Inglis’ 5,000-mile trek pays off

SARAH INGLIS admitted her 5,000- mile trans- Atlantic dash had been worth it last night after all but booking her spot in Scotland’s team for the Commonwealth Games.

The 30-year-old, who recently switched her base from western Canada to North Carolina, came fourth in the British Championships over 10,000 metres at the Night of the 10k PBs meeting in London. She clocked 31:39.60 to earn the qualifying mark for Birmingham and for August’s European Championships as Jess Judd took the title in 31.22.24 to secure a world championship berth.

Inglis said: “I felt good. I just thought I’d go for it and then just see if I could hang on. With eight laps to go, it sort of started to pinch. I could feel it after getting the 5,000m standard last week. But it ended up as a personal best by over 30 seconds.

“I’ve not had enough racing over the last couple of years with Covid and stuff but I knew that I was there. So I’m glad that finally I had a good one here.”

Adam Craig’s bid to secure his Commonwealth spot blew up with the Scot admitting he went too fast, too soon.

The 27-year-old made a brave bid to earn the men’s 10,000m standard of 28:11.62. But after leading for much of the race, the Great Britain international tied up badly in the latter stages to finish 14th in 29:51.01 with victory going to Ireland’s Dean Casey.

“It was much too soon,” Craig said. “It probably came too early for me. We only decided maybe a week ago to run here. It’s been a rough start for a year with a little injury two weeks ago.”

Fellow Scot Jonny Glen was 23th in 30: 18.42 and both will now look to the 5,000m as a route to selection for the Commonwealths.

With big guns Josh Kerr and Jake Wightman holding fire until next Saturday’s Diamond League in Birmingham, Matt Stonier pipped Piers Copeland to win the Emsley Carr Mile in 3:54.89.

Australian Georgia Griffith claimed victory in the Millicent Fawcett Mile inn 4:27.81 ahead of Ireland’s Sarah Healy.