England teams take gold and silver as the European Record falls at the ACP 100k

England's Sarah Webster (Northern IOM) set a sensational European 100k record as England's women claimed the top 4 spots at the Anglo Celtic Plate 100k (ACP) in Perth, Scotland.

In cool conditions Webster claimed the British 100k title running 7:03:48 around the 1.5 mile loop to break the previous record by 15 seconds. She led home a sensational team performance by England's women with Melissah Gibson (Ealing Eagles) running 7:13:23 and Julia Davis (Newquay Road Runners) clocking 7:25:48 moving to 2 and 3 on the UK all time list behind Sarah. Samantha Hudson dos Santos Figueira produced an excellent run of 8:00:14 as England dominated the women's race. Webster and Gibson now see themselves in line for automatic selection for GB&NI at the World 100k Championships. 

James Turner (Brighton & Hove) found himself in an exciting battle for victory in the men's race with a minute splitting the top three athletes. Scotland's Dougie Selman finished strongly to take the victory with James 10 seconds back in a fantastic 6:34:38, a performance which also sees him eligible for automatic selection for the World 100k.

Alex Milne (Hercules Wimbledon) was the next England scorer in 5th running strongly for 6:49:17. Michael Young (West Cheshire) battled injury in the race but completed the distance to ensure England's men claimed a team silver medal crossing the line in 8:41:13. Experienced ultra runner Ollie Garrod withdrew during the race with an injury. 

Outside of the fantastic England team performances Joe Turner (Cambridge & Coleridge) was again in excellent form finishing 3rd overall in a time of 6:35.37. In the 50k, Bideford's Ronnie Richmond claimed the British title running a sensational British road record of 2:48:25, just seconds short of the overall British record held by Jeff Norman. Scotland's Jennifer Wetton claimed the women's 50k title in 3:29.03. 

Team leader Robbie Britton said:

"The whole team put in an incredible effort today, with the women’s team performance good enough for a gold medal in every single World Championships in the history of 100k running. Congratulations to all the athletes and coaches, and a big well done my fellow team staff of Aly Dixon, Vanessa Atkin and Jamie Pugh for providing exceptional support to the athletes across the weekend and in the build-up."

Images by Norbert Mihalik