Harriers show best form

Athletics

There were personal bests for Canterbury Harriers AC runners at the Vitality London 10000, Yiannis Christodoulou achieved a PB in 36.50, followed by Jo Norrington in 42.42. She was closely followed by Paul Elderton in 43.15 (PB) and Melanie Christodoulou took over a minute off her previous best, finishing in 49.16. Tom Purnell came second in 1: 04.23 at the Aylesham and East Kent 10 Miler while fellow Harrier Sarah Maguire was the first woman home in 1:18.37. With Mike Denson closely behind in 1: 22.47, Harriers grabbed the team prize. At the Folkestone Coastal 10k, Ian Stokes achieved a PB and 16th position in 38.52. Wim Van Vuuren raced to a PB and was first Vet 45 home in 41.54 and Nicola Charlton finished in a PB of 42.00. At the Littlebourne Lifeboat 10k Promenade Dash, Stephen Tugwell finished third in 38.10.

Jack Green’s timely rise to form has continued with the hurdle star running two Rio Olympic qualifying times in the space of three days. The 24-year-old, who trains at Canterbury Academy, ran his fastest time since before the London 2012 Olympics – in which he made the semifinals of the 400m hurdles – as he won at the the Josef Odlozil Memorial meeting in Prague on Monday night. After a storming final 100m, the former Brockhill School, Hythe, pupil’s time of 49.18secs was the fastest by a UK runner so far this year and Green’s sixth fastest of all-time – four of those runs coming in 2011. His personal best of 48.60secs came in the run-up to London 2012 at Crystal Palace. The win in the Czech Republic came just over 48 hours after victory in Bratislava on Saturday where he won the race in 49.39secs – one hundredth of a second inside the qualification mark for Rio. He finished four tenths of a second ahead of India’s Jithin Paul with GB’S Niall Flannery, the reigning British champion, fifth in 51.00secs. Green is back in action at the Atleticagenève Mémorial Georges Caillat meeting in Switzerland on Saturday as his preparations for the British Championships and Rio Olympic trials in Birmingham on June 26 gather pace.