Marske) 88:12; 2 T medley (Border) 90:26 1 R Baker (Camb H) 94:44; 2 D Broom (Peni) 98:43 1 B Stevens (Manf) 1:44:10 Central Athletic Club’s Morag Millar smashed the women’s course record at Flat ‘N Fast 3 to storm to victory at the West Lothian Cycle Circuit in Linlithgow – as Stride Athletics celebrated one year since the inaugural event.
Millar, who gave birth to her second daughter little over a year ago, improved on her second place in April to smash the previous record of 16:17 set by Natasha Phillips. The early stages of the women’s race saw Millar and Shettleston Harriers’ Lynn McKenna push away from the chasing pack, but the pace was blistering and by the time the pair had reached the halfway stage, McKenna could not keep up the pace, having to work hard to finish fifth. Millar, who has represented Scotland at the Commonwealth Games, was consistent throughout and slowly pulled away from the group now vying for second and third – battles won by Nancy Scott from Edinburgh AC and Isla Britton.
Millar was cheered down on the home stretch to a new course record of 16:00, her fastest time over the distance in two years. Scott was marginally outside the old record in 16:19, while Britton was rewarded after a well-paced race to take third in 16:29 ahead of Jenny Selman and Lynn McKenna. A year on from the first men’s Flat ‘N Fast race ending in dramatic fashion, the same happened again with four athletes sprinting down the home straight in search of the crown, which would go to Cambuslang Harriers’ Andrew McGill.
McGill, who recently ran 3:55 at the Monument Mile, made up for a difficult run at Flat ‘N Fast 2 to cross the line in 14:05 for a new personal best. Initially, he decided to stand off the pace set by East Sutherland’s Ross Gollan – instead opting to go with his teammate Gavin Smith until a mile to go. While Gollan, an accomplished mountain runner, was looking to fend off Shettleston duo Taha Ghafari and Jamie Burns, McGill added more drama to the mix, making it four at the front and ensuring heartbreak would come for one of those in the pack.
It became apparent into the final straight that Burns was tiring and would finish fourth ahead of Smith, meaning the long-time leader Gollan had to keep pushing the pace, hoping to tire out his opponents. While Ghafari went past him, so did McGill and utilised that incredible pace over shorter distances to charge away from the man from Iran, continuing what has been a stellar 2024. Ghafari was second in 14:07 and Gollan third in 14:09.
Quality was shown in both elite races, with Millar and Scott’s results making it into the top 50 on the Scottish women’s all-time performance list, while the top four of McGill, Ghafari, Gollan and Burns did the same. Garscube Harriers’ James Alexander would also break the Scottish Under 17 5km record with a time of 14:36, beating the previous best of Giffnock North’s Hamish Armitt. Falkirk Victoria Harriers’ Luke Sedman was victorious in the junior 3km race, running 9:22 to claim the under 15 Boys’ title.
Sedman finished seventh at April’s event, but got a second bite at the cherry to take 15 seconds off his personal best ahead of Garscube Harriers’ Connor Campbell in 9:46 and Finn Smith from Springburn Harriers in 9:47. Imogen Turner from Team East Lothian improved the Under 15 Girls’ course record having finished the race in 10:25 following a great battle with Aberdeen’s Emily Taylor, Flat ‘N Fast 2’s Under 13 winner. Taylor crossed the line in 10:33 and Victoria Park City of Glasgow’s Erin Burnett was third in 10:41.
Brooke Walker from Cambuslang Harriers’ improved from second in the Under 13 Girls’ race at Flat ‘N Fast 2 to come home for the victory this time in a new personal best of 11:07. Second was Law & District’s Emily Taylor in 11:26 and Harmeny’s Aria Macfarlane, last event’s bronze medallist, took bronze again in 11:36. Giffnock North’s Sam Deery broke the previous course record in the Under 13 Boys’ category, crossing the line in 9:50, narrowly beating Law & District’s Alexander Wotherspoon by one second for the top on the podium.
Third place went to Blake Burchill from Harmeny in a time of 10:13. From 351 finishers, there were 202 personal bests and 259 season’s bests. 24 athletes ran 15 minutes or under, 79 ran 16 minutes or under, and 125 ran 17 minutes or under.
Overall: 1 L Rogers (Fife) 31:08; 2 N Bennett (Dund R) 34:31; 3 A Hart (Dund R) 34:53 Women: 1 R Burns (Perth R) 38:29; 2 A McNeilly (Dund R) 38:44 W70: G Hanlon (Dund R) 55:08 Overall: Muriel Macleod (W35) 38:39 Elite course – Overall (day 1 15.km. day 2 22.
5km, in pairs): 1 Paul Pruzina/Philip Vokes 7:47:53 (4:25:49, 3:22:04); 2 Keith Johnston/Tom Crudgington 10:29:55 (5:17:30, 5:12:25); 3 Simon Hodge/Jonathan Gibson 10:50:11 (6:22:41, 4:27:30) M40: Ian Jones/Duncan Harris 11:07:41 4:50:35, 11:07:41) Mixed: Pippa Dakin/Dom Dakin 11:11:50 (6:31:23, 4:40:27) Women: 1 Heather Coden/Helen Ockenden 12:07:29 (6:45:50, 5:21:39); 2 Moire O’Sullivan/Elizabeth Wheeler (W40) 12:30:52 (7:11:11, 5:19:41); 3 Poppy Hill/Ianthe Hill 13:14:16 (7:33:36, 5:40:40) Course B (14.1km. 19.
3km) – Overall: Alasdair McCallum/Tommy Begley (M40) 10:26:20 (5:45:19, 4:41:01) Mixed: Finbar McGurren/Karen McGurren 10:52:22 (5:58:37, 4:53:45) Women: Denise Mathers/Hazel McLaughlin (W40) 12:36:06 (7:02:42, 5:33:24) Course C (10.7km.15.
8km) – Overall: Rob Truswell/Barney Sowood (M40) 7:48:02 (4:14:51, 3:33:11) Mixed: William Winter/Claire Wilshaw 9:10:02 (5:05:46, 4:04:16) Women: Jennifer Allan/Kathryn Powell 10:45:22 (5:55:49, 4:49:33) Course D (9.1km. 15.
3km) – Overall: Graeme Reid/Cameron Reid 8:48:14 (4:53:48, 3:54:26) Mixed: Kevin O’Reilly/Louise Fitzsimmons 9:32:25 (4:40:56, 4:51:29) Women: Jennifer Wright/Ellen Twist 14:49:15 (7:37:42, 7:11:33) Finlay Grant and Naomi Lang were victorious in the UKA British Fell Championship (long course) race over the classic Peris Horseshoe in North Wales. Despite the dry weather, there was poor visibility around the summits which added to the challenges of the steep and rocky terrain for the runners who had to traverse the summits of Elidir Fawr (924m), Y Garn (947m), Glyder Fawr (1001m), Y Lliwedd (818m), Yr Wyddfa/Snowdon (1085m) and Moel Cynghorion (647m). At Pen y Pass, eight runners, led by Matthew Elkington in 1:38:05, were separated by less than two minutes, but on the climb of Y Lliwedd and Yr Wyddfa, many of them dropped off the pace leaving four in contention, headed by Grant in 2:38.
05 who was just ahead of Tim Lamont and Chris Richards. On the ascent of Moel Cynghorion Lamont had a 13-second lead over Grant but the latter proved the stronger over the finish section to win by 17 seconds. The 2024 Snowdon race winner Naomi Lang was the leading female runner in 13 place overall ahead of Nichola Jackson and Antonia Fan.
1 F Grant (Dark Pk) 3:14:58; 2 T Lamont (Helm H) 3:15:15; 3 H Bolton (Kesw) 3:19:06; 4 Joseph Wright 3:20:16; 5 B Townshend (Kesw) 3:20:21; 6 C Richards (Helm H) 3:21:32; 7 D Connolly (Mercia) 3:27:13; 8 M Elkington (Amble) 3:28:19; 9 T Simpson (Amble) 3:29:31; 10 C Balogh (C’thy) 3:30:03; 11 S Stead (Kesw) 3:30:31; 12 A Thornton (Howg) 3:30:47; 13 N Lang (C’thy, W) 3:30:50; 14 H Cooling (Howg) 3:31:12; 15 S Hebblethwaite (Kesw, M40) 3:32:05; 16 G Roberts (Calder V, M40) 3:32:24; 17 B Gard-Storry (Eden) 3:32:50; 18 K Cooper (C’thy) 3:33:06; 19 A Fallas (C’thy, W40) 3:35:19; 20 J Harris (Amble) 3:37:01; 21 J Battrick (Kesw) 3:37:17; 22 R Jones (Rhd He) 3:38:28; 23 J Woodley (Dark Pk) 3:39:49; 24 B Tetler (G’dale, M45) 3:40:08; 25 S Chepelin (C’thy) 3:41:22 M50: K Gray (Calder V) 3:41:56 M55: K Richmond (Helm H) 3:54:39 M65: P Pearson (N Fells) 4:25:08 M70: R Bellaries (Clay) 5:52:06 TEAM (provisional): 1 Kesw 53; 2 Helm, H 107; 3 C’thy 121; 4 Mercia 174; 5 Calder V 186 1 Lang 3:30:50; 2 N Jackson (Kesw) 3:45:25; 3 A Fan (Amble) 3:54:07; 4 E Cowper-Coles (Dark Pk) 3:54:57; 5 F Collett (Dark Pk) 4:01:32; 6 E Pannone (Amble) 4:08:23; 7 A Watkinson-Powell (Dark Pk) 4:09:41; 8 S Richards (Eryri) 4:20:37; 9 L Watson (Dark Pk) 4:26:45; 10 S Fawcett (Dark Pk, W40) 4:27:02; 11 J Henderson (Denbigh, W45) 4:29:41; 12 B North (Eryri) 4:34:53; 13 A Rowlands (Eryri, W50) 4:43:27; 14 M Price (Mercia, W50) 4:43:52; 15 R Probert (Mynydd D, W55) 4:44:20 W60: D Gowans (Tod) 5:17:02 W65: A Daykin (Clay) 5:45:54 TEAM (Provisional): 1 Dark Pk 16; 2 Eryri 33; 3 Amble 43; 4 Mercia 55; 5 Calder V 77 1 B Houghton (Dark Pk) 43:15; 2 J Crickmore (Dark Pk) 44:07; 3 T Saville (Dark Pk) 45:08; 4 J Williams (G’dale) 45:26; 5 H Webb (Dark Pk) 46:17; 6 M Jones (Dark Pk) 46:22 M40: P Hodges (Dark Pk) 51:00 M50: Steve Knowles 51:36 M55: M Nolan (Dark Pk) 56:40 M60: A Barnett (Dark Pk) 61:19 M65: J Webber (Dark Pk) 63:45 M70: M Mcloughlin (Prest) 76:43 1 L Robertson (Dark Pk) 56:50; 2 A Whelan (Bux) 60:55; 3 Jane Crowson (W60) 68:36; 4 C Tregaskis (Ross, W60) 69:25 1 S Bentham (Ilkley) 33:00; 2 E Evans (Wharf) 35:22; 3 E Hassell (Wharf) 35:32; 4 M McGoldrick (Sett, M40) 36:09; 5 A Cairns (Wharf) 36:26 M50: I Gibbons (Ilkley) 42:29 M60: B Foreman (Mat) 42:41 M80: G Howard (Ilkley) 52:55 : 1 Helen Smith 89:55; 2 Joanne Massey 42:04; 3 H Cairns (Wharf) 43:21 W40: L Mollison (Wharf) 49:56 W50: F Whitworth (Holm) 49:57 W60: K Forster (Ross) 53:36 W70: L Lord (Clay) 63:45.
