UK Athletics / Professional Running Scene Thread

The full list of entries is out and you have to search through to find the elites. Among the best male entries there are:

Charlie Brisley

Alex Carter

Will Clarke

Rob Corney

Callum Davidson

Josh Griffiths

Adam Hickey

Stephen McCauley

Connor Sarsfield

Sam Stabler

James Tilley

Jack White

Dean Williamson

It’s a long way off London’s standard but surely the UK’s 2nd best field for the marathon this year?

Such a shame. He's been in great shape for a while but has such a big bonus for breaking the GB record in London he waits and waits for that marathon and then gets injured

Scott has been awful since moving to the roads. hard to believe that he still has sponsors but his is also on UK Athletic Podium level funding along with the ppl like Kerr & Wightman, a truly scandalous situation given his poor marathon performance and even when he raced on the track... his performances in champs were woeful

Mark Scott has been awful since moving to the roads. hard to believe that he still has sponsors but how he is also on UK Athletic Podium level funding along with the ppl like Kerr & Wightman, a truly scandalous situation given his poor marathon performance (2:11 is the only one he has finished!!) and even when he raced on the track... his performances in champs were way off what he did in time trials.
some people are just more suited to racing track then tagging on a few end of season road races for the cash but not actually suited to do this full-time, he is a prime example

I don't think Cairess has finished a road race since 2024. I've still no idea why he didn't finish Valencia having run 40km while pacing Alex Yee. Just finishing a race would have been a step forward for him. Back in 2024, he was so far ahead of Conner Mantz but since then, their trajectories couldn't be more different.

In any case, I had expected Paddy Dever to be top Brit in London and that should still be the case. I think he'll run 2:05-high

If the weathers good I reckon Smith and Manthorpe finish together in a 2:09 on a good day but if the weathers poor I think 2:11

Yeah I think Dever will be mixing with the East Africans again. Then Rowe a minute behind with the likes of Phil S and Muhammad (x2)

another predator back on the streets and hopefully not coming to a race near you soon...

Somali asylum seeker who trained with Mo Farah denies sexually assaulting girl, 18, after leaving his migrant hotel on the Bournemouth coast for night-time stroll | Daily Mail Online

another predator back on the streets and hopefully not coming to a race near you soon...

Somali asylum seeker who trained with Mo Farah denies sexually assaulting girl, 18, after leaving his migrant hotel on the Bournemouth coast for night-time stroll | Daily Mail Online

I'm not sure about Rowe. His debut was quite disappointing but he has reasonably good HM pedigree and he's been training with the Puma group in the US. He might run with Sesemann to start but he'll drop back over the last 10k.

Dever has to be careful as he might end up in no man's land. Ideally, he needs a group pacing for around 62:30 but I don't think he'll get that unless he can convince the organisers that he's making an attempt on the British record. The problem is that the rest of the Brits probably want 63:30 while the top guys will want 61. Hopefully, LME get Dever some support. If he can have a pacer through 30k then he can find the group of African runners that have tried to go for 2:02 but are now blowing up to 2:04/05.

Deport. No reason for detritus like that to be in the UK.

Shame about Emile, needs a strong result this autumn somewhere or will start to lose the great reputation he gained from London and Paris 24. Should have finished at Valencia last year after getting so close from his pace job would still have been a solid time.

Dever was already going to challenge for top Brit IMO and now should be favourite, unless Phil S has a quicker time in him than at Valencia, but doubtful on a slower course with likely worse conditions. Would love to see Yee pace Dever's group, hopefully we get decent TV coverage of the Brits at London for once...

Honoured to be named on this list (it’s spelt Conor though). I spent the winter training hard and was hoping to attempt a sub 2:15 at Manchester this weekend, but unfortunately I’ve been struggling for ~5 weeks with what was eventually diagnosed as Anemia. I’ve only just got back to full training this week so unfortunately I’ll only be treating this as a training run, and my attention has now turned to trying to get back in PB shape ahead of Edinburgh marathon at the end of May.

Josh griffiths will most likely win again, I’d expect him to run in the 2:15-2:16 range, but Alex Carter pushed him the whole way at Chester back in October so expect the pair of them to be neck to neck the whole way once again

Manthorpe's debut should be interesting

In favour

>Years of high mileage and threshold training

>Tends to get better as the distance increases, fantastic recent 10k and HM results which, on paper, are indicative of him being capable of running about 2:08.

Against

>From looking at his Strava there seems to be a complete lack of continuous long runs, on the road, at or indeed anywhere near the pace required to run 2:08 ish - contrast his training to what Sesemann or Cross are doing etc.

Could this result in the lack of durability needed to go the distance? The 30km point of the marathon tends to be a graveyard of runners who can run an amazing half but haven't trained optimally for the full distance. But what the hell to I know, there's more than one way to skin a cat.

Hope he does well in any case, one of the good guys.

Manchester & Newport today

Boots on the ground? Any standout performances?

Ideal conditions for both!

Just turned on the Manchester stream - front two are Charlie Brisley and a French fella called Lidovec? Brisley looks incredibly smooth

Not that it's ever been a fair direct comparison, but I've also enjoyed how the UK could almost hold it's own against the US in elite marathoning, and certainly recently with Caires, Mo X2, Yee, Phil, Dever etc running respectable times.

That changed today after Boston today and we can't touch them. Dreams of Hicks remaining British right now

what could Seseman, Cairess (if he was healthy), Dever etc. have run in Boston today?

Id imagine Emile and Dever would of been in the 2:04 group with Hicks and then Sesseman with the likes of Rory and Clayton 2:05-6. Jake Smith and Marc Scott probs both beaten by 39yo Galen