Spanish roads may see some record-breaking performances on Sunday as athletes lace up their super-shoes as a substitute of cross-country spikes.
The World Cross Nation Championships has ended up with extra mud in its face this week with lots of Britain’s main distance runners selecting the roads of Valencia, Spain, quite than this weekend’s off-road international get-together in Tallahassee, Florida.
Eilish McColgan, Emile Cairess, Scott Beattie, Abbie Donnelly, Hugo Milner, Zak and Mahamed Mahamed are among the many British entries for the “10K Valencia Ibercaja by Kiprun” on Sunday (Jan 11).
They’re a part of a 16,000-strong area with Britain second solely to host nation Spaniards in relation to the variety of runners participating.
Fairly than chase medals and status in Tallahassee, the athletes in Valencia are searching for nationwide or European information, in some circumstances world information, or on the very least a PB.
Valencia has some kind on this space. Each present world 10km information – 26:38 by Joshua Cheptegei and 28:46 by Agnes Ngetich – had been set in Valencia, along with the European males’s report.
Andreas Almgren holds the latter with 26:53 and might be attempting to enhance that mark on Sunday.
McColgan noticed her European report crushed by Jana Van Lent of Belgium on January 4 however might be trying to reclaim it on Sunday. The 35-year-old was busy over the festive interval coaching at altitude, at one level clearing snow from the within lanes of the observe in an effort to full a session.
McColgan’s finest time of 30:19 was run in a women-only race in Manchester in 2022.
Different notable British entries embrace Cairess, who has not raced since dropping out within the closing levels of the marathon on the World Championships in Tokyo, though he paced Alex Yee and Phil Sesemann deep into the Valencia Marathon final month.
Beattie completed fourth within the European Cross Nation Championships in December in Portugal however as we enter the brand new yr he clearly prefers to race in Valencia quite than Tallahassee. The lengthy flight to the USA might need had one thing to do together with his resolution.
With Cairess and Beattie within the race, Rory Leonard’s British report of 27:38, additionally set in Valencia 12 months in the past, is at risk.
Additional Brits in Valencia embrace Alex Bell, Izzy Fry, Alice Goodhall, Lizzie Wellsted, Natasha Phillips, Hannah Irwin, Andy Butchart, Alfie Manthorpe, Charlie and George Wheeler.
José Enrique Muñoz Acuña, race director in Valencia, says: “The response from runners has been spectacular, with report numbers of registrations and an elite group able to set historic information. Valencia has established itself as one of many quickest circuits on the earth and we anticipate to see some nice performances on January 11.”
Main entries right here.
