AVRs Jake Smith fourth in televised British Championships 5,000 metres race

AVRs Jake Smith of Great Britain Picture: BRITISH ATHLETICS - HANDOUT (Image: 2020 British Athletics)

Jake is currently training in preparation for the World Half Marathon Championships being held next month (October) in Poland, and saw this 5,000-metre race as a chance for some speed training and to test himself against the best runners at that distance in the UK.

The race was shown live on BBC1 and it was wonderful to see Jake in action, and to hear some good comments about him from the commentators as he took the lead in the early stages of the race.

After around 2,000 metres, eventual winner Marc Scott took over the lead and Jake settled into the chasing pack of four which soon became three.

Jake stayed strong throughout the rest of the race, eventually finishing fourth, so just missing out on a medal to add to the silver that he won at the British Half Marathon championships in March.

He did manage to finish in a new PB of 13:47:91, knocking around 13 seconds off his previous best.

Jake’s next ‘race’ is scheduled to be as a pacemaker for the London marathon on October 4, followed by the World Half Marathon Championships two weeks later.

Meanwhile, another AVR member, Richard Jackson ran the Endurancelife Classic Quarter on Saturday, a relentless 44-mile Ultra Marathon along the south Cornish coast from the southernmost point of England (Lizard Point), to the western most tip (Lands End), along the South West Coast Path.

This translates to running 90 degrees of the compass, hence the name, Classic Quarter. The route has stunning scenery with varied terrain including several miles of rock scrambling near the latter stages. Richard finished 139th out of 233 in 11:46:23 despite the niggling injury keeping his pace very steady throughout the day.

The race had a social distanced start setting off each runner at 30 second intervals and foot pump water stations for a Covid safe running environment.