08/09/14

The fourth race of the runbritain Grand Prix took place on Sunday 7 September 2014 at the BMC 10k track festival, in Stretford. Scott Overall (coach: Alan Storey) grabbed his third overall win in the series and an extra 100 bonus points for breaking the 30 minute mark which means he leads the men’s competition by 1298 points.

The event was composed of six 10,000m races in warm conditions in Greater Manchester. Scott Overall showed his class as he recorded a new 10,000m personal best, just three weeks before he takes part in the Berlin marathon in Germany, to take the victory in the A race. His time of 29.18.39 made it another successful competition for the Blackheath & Bromley athlete.

John McDonnell (John Stoker) was the only other athlete to break 30 minutes as he finished second behind Overall and he also set a new lifetime best over 10,000m. McDonnell is currently in 8th place on the Grand Prix scoreboard with 809 points but he still needs to race in another event in the series if he is to be included in the final standings in the Grand Prix.

Carl Hardman made his first appearance in the series this year and finished 4th in the A race in 30:14.65 – collecting the title of Northern Champion at the same time. Paul Martelletti (Nick Anderson) finished in 5th in 30:24.37 and is currently 2nd in the Grand Prix with 968 points after completing all three previous races in the series.

Samantha Amend (Rodger Hughes) was the first British female to finish in a time of 35:37.51 so she took the maximum 250 Grand Prix points. The Belgrave athlete set a new personal best with this time on the Trafford track. She now leads the women’s runbritain Grand Prix standings on 951 points after completing all four of the opening races in the series.

Caroline Lambert (Bill Foster) earned herself 249 points for achieving the second fastest female time of the day and ran 36:44.27 which was a new lifetime best. The young Wetherby athlete also became the Northern Champion over 10,000m.

The series has already included events at the Reading Half Marathon, Bristol 10k, BUPA London 10,000m and now the BMC 10,000m track festival but the next stop is in Wales.

The runbritain Grand Prix series moves on to its penultimate stage at the Cardiff Half Marathon on Sunday 5 October where athletes will be aiming for fast times, and for some it will be an opportunity to strengthen their pursuit for the men’s and women’s titles.

Entries are still open for the event until Monday 15 September. Visit the website http://www.cardiffhalfmarathon.co.uk/ for all the entry details.

Also visit http://www.runbritain.com/run-britain-grand-prix for all the details on the series and the current standings of the runbritain Grand Prix.