Ben Connor and Lily Partridge in Mid-Cheshire 5km success

Connor runs course record of 13:39 as Clare Elms clocks UK W60 record of 18:15

MID CHESHIRE 5km, Kingsley, August 29

Despite breezy conditions, partners Ben Connor and Lily Partridge gained an impressive winning double and both set PBs on the fast Kingsley course as Clare Elms improved her W60 British best with a 18:15 time which is also an unofficial world best, Steve Smythe reports.

The 2021 Olympic marathoner Connor also improved Marc Scott’s 2018 course record of 13:45 and his PB from 13:43 to 13:39 (13:38 on chip) while Partridge improved her best all the way from 15:42 to 15:18 (15:17 on chip).

Connor, who ran his fastest marathon since the 2021 Olympic Trials in Seville in February in 2:14:06, has been working on his speed this summer having run his previous 5km PB in Gateshead earlier in the month.

Here he rocketed the opening slightly downhill first mile in 4:16 before dropping to 4:32 in the more uphill second mile and then blasting the last downhill kilometre well under 2:40 to give him a 27 second victory over Richard Allen with former English National winner Calum Johnson third.

Partridge, who won this event in 2022 in 15:46 and, like Johnson, is a former English and British champion, covered her first mile in a very fast 4:40 to break clear of her opponents. She then held five minute-miling over the tough mid-section before a sub-three-minute final kilometre end ed with a 15:18 personal best.

Eight seconds back, the winner of the spring race here Emily Haggard-Kearney was 13 seconds down on her May time suggesting conditions were slightly tougher this time.

In third, 20-year-old Kirsty Maher went inside 16 minutes for the first time with 15:54.

Forty-one years her senior, Elms followed up a part in a 4x800m world record a few days earlier with another record run here, albeit the World Masters, unlike the BMAF, do not recognise it as a record distance.

With 18:13 on chip it actually wasn’t quite as quick as she ran here in May (18:09) but the BMAF only recognise gun times for UK bests and there, a non-record gun time of 18:31 fell short. She did run a later 18:20 at Battersea in June which was what she was chasing this time and after consultation with the organisers she started much nearer the front of the field so she had a better chance of the record.

However, while that ultimately gave her the record it meant she was overtaken by over 400 runners during the race and was never with anyone who was running at her hoped for…