10 September 2015

After last weekend’s Cardiff 10km, John Beattie (coach: Gavin Smith) and Liz Hartley confirmed their spots at the top of the runbritain Grand Prix series standings with only two events to go before the top prizes are handed out.

The six-stage road racing challenge has previously visited Reading, London, Bristol in 2015 and the race in Cardiff served as a taster for the upcoming Cardiff Half Marathon (October 4), the fifth race in the grand prix which also incorporates the British Championships and the trials for the 2016 IAAF World Half Marathon that will also be held in Cardiff, next March.

In the men’s competition, Beattie extended his lead in the Grand Prix standings as he finished ahead of home favourite Dewi Griffiths (Kevin Evans) (29:17) and Kojo Kyereme (Conrad Milton) (29:50). Beattie earned 450 points from the Cardiff race – 250 for the win and an extra 200 points for recording a personal best time of 29:11 (under 29:30). Kyereme lies second in the Grand Prix on 1037 points with Paul Martelletti narrowly behind on 1035 so it is all to play for over the final two events.

In the women’s Grand Prix standings, Hartney took the lead with a 28^th place finish in Cardiff but is the only woman to have completed all four races in the series so far. Rachel Felton (Christopher Frapwell) won her third consecutive Cardiff 10km win to move up to second in the Grand Prix standings with Faye Fullerton (Georgina Fullerton) finishing fifth in Cardiff and moving up to third place overall.

The Grand Prix’s scoring system awards 250 points to the first British finisher, down to one point for the 250th British finisher and there are extra points available for fast times. Up to the best four scores from the six available races count at the end of the series.

The current standings in the runbritain GP after four events: http://www.runbritainrankings.com/grandprix/standings.aspx?sex=W&year=2015