St Mary’s Endurance Performance and Coaching Centre Athletes Win Ten Races in Just Two Weeks

St Mary’s University, Twickenham has seen athletes and alumni of its Endurance Performance and Coaching Centre (EPACC) achieve outstanding results across a number of important national and international races held in the past fortnight.

In total, ten races in the past two weeks were won by an EPACC athlete – further cementing the centre’s reputation for supporting, coaching and developing high performing runners.

Head of Sport St Marys, Andrew Reid-Smith, commented, “St Mary’s EPACC athletes have made an excellent start to the track season, running PB’s, winning national titles and running World Champs qualifying times. This shows great strength in depth and with the London World Champs this summer, there’s a lot to look forward to.”

Of particular note, fresh from altitude training in Arizona, EPACC alumni and former St Mary’s student Sir Mo Farah ran a world leading time of 13:00.70 to win the 5000m the Eugene IAAF Diamond League.

In addition, Andy Vernon and athlete Beth Potter came away as British 10,000m champions at the Highgate Night of 10,000m PB’s and athletes from St Mary’s won both the men’s and women’s Westminster Mile races – with a total of seven athletes finishing in top ten spots across both races.

EPACC Performance Coach, Craig Winrow, added, “The success of our athletes so far this summer is all down to the hard work and dedication they’ve given their sport over the winter months – with hours in the gym and thousands of laps of our running track.

I’d particularly like to champion each individual who has achieved a personal best this Spring – they are the future of this sport and represent real hope for Team GB in the future.”

Athletes achieving a personal best over the last fortnight included: Adam Clarke; Ben Bradley; Ellis Cross; Emile Cairess; Jack Rowe; Jeremy Barnes; Josh Grace; Nicholas Landeau; Nick Goolab; Phoebe Law; Rowan Axe; Ryan Green; and Tom Hook – twice in the same week.

Summary of Performances

On a blustery night in London, Parliament Hill Athletics Track played host to the British 10,000m championships, World Trials, U23 European Trials & BUCS 10,000m Championships. Large numbers of EPACC athletes competed with Andy Vernon and Beth Potter coming away as British Champions.

Andy made his move with seven laps remaining and never looked back, whilst Beth had a very close battle with fellow EPACC athlete Steph Twell but was able to pull away in the final few laps to take the victory and run the World Championships qualifying time.

In addition, U23 Ellis Cross in his 10,000m debut ran a superb race to finish 8th in 29:00, winning the U23 European Trials, becoming the BUCS champion and automatically qualifying for the European U23 championships later this summer.

Loughborough University hosted the annual Loughborough International Match where athletes from England, Wales, Scotland and GB U20 race to contribute to an overall match score. In the men’s 3000m Nick Goolab back up his excellent start to the 2017 outdoor season by taking the win in 7:57.64. Tom Hook took down an impressive field in the men’s 1500m coming away with the win in a new lifetime best time of 3:43.39.

In the final events of the day steeplechasers Emily Moyes and Daniel Jarvis both ran new lifetime best with Dan running the European U23 Qualifying time and Emily running the European U20 Qualifying time.

In the IFAM Outdoor Oordegem, Belgium a number of EPACC athletes competed, with Adelle Tracey producing another strong display in the 800m running 2:01.93. This was followed quickly by Nicholas Landeau, in his 800m season opener, running a new lifetime best of 1:49.31.

Rowan Axe and Tom Hook continued the successful evening in the 1500m races both running new lifetime bests of 3:42.88 and 3:43.16 respectively. The evening ended with a world class 5000m race in which Nick Goolab ran a spectacular 13:33.48 which places him 3rd on the UK ranking this year.

Fresh from their stint of altitude training in Flagstaff, Arizona with the British Athletes team, Charlie Grice and Mo Farah travelled to Eugene, Oregon for round three of the IAAF Diamond League. Charlie in his first race of the season ran his second fastest time for the mile while Mo ran a world leading time of 13:00.70 to win the 5000m.

The standout performance from the second British Milers Club Grand Prix meeting was from first year student Emile Cairess. In the 5000m which also counted as the European U23 Trials, Emile took 17seconds off his previous personal best to win in 13:59.82.

The May Bank Holiday finished with the London 10,000. Jack Rowe produced a new lifetime best of 29:46 to finish 4th with Ellis Cross just behind in 5th with 29:53. On the women’s side Jo Pavey, now a Vet 40, took the win in a fast 32:57 with Charlotte Purdue, who is just getting back into marathon training following her excellent run in the London Marathon, finishing 3rd.