TRC Run Roundup: 9 December 2024

It’s been a busy few days of running news, so here are all the stories you may have missed!

Kevin Sinfield Completes His Latest 7 In 7 Challenge!

Rugby player Kevin Sinfield has finished his fifth annual 7 in 7 challenge to raise money for MND. 

He set out to run at least 50km every day for seven days, in seven different locations around the UK, finishing outside his local pub as he ‘ran home for Christmas.’ This run has raised more than £1million for MND.

Keely Hodgkinson On The SPOTY Shortlist!

The shortlist for the 2024 BBC Sports Personality of the Year was revealed and features Olympian Keely Hodgkinson, who won gold in the women’s 800m in Paris after a brilliant year on the track. 

She’s nominated alongside triathlete Alex Yee, para-cyclist Sarah Storey, footballer Jude Bellingham, darts player Luke Littler and cricketer Joe Root. The winner will be announced on Tuesday 17 December. 

Ingebrigtsen and Battocletti Win European Cross Country, As Brits Have Great Success

Norway’s Jakob Ingebrigtsen won his third senior men’s European Cross Country Championship on Sunday in Antalya, Turkey. 

Italy’s Nadia Battocletti won the women’s race, and has now won the under-20, under-23 and the senior cross country championship. 

As a team format based on points from individual placing, the British team enjoyed a brilliant championship. Innes FitzGerald (U20 women), Phoebe Anderson (U23 women) and Will Barnicoat (U23 men) all won their races. 

Jess Bailey and George Couttie were both second in their U20 races. David Stone was third in the U23 race.

The women’s U20 and U23 teams, and the men’s U23 team, all won gold team medals. The senior women’s team won silver, and the senior men’s team won bronze. The British mixed relay team won silver.

Gout Gout Of This World!

Aussie teenage sprint sensation Gout Gout set two incredible new records this weekend.

At the Australian All Schools Athletics Championships in Brisbane, the 16-year old ran 20.04 for 200m, breaking the 56-year-old Australian national record in the process, and becoming the fastest ever 16-year-old over 200m.

The day before, Gout ran a wind-assisted 10.04 in the 100m, before running a wind-legal 10.17 to set an under-18 national record. 

Adidas recently signed the teenage superstar, who will be 24 at the 2032 Olympics which take place in his hometown of Brisbane. 

Just look how he accelerates out of the bend and into the home straight.

CIM Course Records Are Broken! 

The California International Marathon, which is one of the fastest races in the US, took place yesterday and both the men’s and women’s course records were broken. 

British Olympic marathoner Calli Hauger-Thackery won the women’s race in 2:24:28, over 90-seconds ahead of Paige Stoner’s 2:26:02 course record from 2022. 

In the men’s race, the long-standing course record of 2:10:27, run by Jerry Lawson in 1993, was shattered by Tsegay Weldlibanos who ran 2:07:35. Born in Eritrea and training in Flagstaff, Arizona, Weldlibano’s run took more than 90-seconds of his previous best time.

There were 1,223 sub-three finishers out of 8,356 runners, which is 14.6% of the field running under three hours. That means CIM comfortably remains one of the world’s fastest marathons. 

Talking of fast marathons… 

Valencia Marathon: A Record Number of Sub-3 Finishers?

Last Sunday, Sabastien Sawe became the fifth-fastest marathoner of all time, and ran the second-fastest debut marathon when he won the 2024 Valencia Marathon. And it was a fast race throughout the field. 

We’ve written before how we think Valencia is the fastest marathon in the world, with the quickest average finish time, highest median finish time, over 500 sub-2:30 runners, and the most sub-three runners. 

In 2024, over 5,200 people finished in under three hours. That’s the most sub-three finishers ever in one marathon. Compared to 2024’s Berlin Marathon, which had almost double the number of runners (Valencia’s 28,000 vs Berlin’s 54,000), the German race had 1,000 fewer sub-three finishers.

The 2025 Boston Marathon Celebration Jacket Is Revealed 

The Boston Athletic Association has released the first images of its 2025 Boston Marathon celebration jacket. 

Since 1991, the race has had a different jacket each year, and many runners buy one as the ultimate souvenir (you can’t wear your medal forever, but you can wear your celebration jacket!). 

While some online commenters don’t like that Bank of America feature on the jacket, the overall feedback is positive for the new logo use and 2025’s colour choices. 

Strava’s Year In Sport

Did you see our recap of Strava’s Year In Sport? There’s some great stats in there about how we approached our activities in 2024. The TL;DR: We like run clubs and exercising with others, we’re doing more short workouts, Gen Z like crew socks and coordinated kit, a lot of us have a big running goal for 2025.

US vs UK Cross Country

And finally… We watched two different cross country videos this week.

One showed the NCAA D1 Cross Country Finals (that features the best US college runners and teams), and the other was the British Athletics Cross Challenge in Liverpool, where the top men and women would qualify for the European Championships in Turkey (which we reported on above).

These videos perfectly show the difference between the manicured rolling greens of US cross country and the mud bath of British cross country. Which would you rather run?! 

Lead image from CIM