DAN Studley moved up to 23rd in the UK Rankings and second in the South West following a personal best in the Simplyhealth Great Manchester Run 10k on Sunday.
The Bristol & West AC runner clocked 29mins 39secs for ninth place – and fourth Brit – in a high-quality field to shave two seconds off his three-year-old former best set in Leeds.
The result is probably Studley’s best performance of the year so far though he has kept his racing commitments to a minimum with just five outings, though that includes two half marathons in Barcelona (a PB of 63:58) and Reading (65:24).
Fastest man in the west remains Studley’s former B&W clubmate Shaun Antell, now with his home town Bideford AC, following his cracking PB of 29:13 in the Brighton 10k last month.
Further down the field in 80th Westbury Harrier Martin Lucass smashed his PB by over two minutes with a time of 35mins 21secs.