Eilish wins Vitality London 10k; Millar & McGill in winning form at Flat ‘N Fast

Monday 23rd September 2024

Photo: Graham Smith Photography

Eilish McColgan was back on the top spot this weekend at the Vitality London 10,000, clocking a winning time of 31:36.

She finished over 40s clear of Lucy Reid (32:17) in second, with Lily Partridge third in 32:37.

It is her second Vitality London 10,000 title, having previously won the event in 2022.

It is also her second triumph in the capital in a matter of weeks, having taken victory in the Big Half at the beginning of the month.

It’s been a busy few weeks for Eilish, having also come very close at the Great North Run a fortnight ago, where just 5 seconds split the top 5 athletes.

‘If you told me that I’d run back-to-back half-marathons and then do a 10km in the space of a few weeks, I would’ve thought there was no chance of me doing that’, said Eilish.

‘I just think that shows how my body has got that much stronger again and getting back to where I was. There’s light at the end of the tunnel and now it’s about resetting and building into next season.’

Full results.

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Photo: Kenneth Sutherland Hike and Click Photography 

Back in Scotland, Friday’s Flat ‘N Fast event lived up to its name as athletes clocked speedy performances over 5k.

Organised by Stride Athletics, competitors had the opportunity to test their pace over a 960m enclosed tarmac route at West Lothian Cycle Circuit, Linlithgow.

From 351 finishers, there were 202 personal bests (57%) and 259 season’s bests (73%), with 24 athletes running 15 minutes or under, 79 running 16 minutes or under, and 125 running 17 minutes or under.

In the Elite Women’s race, Central Athletic Club’s Morag Millar smashed the women’s course record to take the win in 16:00, her fastest time over the distance in two years.

Having given birth to her second daughter little over a year ago, she improved on her second-place finish in April to surpass the previous record of 16:17 set by Natasha Phillips.

Millar, who has represented Scotland at the Commonwealth Games, was consistent throughout and slowly pulled away from the rest of the field.

Nancy Scott (Edinburgh AC) finished just outside the old record for second in 16:19, with Isla Britton running a well-paced race to take third in 16:29.

Photo: Kenneth Sutherland Hike and Click Photography

The Elite Men’s race ended in dramatic fashion, with four athletes sprinting down the home straight in search of the crown.

Victory went to Cambuslang Harriers’ Andrew McGill, who clocked a new personal best of 14:05.

Initially deciding to stand off the pace set by East Sutherland’s Ross Gollan, McGill kicked with a mile to go, joining Gollan and Shettleston duo Taha Ghafari and Jamie Burns in the front pack.

Having pushed the pace hard and led from the start, Gollan was passed by Ghafari and McGill in the closing stages, with McGill utilising his incredible pace over shorter distances to charge to victory ahead of Ghafari (14:07) and Gollan (14:09), who held on for third.

Quality was shown in both elite races, with Millar and Scott’s results making it into the top 50 on the Scottish women’s all-time performance list, while the top four of McGill, Ghafari, Gollan and Burns did the same.

Garscube Harriers’ James Alexander would also break the Scottish Under 17 5km record in a time of 14:36.

Showing the strength and depth of the competition, times to make it into the Top 10 have dropped significantly each event since the inaugural competition a year ago. Top 10 this year was 14:33 for Men and 17:21 for Women, compared to 15:10 and 18:13 in 2023.

There was also record-breaking form in the 3km Junior events, with course records for Imogen Turner (Team East Lothian) and Sam Deery (Giffnock North AC). Turner took the win in the Under 15 Girls in 10:25, while Deery clocked 9:50 in the Under 13 Boys.

Full results.

Tags: Andrew Mcgill, Eilish McColgan, Flat 'N Fast, Imogen Turner, Isla Britton, James Alexander, Jamie Burns, Morag Miller, Nancy Scott, Ross Gollan, Sam Deery, Stride Athletics, Taha Ghafari, Vitality London 10K