rory takes bronze in uk 5,000m final

Morpeth Harrier Rory Leonard thoroughly deserved a medal at the annual UK Athletics Track and Field Championships at Birmingham’s Alexander Stadium on Sunday.
With four laps remaining of the Men’s 5000m and less than 20 metres separating the field, Leonard took the bull by the horns and went to the front of what had been until then a very tactical race, throwing in a 61-second lap that immediately broke up the field and left only pre-race favourite and 2023 World Championship 1500m Gold medallist Josh Kerr following in close attendance.
An assured Kerr, clearly in great form ahead of this year’s World Championships in September, did however manage to take charge himself with two laps to go, going on to claim victory in 13m44.73s.
Having given everything to try and break the field, Leonard was eventually caught himself with 100m remaining by Jack Kavannagh of Holland Sports AC of Oxted, who posted a finishing time of 13:53.35s, Leonard hanging on for the Bronze medal in 13:54.50.
Interviewed after the event, Leonard pronounced himself understandably very happy with his performance, name-checking Sir Brendan Foster as his model for throwing in a fast lap to split the field in an effort to try and destroy what he called ‘sit and kick’ racers. ‘I wanted to give myself a chance,’ he said, in a performance that drew considerable acclaim from the watching TV pundits who included David Moorcroft, a former world record holder for the distance.
Another Morpeth Harrier in action at the championships was 1500m specialist Cameron Boyek.
Again in a very tactical event, Boyek ran his way into Sunday’s final, by finishing fourth in the first of two heats on Saturday of the three and three quarter lap event, posting a time of 3m48.69s, in a race won by Birchfields Elliot Giles, in a time of 3m48.29s, so close was the finish.
In Sunday’s final however, despite running an almost identical time of 3m48.30s, Boyek could only finish eighth behind pre-race favourite Neil Gourley of Giffnock North AC, who posted a winning time of 3m47.06s, and will most likely be contesting the event in Japan.

For photos and Rory's interview, visit his Instagram page here.