Sri Chinmoy event in Perth on Sunday also saw Dougie Selman win UK 100km crown while Ronnie Richmond ran British men’s 50km record
In near-perfect conditions, the Sri Chinmoy 100km and 50km races produced some outstanding performances in Perth on Sunday (March 24). The 1.5-mile (2.831km) course at the North Inch Park is known for fast times and this year was no exception, Adrian Stott reports.
Women’s 100km
Sarah Webster broke the European women’s 100km record with 7hr 3min and 48sec, surpassing the previous time of 7:04:03, set by Florianne Hot of France in August 2022, by a mere 15 seconds.
Webster, the defending champion, had run a faster 7:03:40 to win the 2023 championship in Craigavon, Northern Ireland. However, due to a technicality it was not ratified as a European record.
This time Webster went through 50km in 3:26:01 with Melissa Gibson just 40 seconds back and Julia Davis a further four minutes back on 3:30:46. Webster powered on to run remarkably even splits with a second 50km of 3:27:39.
It was an extraordinary performance from Webster who now has the fifth and sixth women’s global best times for 100km.
Gibson and Davies now move to second and third on the GB all-time women’s 100km rankings behind Webster.
Gibson took the silver medal in 7:13:23 and Davies bronze in 7:25:48. It made for a clean sweep for England in the women’s home countries team competition, with all three runners well inside the previous course record of 7:41:12 set by Jo Murphy in 2002.
Sri Chinmoy 100km start
Men’s 100km
In an exciting finish to the men’s race, just over a minute separated the first three. Once the race had settled down a solid group of around seven runners seemed to be working together. Then after the 50 miles the group started breaking up with James Turner leading the charge, Scotland’s Dougie Selman and Joe Turner were the only ones to respond and although working hard, were still in touch.
Going into the last lap James Turner held a slim nine-second lead over the local favourite Selman, with Joe Turner a further 35 seconds back.
In a storming last lap, Selman was to overhaul Turner to take the tape in 6:34:28 and raise a huge cheer from the local crowd, James Turner taking second in 6:34:38 just 10 seconds behind and Joe Turner third in 6:35:37.
Dougie Selman (Rob Sara)
All three runners were inside the course record of 6:39:34 set by Matt Dickenson in 2022 and are now the seventh, eighth and ninth ranked all-time GB men at 100km
In the Scottish Championship for the Don Ritchie cups, Selman took the men’s title from Chris Richardson, who finished fourth overall in the race in a PB of 6:40:44. Sage Pierce-Higgins, running his first road 100km, took the bronze with 6:56:14.
Sheena Logan, running her first 100km race, took the women’s Don Ritchie trophy, finishing in sixth overall in 8:19:26. Catherine Cowie took the Scottish silver medal in 8:26:31 and Fiona Gibson bronze in 10:22:05.
Scottish team (Rob Sara)
Anglo Celtic Plate team competition.
Selman, backed up by Richardson and Michael Deason, took the men’s Plate ahead of England, Northern Ireland and Ulster.
In the women’s team competition, England with their clean sweep of the podium took the honours, with Ireland in second and Northern Ireland & Ulster third.
In other notable record performances, Ciaran McGonagle set an Irish 100km record of 6:50:28 in sixth place and first M40.
Shettlston Harrier John Duffy, who turned 60 two days before the race, set a Scottish M60 100km record of 8:50:59, improving the 8:58:51 recorded by Bill Hutchison at Perth in 2016.
Ronnie Richmond (Rob Sara)
UKA and Scottish 50km Championship
In a day of records, Ronnie Richmond and Andy Davies, both GB internationals at the distance, ran together for practically the whole race, helping each other to exceptional times. At the end of lap 19 of the 21 laps, they were locked together at 2:32:16
At the bell, Davies had broken clear to have a narrow lead of 10 seconds.
On the last 2.382km lap, Richmond turned that around to take the UKA 50km title in 2:48:25, just eight seconds clear of Davies with 2:48:33.
They were both under the previous GB road record of 2:49:01 set by Dan Nash in 2019 and just outside the long-held British track 50km mark of 2:48:06 set by former Olympic marathoner Geoff Norman in 1980.
The women’s 50km championship also doubled as the Scottish 50km championship. This race was more clear cut with Central AC’s Jen Wetton in her first foray beyond the marathon, leading from the start and recording an excellent 3:29:03, less than a minute outside the course record of 3:28:07 set by Hannah Oldroyd in 2019.
Alison McGill, using the race as a stepping stone, as she builds to defending her West Highland Way title in June, took the silver.
Full results HERE
