 Rory crosses the finish line to make British athletics history (Picture: Valencia 10k) A flying Rory Leonard got 2025 off to a bang on Sunday morning with a stunning time of 27 minutes 38 seconds in the Valencia 10k. The city has a reputation for one of the fastest courses in the world, something Morpeth Harrier Leonard would be unlikely to disagree with as he took a whole six seconds off the previous UK best time for the distance on the roads. The record had been set by Mo Farah back in 2010, and was equalled by Emile Cairess on the same course in Spain in 2022 (the time set by Nick Rose of 27:34 back in 1984 was never fully recognised). In a race that also saw gold-medal winning British triathlete Alex Yee finish in a time of 28 minutes as he prepares to take on the London Marathon, Rory finished in 15th place overall, with the race won in a new European record time of 26:53 by Swede Andreas Almgren, who narrowly beat South Sudanese refugee Dominic Lokinyomo Lobalu by a one-second margin. Crediting the coaching team around him, Leonard later described the remarkable achievement simply as ‘surreal…I came into this race knowing I could achieve it’, but also determinedly set his stall out for the future: ‘time to move to the next level’. Listen to Rory talking about his record-breaking run on Radio Newcastle's Total Sport here. UK Cross Challenge It was undoubtedly a much chillier experience for young Joe Dixon as he took on the latest round of the UKA Cross Challenge in Glasgow on Saturday in sub zero temperatures over a snowy course in Alexandra Park. Dixon had his best run of the series so far, finishing in third place (17:59) behind Scot Thomas Hilton (17:47) with Swede Erik Nederheim (17:56) just ahead of Dixon in second. Catriona Macdonald finished in 16th place in the Senior Women’s race in a time of 28:53, with the race won by fellow West of Scotland representative Lynn Mckenna (26:29). Start Lists / Results | Inter District Champs Birtley Relays Closer to home, Morpeth’s Senior Men took the North East Counties Athletics Association Cross Country Relays title at Birtley on Sunday morning, winning by a massive margin of over a minute and a half with the club’s B team also managing a second place finish. First leg runner Finn Brodie also ran the day’s fastest leg of 8 minutes 49 seconds to take an early lead which only got wider as the race progressed, with George Lowry (9:11) and Josh Fiddaman (8:58, the day’s third fastest time) the other two team members. The B team of Peter Smallcombe (9:09), Andrew Lawrence (10:11) and Joe Close (9:29) finished in 28:49 but were sadly unable to claim a further set of championship medals, but did at least have the satisfaction of coming home over 20seconds ahead of nearest rivals Darlington Harriers (29:11) and Gateshead (30:18). The North East Masters Athletics Association Championships were run over the same course earlier in the day, with Morpeth’s Over 45s team of Jason Dawson (11:37), Richard Glennie (11:58) and Andrew Ball (11:15) claiming a team silver in their category, with Andy also recording the day’s fastest O/45 time. The Over 55s team of Gavin Bayne (12:46), Richard Sill (14:26) and Lee Bennett (11:43) just missed out on a medal when finishing 4th, although with the team containing both a 65 and a 70 year old it was no mean achievement. It was particularly encouraging to see Richard, back in a blue and white vest for the first time in several years pick up a medal, with Gavin 2nd fastest O/65 and Richard and Lee recording fastest times in O/70 and O/55 categories. The race was won by Tyne Bridge Harriers in 29:46, with Gateshead 2nd in 30:23 and Sunderland 3rd (30:40). Race 2, the Senior and Masters Women’s race, was perhaps surprisingly won by Jesmond Joggers in 35:10, ahead of both Blaydon (35:53) and NSP (35:57), for whom Stacey Smith perhaps unsurprisingly ran the day’s fastest time of 10:24. Crook AC took the Masters title in 37:42 with home club Birtley 2nd and Darlington AC 3rd. Results
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