Sunderland Harrier Patrick Martin made a major breakthrough when he finished runner-up in the Leeds Abbey Dash 10k Road Race with nearly 6,000 runners yesterday.
The 24-year-old chopped nearly one minute from his previous fastest to dip under 30 minutes for the first time with his superb run of 29.53.
Running the race of his life through the Leeds suburbs and into the city centre, the Manchester-based teac
her was in a big group chasing runaway leader Jonny Mellor.
Surrounded by internationals, Martin refused to panic and broke away from the bunch in the final 2k as Liverpool Harrier Mellor strode to victory in 29.14.
Martin, naturally delighted with his run, said: "I felt really good and very strong. It was very windy but it didn't help.
"I've been training at Stockport with Dave Turnbull's group and this has really helped me. Peter Riley and Steve Vernon are training mates and all this has had a positive effect on my running.''
Martin's next race will be nearer his Sunderland home at the North East Cross-Country Championships at Darlington on December 12.
Chester-le-Street had three athletes in the first six in the women's race at Leeds and all clocked personal bests. Emma Raven was fourth with 35.16, Tracy Laws fifth (35.30) and Maxine Czarnecka sixth (35.47).
The race winner was Rebecca Robinson (Kendal) in 33.16 from Katie Ingram (Horwich) 34.12 and Debbie Walters (Birchfield) 34.50.
Results: Jonny Mellor (Liverpool) 29.14, 2 Patrick Martin (Sunderland Harriers) 29.53, 3 Dave Norman ((Altrincham) 30.04, 4 Martin Williams (Tipton) 30.07, 5 James Walsh (Leeds) 30.08, 6 Andi Jones (Salford) 30.11, 7 No Name 30.20, 8 Matt Barnes (Altrincham) 30.28, 9 Chris Sampson (Morpeth) 30.29, 10 Ian Williams (Tipton) 30.32.
Sunderland Harriers placed Steve Potts in fifth (49.41), Paul Redman 33rd (53.16) and Tom Campion 57th (55.00) for sixth team in a shortened version of the Brampton to Carlisle ten-mile Road Race.
The race was approximately 9.1 miles after the floods meant a detour. Redman was also fourth over-40 and Campion third over-50.
Results: 1 Ben Gamble (Tipton) 46:37, 2 David Kirkland (Alnwick) 46:40, 3 James Douglas (Border) Â 47:28, 4 Ben Harrison (Morpeth) 48:50, 5 Steven Potts (Sunderland Harriers) 49:41, 6 Paul Whalley (Blyth) 50:01, 7 Phil Walker V40 1 (Morpeth) 50:02, 8 Brendan McMillan (Claremount) 50:10, 9 George Thompson V50 1 (Border) 50:14, 10 Paul Waterson V40 1 (Morpeth) 50:36.
Junior Nathan Reed broke the course record when winning the Sunderland parkrun at Silksworth Sports Complex on Saturday.
The Sunderland Harrier clocked 17.08 to head his clubmate George Harden who improved his time by ten seconds to 17.18. Elvet Strider Will Horsley was third in 17.27. Jan Young W55 (Elvet) was first woman in 24.36.
