KURT Taylor smashed his personal best with another outstanding run at the Telford 10k road race yesterday.
The Bristol & West AC runner carved 31 seconds off his previous best, which he set at the start of the year in the Speedway 10k near Chepstow, with a sparkling time of 29mins 25secs.
It was a brilliant run but remarkably, such was the standard of the field, Taylor’s time was only good enough for 18th place overall with the top three breaking 29 minutes and the top ten finishing inside 29mins 18secs.
Unfortunately, clubmate jack Millar h=just missed his PB, which he ran at Telford last year, by two seconds as he clocked 30mins exactly for 39th place.
But there was a super PB for Weston AC’s Chris McMillan as he dipped inside 32 minutes for the first time with 31mins 21secs – and it didn’t even get him into the top 100! McMillan placed 101st but he won’t be bothered with that having run such a good time.
Further down the field there was also a big PB for B&W’s Simeon Howson as he slashed 58 seconds off his previous mark with 33:39 for 217th place.
But for the biggest PB of the day then look no further than B&W’s Chelsea Baker in the women’s race.
Baker went to the start line with a best time of 38:53 from the Castle Combe Chilly 10k set in February. Now she boasts a PB of 34:13 after finishing 21st in an equally competitive women’s race and should move well inside the top ten of the South West Rankings.
It was also Baker’s first road race since her victory in the Marine Corps Marathon in Washington DC when, representing the Royal Navy, she clocked a PB of 2:42.38.
Mind you, Westbury Harriers’ Rosie Hamilton-James can top Baker’s leap forward with her own staggering improvement of almost six minutes as she went form 40:31 in the Chew Valley 10k three years ago to 34:50 to finish 28th yesterday.
Team Bath AC’s Heather Fell also notched up a PB of 37:15 for 56th and ninth veteran over 35.