British Record! Jo claims new distance mark at European 24-Hour Champs

Monday 19th September 2022

Jo Zakrzewski is flanked by James Stewart and Jo Newens in a pre-race photo from Italy

Three Scottish athletes competed at the European 24-Hour Champs in Italy over the weekend – and Joasia Zakrzewski came up with a special performance.

Jo set a new British Record for women as she posted a distance of 247.985k between 10am on Saturday and 10am on Sunday in Verona. That’s a distance of 154.096 miles!

Despite poor weather conditions and making her debut in this event, the Glasgow 2014 marathon runner took the Record by just 909m from previous holder, Lizzy Hawker, who covered 247.076k in Wales back in 2011.

Jo had to remain strong over the final six hours to keep her sights on that potential British Record.

It’s calculated she passed Hawker’s mark over the last three minutes of 24 hours of running. Many congratulations!

James Stewart was captain for GB and Ni on this occasion but both he and Jo Newens had tough events, as the British teams both finished fourth.

Both endured stomach/nutrition problems and didn’t have good races but stayed out there on the course walking and running and supporting everyone else – recording 219.785 and 157.319 km respectively.

The event made headlines with a new Men’s World Record as Lithuania’s Aleksandr Sorokin covered 319.614k in Italy.

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Callum Hawkins (@callhawk)
continues his return to form with a 63:13 half marathon in Copenhagen this morning @NBRunning

— Moyo Sports (@Moyo_Sports) September 18, 2022

It was good to see Callum Hawkins taking another step forward at the weekend in Denmark.

Callum clocked 63:13 this time and came home as second British athlete, with Ross Millington at 63:09, as he continued to race back towards full fitnes.

We understand Callum is combining these race appearances with a significant training programme mileage so the signs are good for a potential marathon late in 2022.

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