Kavanagh beats James Kingston and Jake Wightman at Battersea as we bring you our road round.
FRIDAY NIGHT UNDER THE LIGHTS 5, Battersea Park, London, December 19
Jack Cavanagh added to his recent victories in the Surrey League in October and here at Battersea Park in November’s 5km with a win over James Kingston after the pair came from a strong field.
The Dutchman opened up a five-second lead over his Tonbridge rival to win in 22:49.
The times took the pair to the top spot in the 2025 rankings over five miles, albeit just short of Ian Hammer’s all-time best.
They both had turns at the front, with Cavanagh leading through one of the three laps and Kingston after two laps, but it was the English 5000m champion who went faster in the final mile.
It was quite a battle behind the top two for third place, which was eventually won by 2025 World 1500m silver medalist Jack Wightman in 23:24.
It was Leeds’ John Beattie who led the pack after a lap ahead of Jonathan Cornish and Fleury Grierson, before he dropped to the back of the pack along with Tom Butler.
It then all came down to finishing speed as Wightman showed off his speed.
Alcock, Cornish and Max Walker followed over the line.
Ben Cole later topped the 2025 M40 rankings with 23:53 the fastest time for that age group in 25 years.
Along with the men, four women were eligible to run the race, and Ivy Locke and Naomi Tashimowitz battled it out until Locke took the lead in 26:11 after one lap.
Earlier there was a second wire race for a few more women and slower men, with Charlotte Ryan and Kate MacArthur first home in the women’s race, who were unlikely to be separated in time.
General (elite race): 1 J Kavanagh (Holl Sp) 22:49; 2 J Kingston (Ton) 22:54; 3 J Wightman (Edin) 23:24; 4 B Allcock (Bed C) 23:26; 5 J Cornish (HW) 23:28; 6 M Walker 23;31; 7 F Grierson (High) 23:33; 8 Jay Collier (Kent) 23:42; 9 J Commerford (R&N) 23;45; 10 T Butler (SB) 23:48; 11 Jay Beattie (Leeds) 23:51; 12 B Cole (Ton, M40) 23:53; 13 R Tak (Chelm, U20) 24:06; 14 S Byrne (Swin) 24:17; 15 L Ryan (Belgium) 24:21
M45: 1 P Martelletti (VP&TH) 25:42; 2 N Browne (Serp) 26:09
M50: 1 S Shaw (ESM) 27:42
M55: 1 S Atkinson (Phoe) 28:24
U20: 2 H Bell (Herne H) 24:21
Women. 1 Y Lock (TV) 26:11; 2 N Taschimwitz (SB, W35) 26:13; 3 About (Herts P) 27:05; 4 Terms (World C) 28:38
Earlier race 5 km
Women. 1 C Ryan (Walt) 29:25; 2 K MacArthur (VP&TH) 29:25; 3 J House (Soton) 29:49; 4 E Stevenson (Holme P, W40) 30:37
W45: 1 J Triou (ESM) 32:14
LAST FRIDAY OF THE MONTH 5km, Hyde Park, London, December 19
Christmas meant the 5km on the last Friday of the month was a week earlier than usual and the British Masters champions dominated the women’s events. Steve Smith reports.
W35 Rebecca Piggott, who won the British Vets title in Battersea a few weeks ago, was the clear women’s winner in 16:59 despite the breezy conditions and far from flat course.
British W45 Champion and Euro Masters runner-up Zoe Oldfield was a clear second in 18:07, but just 75m behind Multi World, European and British W60 Champion Claire Elms in fifth set up the Masters race of the day.
A few days before his 62nd birthday, he bettered his W60 course record, and while his 18:23 was just short of his world best (18:15 in the slightly overall descent of Kingsley), it was certainly a better performance.
In addition, his run collected a race record 102.1% in age classification and earned him the overall award for the 2025 series with the best six races of the year averaging 100%.
After this race, race director Malcolm French stepped down after organizing the monthly event for the vast majority of the 32 years it had been held at Hyde Park.
In general. 1 S Green (Northampton) 16:10
M60: 1 S Corfield (SoC) 18:27
U18: 1 S Kwan (Belgium) 16:44
Women. 1 R Piggott (Lon H, W35) 16:59; 2 Z Oldfield (Lough, W45) 18:07; 3 C O’Connor (St Alb’s) 18:10
W50: 1 E Skinner (Kent) 18:51
W55: 1 A Critchlow (W4) 20:05
W60: 1 C Elms (Kent) 18:23; 2 L Woolhouse (Vets) 21:33; 3 L Thomas (HW) 22:03
Start Fitness City Runs FAST 5000, Torbay, Devon, December 21
The two youngsters dominated as Tom Webb and Rory Barclay-Watt went head to head until Welshman Webb, the 2024 English Schools 3000m silver medallist, just ran 14:36.
Webb took three wins over 5km in the Yeovilton series this year and was just 12 seconds off his best this time, but also does triathlon and is a member of the South West Academy.
For the women it was Aldershot’s Louise Small who took a comfortable victory over Tamara Beach in 15:59, a time four seconds off her previous best.
After a marathon personal best of 2:27:51 in Amsterdam two months ago, Small returned to action with a 70:41 around Bideford 10, followed by a 33:34 at Leeds Abbey 10km, a time close to his best before this run.
Behind, Beach knocked 26 seconds off her personal best with a clocking of 16:18.
In general. 1 T Webb (Wales U20) 14:36; 2 R Barclay-Watt (Exe) 14:37; 3 J Parkinson (Exe) 14:58; 4 C Hewitt (Tiv) 15:17; 5 J Forty (Exe, U17) 15:18; 6 Jay Blake (Plym) 15:32
U15: 1 L Snell (Torbay) 17:15; 2 H Gardiner (Torbay) 17:17
U13: L Sweeney (Plym) 17:47
Women. 1 L Small (AFD) 15:59; 2 T Beach (Maize) 16:18; 3 C Arnell (Exe) 16:37; 4 E Foster (N Dev, U17) 16:49; 5 A Murray-Goyurlay (Tunt) 16:53; 6 M Canham (Belgium) 16:58
W45: 1 K Booth (Mock) 5:31 p.m
U17: 2 T Ferguson (WSEH) 17:33
B Race, selected
M75: 1 L Jones (SWRR) 24:22
W50: 1 A Thorn (Erme V) 19:17
W55: 1 J McFadzean (SWRR) 20:16
W60: 1 K Blakemore (Plym) 22:55
W65: 1 J Harrison (B&W) 21:48
LOFTUS POULTRY RUN, North Yorkshire, 21st December
Total (7.5 million). 1 D Williamson (Col H) 39:52
M55: 1 D Parkin (Leeds) 44:50
Women. 1 A Pigford (Hought) 47:29
NOTTINGHAM HOLME RUN HALF MARATHON, 21 December
In general. 1 L Shail (Cov G) 70:22
M45: 1 N James (BUER) 75:19
SALTWELL 10km, Gateshead, Tyne & Wear, December 20
In general. 1 W Lindsay (St Alb’s) 32:20
M60: 1 P Davison 38:29
Women. 1 L Turner (Birt) 34:21
W50: 1 R Dadswell (Birt) 42:09
W55: 1 A Spencer (Vall St) 43:44
