Photo Credit - @WoodenTopsFR
GLEN SMASHES 5K PERSONAL BEST ON COVID COMEBACK
Inverclyde AC’s Jonny Glen showed that time away from racing was no detriment to his form, breaking his personal best in the 5K by a whopping 22 seconds.
Competing in Burnley at the Podium 5K race last week, Jonny clocked in at a time of 14:01 to finish 14th in the men’s elite race, finishing a spot ahead of Beijing 2008 Olympian Tom Lancashire.
Marc Scott, who finished fifth in the 5,000m European final in 2018, stormed home to win the race in 13:20, with Jonny coming home as second Scot behind British triathlete Grant Sheldon, nine seconds ahead.
Jonny’s quickest time prior to this came in 2016 on the track in the 5,000m, running 14:23.42 in nearby Manchester, while his previous best on the road was 14:52 from 2015 at Silverknowes in Edinburgh at the Scottish 5K Championships.
He did not travel alone however, with two of his teammates lining up in separate races – in limited fields due to social distancing in a bid to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
Perhaps the most impressive run of the day came from Mark Doherty in the men’s B race who clocked a new personal best to finish 11th in a time of 15:22.
Doherty, who is now into his third year as a Vet 35, broke his best time from two years ago by a full minute – showing significant improvement since returning to the sport after being a promising youngster.
The third and final athlete was Cammy Watson who contended well on his return to fitness and despite not being at his peak, finished 21st in the A race in a respectable time of 15:37.
Cammy, who has a road personal best of 15:15 and a 5,000m best of 15:10, showed that he is not far from his best - returning after suffering a couple of set backs in the past 12 months.
Races are few are far between for athletes at the moment, but all three showed early signs of great performance for the team ahead of what is expected to be a limited 2020-21 season.