Weekend Round Up, 24/25 April 2021 Another weekend, another round of elite standard road running. This time Cheshire was the setting as runners from across the country lined up at the RunCheshire Elite marathon and half marathon event. As with many of the road races set up during the pandemic, the race had a multi-lap setup and required a high standard to participate with Preston Harriers Joe Monk lining up in the half marathon. Monk has been in excellent form of late and this was his big spring target event. As he aimed to break the clubs long-standing half marathon record, which was set in 1988 by Ian Dandy of 66:49. The conditions were perfect for racing and Monk positioned himself within a good pack of runners feature local runners Karl Darcy and Gary Priestley, both of Salford and by running a fairly consistent pace throughout the race and finishing strong he was able to break the club record, finishing in a highly impressive time of 65:58 and 5th place in the race. Elsewhere on the roads, the flying doctor was at it again, as Preston’s Else Davis finished first female athletes and 10th overall at the Run Tatton 10k in a time of 33:50.
Fell racing also made a return with Simon Collins representing Harriers at the Clough Head race in Keswick, which whilst short on distance, 4.5miles, featured over 1800FT of climb. Collins was slightly out of his comfort zone but did well to place 28th. Also in attendance, was former Harrier Nicola Jackson, now of Keswick AC, who continues to excel on the hills. Nicola had a storming second half of the race, moving through the field and finish 2nd female and 20th overall.
State side, Patrick Dever continues to deliver, running 13:28 to finish first place in 5000m at the John McDonnell Invitational in Arkansas, shattering the Tulsa school record.