Firenze Marathon, Florence, Italy, 26 November

Despite the cold, wet conditions, Elinor Kirk (coach: Steve Vernon) made a strong marathon debut, going inside the Welsh Commonwealth Games A standard in Italy. Fourth in the women’s race around the historic city of Florence, Kirk crossed the line in 2.36.22 and will now hope for selection for the Gold Coast Games that take place in April next year.

Results

Manchester Road Race, Connecticut, USA, 23 November

Chris Thompson (Mark Rowland) rolled back the years with a thrilling third place finish over 8km on the roads in the United States of America. Taking the race to his American rivals, the AFD man lead for the most part, winning the ‘king of the hill’ competition for first to the summit. Coming into the final 1km a trio of Thompson, Olympic 5,000m silver medallist Paul Chelimo and Kirubel Erassa were locked in battle, Chelimo eventually edging it in 21.32, with Erassa and Thompson a further two and four seconds back respectively.

There was also British representation in the women’s race, with Eilish McColgan continuing her fantastic year with a fourth place finish. With Bruze Kejela and American Molly Huddle duking it out for the win, the 26 year old Scot was locked in battle with Molly Seidel for the final podium spot, just missing out by two seconds as she crossed the line in 24.16, 23 seconds faster than she ran on the same course last year.

Results

Catch up on all the action from Sefton Park, Liverpool at the popular British Athletics Cross Challenge which incorporated the European Cross Country Championships trials via the report.