A hectic few months for Avery
MORPETH HARRIER SECOND BRIT HOME IN CITY RACE
The experience of lining up against the likes of Farah in a huge race will help me for the future Carl Avery
IT’S been a whirlwind few months for Carl Avery and his fine form continued last weekend when he lined up with the likes of Mo Farah in the Great Manchester Run.
The Morpeth Harrier finished in eighth place behind Farah, a position, which Avery admitted was a so-so run, he had the distinction of being the second British runner home behind the double Olympic and World champion.
Avery went into the race in a confident mood having posted a 5,000m lifetime best of 14:08.83 on the track at Sportcity the previous weekend and had high hopes of another good performance, albeit over twice the distance.
However, the hot and humid conditions scuppered any chances he had of achieving another pb.
“After running 14:08 the week before I felt I was capable of dipping under 30 minutes for the very first time,’’ said Avery, on his return home.
“At halfway I was on target for that as I was under 15 minutes, but unfortunately the hot conditions and the fact that I was running on my own meant that I slowed somewhat which was disappointing.
“So to finish with 30:48 (his best time is 30:30 which he recorded in the Leeds Abbey Dash last year) is unfortunate but I can still take a lot of positives from the race.
“The experience of lining up against the likes of Farah in a huge race will help me for the future, and while I was disappointed with my time, to finish so high up against a top-class international field is amazing.
“And, of course, to be the second British runner home helps to put my time into perspective.”
Avery has been under the coaching wing of Lindsay Dunn for 12 months and in that time his career has flourished immensely.
Since the turn of the year he showed that he can perform on any terrain, having lifted the Northern Athletics cross-country title in January, finishing eighth in the National in February and fifth in the InterCounties in March, a run which earned him an England call-up for the Home Nations International where he finished in second place.
In April he turned his attentions to the roads where he posted one of the fastest times in the National Road Relay Championships before clocking a 5k pb of 14:29 in the Mid Cheshire contest.
And it’s the road to Blaydon that Avery hopes will produce another top performance in just over two weeks time.
“While I want to do more track races in the coming months the Blaydon is my next race on the agenda,’’ added Avery, who finished runner-up in the race last year behind Morpeth team-mate Peter Newton.