At the British Miler’s Club Manchester Trafford Grand Prix meet Arlo Ludewick followed up his recent sensational Herne Hill Harriers club men’s 800m record with another stellar performance, this time over 1500m. Ludewick placed 11th in a very strong men’s 1500m A race on Saturday in 3:41.89.
This was another big PB which moves him to second on the Harriers men’s all time list, behind only Dave Glassborow’s club record of 3:40.79 which was set when finishing ninth in the 1981 AAA Championship final at Crystal Palace.
In his first year as a senior athlete, 22 year old Ludewick has made stunning progress as he has improved his 800m best by almost five seconds this year and his 1500m by around ten seconds in the last two years and is fast becoming an exciting prospect.
Also in Manchester Andrew Warburton ran in the B 5000m, albeit his 15:38.39 in 15th was short of his best and his target as he added to the Herne Hill representation in the north.
Sunday was then a day for top 10km road racing with three female club members as two ran superb PBs and the other had a very near miss.
Chloe Tighe was first woman at the Sydney Harbour 10km in a big PB time of 32:23. Not for the first time she has beaten high level opponents and her time is the fastest 10km road time ever clocked so far by a HHH woman, a club record for road 10km.
At 31 years old Tighe is established as one of Australia’s higher ranked middle distance women, although her primary school teaching job in Dubai and some untimely injuries have hindered her opportunities to qualify for the major championships. Home in Sydney for the school end of year break, Tighe reminded her rivals that she can still produce strong performances and that she can always win good quality races.
Before returning to Dubai for one final year, Tighe will first target the target the City to Surf 14km next month, an event which bills itself as the world’s largest fun run finishing at Bondi Beach and is another very prestigious event.
Gabriel Reynolds also had a stunning run at the Wrexham 10km where she recorded an excellent PB of 36:15, with a 5km PB clocked for the first half en route. In what was also a big race, this placed her sixth female and first W40 with a very impressive run.
Closer to home Julia Wedmore continued with her prolific racing programme as she was fifth female at the Elmbridge 10km in 38:44. This was just two seconds shy of her PB on a course categorised as multi terrain and which she described as mainly trail rather than road, so this was a slower racing surface.
In midweek at the Hercules Wimbledon Dave Clarke Mile Extravaganza Lewis Laylee was eighth in one of the quickest mile races of the evening, frustratingly close to his PB with 4:18.53. Ross Brown set an inaugural mile time for him of 4:45.53 for sixth in an earlier race, a time which stands up well when compared to his 1500m PB of 4:26.
At the BMC and open races at Eltham, also on Wednesday evening George Withers only just missed a sub two minutes 800m clocking with 2:00.4 placing fourth in the D race. Over 1500m Mike Cummings was similarly close to sub 4 with 4:00.89 for ninth in the A race, followed by Warburton 11th in 4:05.38. In an open 1500m race Wedmore ran a good season’s best time of 5:11.76.
Geoff Jerwood