WOW! Beth Potter eclipses British and World Record times for 5k on the road

Sunday 4th April 2021

Beth Potter in action at the Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games (photo by Bobby Gavin)

Beth Potter delivered one of the most significant performances by a Scottish endurance athlete of all-time at a low-key road race event in England on Saturday evening.

Potter brilliantly clocked a quite remarkable 14.41 in the Podium 5k event in Barrowford – to break the World and British Record times for the distance on the road.

Beth’s time eclipses the 14:43 posted by Kenya’s Beatrice Chepkeoch as the global mark and the 14:51 held by Paula Radcliffe as the British Record.

So now the former British 10,000m champion and Commonwealth Games finalist will have to wait and see if the performance is ratified as an official World Record, with some doubts expressed on Saturday evening about licensing and drug testing post-event.

There also seems to be a 14:32 run (by Joyciline Jepkosgei) from 2017 which is unofficially the world ‘best’.

Regardless of how that all the paperwork arguments unfold, Beth’s performance underlined her fitness and form after many years of dedication.

Beth of course is now a full-time triathlete based down south and we’re absolutely certain this performance will thrill her family, the endurance community in Scotland, and old friends and former training partners at VP-Glasgow. She still holds Scottish Schools track Records.

Many congratulations !

Mhairi Maclennan clocked 15:47 in the same race and that was a road PB by seven seconds for the Inverness Harriers athlete.

And there was a new PB for Cameron Main of Moray Road Runners with 13:53. Cambuslang Harrier Grant Sheldon clocked 13:55.

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We will look to round up some track and field performances over the Easter Weekend on our website on Monday/Tuesday.

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Yesterday @beth_potter broke @paulajradcliffe's record for the fastest 5k run by a British woman, with a time of 14:41 ??????

She tells @chriswarburton_ she ran so fast that she was "convinced the clock was wrong"

? @BBCSport https://t.co/9HOdBZ1meJ pic.twitter.com/YX2exfKuc1

— BBC Radio 5 Live (@bbc5live) April 4, 2021