Efrem Gidey was the leading Irish finisher at last night’s Armagh International 5K.
It was another sensational night of road running in Armagh with USA athlete Andrew Colley breaking the course record in the 5K international with a 13:33 mark. Behind him Sweden’s Sebastian Larstad in third set a new world age-16 record of 13:36 while Verity Ockenden ran a well-timed race to win the women’s 3000m.
Pre-race favourite Colley immediately made his way to the front after the starter’s gun was fired in the feature event.
He was soon overtaken by the Larstad who led at the end of the first lap from Colley with Scott Stirling from Falkirk and another American Ryan Ford in close order.
It was much the same order at the end of the second circuit as Larstad continued to lead with the 33-year-old Colley seemingly glued to his shoulder. Sterling and Ford were a stride back as the field continued to be spread out and Ireland’s Efrem Gidey nowhere to be seen in the leading pack of a dozen or so.
Stirling moved to the front as the leaders went out on the third lap but the Scot’s bid for glory was short-lived as the young Swede reeled him in again to lead at the end of the third lap.
Colley was still in his shadow in second, Stirling third with Ford heading up the chase some ten metres in arrears and Gidey still outside the top ten.
It soon became Sweden versus the USA as the leading pair pulled further away on lap four and it was the pair who enjoyed a clear lead at the bell. Larstad kept up the unrelenting pace but Colley looked even more menacing as he stalked his rival on the long backstraight.
And it was no surprise when the American launched his attack as they entered the long final straight.
It looked like a comfortable win for Colley until England’s Jack Kavanagh seemed to appear out of nowhere, overtaking the Swede and bearing down on Colley. But he had left it too late and Colley got home by two seconds in 13:33, a course record by four seconds.
“I was lucky,” said Colley.
“I just had enough to get home. It’s a great race and great crowd. You don’t have this in the US except in a couple of places.”
Kavanagh took second in 13:35 with the Swede erasing no less than Jakob Ingebrigtsen from the record books with his 13:37 timing in third.
Gidey eventually worked his way through to eighth in 13:51, two-time winner and former European steeplechase champion Topi Raitanen could manage only 23rd in 14:00.
Andrew Milligan was the first NI & Ulster representative to finish, 35th in 14:07 with Annadale Strider Neil Johnston and Olympian Stephen Scullion just behind him sharing a 14:13 timing.
An unprecedented 22 runners were under 14 minutes surpassing the previous best of 17 in 2024. Clonliffe Harriers were team winners with Gidey, Masters’ cross country champion Colm Rooney (14:05), Scullion and Stephen Cashin (14:40) combining well.
Swansea Harrier Verity Ockenden timed her effort to perfection to win the women’s 3K race.
The Swansea Harrier allowed Amelia Quirke to do all the running before gunning down the Bracknell athlete on the final straight to win in 9:05. Thames Valley Harrier India Weir made a late charge for second in 9:07 with the brave Quirke third in 9:09.
Finn Valley athlete Roisin Flanagan was eighth in 9:19 while Annadale Strider Hannah Gilliland was an excellent 13th in 9:25. The other Flanagan twin, Eilish, was 21st in 9:35 helping Finn Valley to the team victory with the aid of Amy Greene (9:57).
Another Swedish teenager Eric Neiderheim swooped late in the race to win the open 3000m recording a time of 8:28.
He was pressed all the way to the line by Enniskillen’s Frank Buchanan who finished four seconds later with the man who did all of the pace-making Joseph Grange from Chelmsford relegated to third in 8:36.
Lagan Valley took the team prize through the efforts of Noah Cavanagh (8:49), Noah Harper (9:04), Jude McCann (9:06), and Rhys McManus (9:15).
Just five days after American Yared Nuguse set a world indoor mile record in New York, Jakob Ingebrigtsen went one better at the Meeting Hauts-de-France Pas-de-Calais Trophée EDF on Thursday night. The Norwegian not only smashed the mile mark, but also en route took down the world indoor 1500m record.
The Olympic 5000m champion was paced through the first kilometre in 2:20.49, before going on solo for the remainder of the race.
He passed through 1500m in 3:29.63, taking almost a second off the mark he set on the same track in 2022. Ingebrigtsen held on for the final half lap to cross the finish in 3:45.14, a significant improvement on Neguse’s 3:46.63 at the Millrose Games last weekend.