Williamson masters rivals to take British title

On the opening day, the 51-year-old joined a mixed W45/W50 strating line-up for only her second 1,500m of the season.

Williamson followed her race plan to perfection, tucking in behind the leading pack of six athletes for the first two laps before powering down the home straight to finish second in the W50 category in a time of 5min 9sec, three seconds behind winner Jane Clarke of Norwich.

She went one better the following day despite temperatures soaring into the high 20s.

An earlier race start of 10am for the W35-W50 5,000m meant athletes avoided the worst of the heat and Williamson was able to pull away from the main pack early in the race.

Finding herself in a gap behind the lead athletes, who were all in younger age categories, Williamson showed great discipline to maintain an even pace, claiming victory in 19:07.

Pete Bryan led the six-strong Kenilworth Runners contingent home in the Weedon 10k, the penultimate race of the East Midlands Grand Prix series.

On a tough, undulating course, Bryan finished in 37:43 and was followed by Matthew Keal (41:26), John Dagnan (44:28), Tom Dable (48:44), Martin Broomfield (49:04) and Pauline Dable (58:47).

Kenilworth Runners’ Graham Birch finished fourth in the invite-only Bredon Bash, a 5.5-mile run centred around Elmley Castle.

Birch’s time of 40:30 also saw him claim an age category prize.

Teammate Pete Matthews was seventh in 41:20.

Forty-one Kenilworth members took part in the latest round of the club handicap series which took in a testing 3.5-mile course starting out from the Baginton Oak.

Clive Pearce put in a strong performance to retain his position as overall leader. Pauline Dable leads the A group, with Tom Dable and Rich Simkiss leading groups B and C respectively.

The fifth running of the Snipe 6-mile, which sets out from Snitterfield was won by George Eliot Striders’ Gary Payne, in 38:01.

Pete Matthews was the leading Kenilworth athlete, coming third in 38:51, with Matthew Keal (40:30) fourth.

Martin Broomfield (47:12), Tom Dable (48:37) and Pauline Dable (57.00, 1st over-50) completed the Kenilworth turnout.

Warwick-based Chris McCarthy of Tipton Harriers fought off the challenge of Pat Finnegan (Sparkhill) to take third in the Hampton-in-Arden 9-mile race in a time of 49:49.

The time ranks McCarthy eighth in the UK this year for the distance.

Stuart Hopkins returned to winning ways at the Coventry ParkRun following a long lay-off due to a cycling accident.

Coventry ParkRun: 1, Stuart Hopkins (17:03); 3, Philip Fusi (17:56); 10, Mick Williams (19:29); 11, Clive Pearce (19:30); 13, Richard Whiting (19:53); 32, Barry Elkington (21:59); 139 Arthur Smith (28:45).

Leamington Parkrun: 5, Pete Bryan (18:43); 27, Colin Underhill (23:35).

Solihull ParkRun: 30, Neil Smith (22:15).