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Thompson defends Great Scottish Run title on the road to the New York Marathon

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Chris Thompson once more demonstrated on Sunday (30) that his appetite for the big races and his desire to win remains as fresh as it ever was.

Thompson, the European 10,000m silver medallist behind Mo Farah in Barcelona in 2010, produced a superb near gun-to-tape performance to successfully defend his Bank of Scotland Great Scottish Run title, a five-star certified road race by European Athletics Running for All.

Now 37, Thompson is preparing for November’s New York Marathon and this triumph in windy conditions in Glasgow was a perfect platform in his plans.

The Brit won over the half marathon distance in 62:07 from Poland’s Marcin Chabowski, second in 62:24, with Britain’s Luke Traynor in third in 62:56.

Traynor had led early on but once Thompson took charge in first half of the race, there was only going to be one winner.

“It’s possibly my best half marathon race, especially in those conditions. The good thing is I didn’t have to race to the line over the last three miles so that minimised the damage,” said Thompson, speaking to Athletics Weekly.

“I knew the other guys wanted a race so to beat them convincingly tells me everything I need to know. I tend to race my opponents these days.'

In the 10km races, Gemma Steel, the five-time SPAR European cross country gold medallist, won the women’s event in 34:00 and Adam Craig won the men’s in 29:43.

An estimated 30,000 runners took part across the two day event, making it Scotland’s biggest running event on the calendar.

Carvalho makes a promising marathon debut in Warsaw

France’s Florian Carvalho is another runner with an established record at the European Cross Country Championships and the former European U20 and U23 cross country champion delivered a fine performance on his debut in the Warsaw Marathon on Sunday.

Carvalho, who also won the European U23 1500m title in 2011, took a big step on the roads, finishing second in 2:15:14 (67:08/68:07) behind Kenyan David Metto, who won in 2:12:44.

There was domestic representation on the podium in the women’s race as Anna Lapinska finished second in 2:38:41 behind Kenya’s Beatrice Cherop in 2:35:22.

 

Domestic road wins for Homolac and Epis

At the Bechovice to Prague 10km, the oldest road race in Europe, on Sunday, there was home success in the men’s event as Jiri Homolac won the 122nd edition in 30:00 with Slovakia’s Kristyna Dvorakova successful in the women’s race in 34:46.

Italy’s Giovanna Epis achieved a home success at the Aosta Half Marathon in 73:56, winning ahead of veteran Catherine Bertone, 46, in 76:51.

While the track season is just about over, there were still a few titles to be sorted and in Vienna, Andreas Vojta (28:59.11) and Julia Mayer (35:37.01) won the Austrian 10,000m crowns.

Elsewhere, Volodymyr Kyts (4:40.1) and Anna Mishchenko (5:17.0) won the Ukrainian Road Mile Championships as part of the Bukovynska Mile road race at Soborna Square in Chernivtsi.

And in Cakovec on Sunday, Slovenia’s Barbara Spiler, the 2011 European U20 hammer champion, broke the 70m barrier for the first time in over five years with an effort of 70.92m.




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