Weekly Update - 23rd Sept. 2026

IAU 100 Km World Championships, Ames, Spain (Sun. 20th Sept.)

The 2026 IAU 100km World Championships in Ames, Spain, delivered world-class performances on Sunday.

Hugh Tibbs finished an excellent seventh in the men’s race in 6:26:54, making him the second scorer for Great Britain & Northern Ireland. In the team competition, nations’ results were determined by combining the cumulative times of their top three finishers.

Team USA claimed the men’s team gold with a combined time of 19:17:18, narrowly edging Great Britain, whose three scorers finished in 19:18:02. The margin of just 44 seconds made for a thrilling battle for the top honours.

Chiltern Wonderland 50, Goring-on-Thames (Sat. 19th Sept.)

Three years after my last visit, I returned to Goring on Thames for the Centurion Chiltern Wonderland 50 writes Christian Poulton. An 80km loop through the Chiltern Hills with around 1,700 m of ascent, passing Mapledurham, Stonor Deer Park, Cobstone Windmill, Christmas Common and Grim’s Ditch before returning back to the Thames.

The forecast promised warmth, and it delivered. I reached the first two aid stations on schedule, but as the temperature rose my appetite faded; through the hilly middle third, I managed little more than watermelon and coke. Under-fuelled, the final 10 km along the fastest part of the course became a determined shuffle.

I finished in 10:34:55 - 35 minutes slower than in 2023, but still enough for 1st Male V60 and 95th overall from around 250 starters.

World Road Running Championships, Copenhagen, Denmark (Sat. 19th Sept.)

Mass participation events have become a familiar feature alongside the World and European Road Running Championships, either as a separate race or, as in Copenhagen, starting just a few minutes after the elite field.

Graham Maynard wasn’t able to challenge Dawit Seare (ERI) or Jakob Ingebrigtsen (DEN), who both clocked sub-13-minute times in the World Road Running 5km Championship, but he was delighted with his own performance, finishing in 22:48 and taking 1,994th place.

Nieuwpoort Marathon, Belgium (Sun. 20th Sept.)

The town of Nieuwpoort on the Belgian coast (pronounced Newport but spelt with a distinctive Dutch surfeit of vowels) hosts what they call the Long Coarse Weekend: open water swimming on Friday, cycling on Saturday and running on Sunday, with multiple distance choices, writes Clem Dixon. So you can do an iron-man or any other Triathlon permutation but with a night's rest between legs. Or you can be sensible and just do the marathon. 

The course is one lap, dead flat, mostly rural but with good support in a few small villages along the way. This week's top tip: I usually avoid the groups that form around pace makers; the pace makers are not always competent, a big group can make it hard to see trip hazards and can make for chaotic drinks stations, and worst of all there is sometimes someone there who seems to think that it is their role to play the court jester. But on an exposed course on a windy day, as was the case here, they can be helpful. I hid in one such group for those sections where there was a headwind (which seemed like most of it). Mercifully there was no court jester other than the symbol of the finish line beer. I finished156th in 3:41:27.

Stafford 10k, Victoria Park, Stafford (Sun. 20th Sept.)

The Stafford 10K is an annual road race through the heart of Stafford. This year, the event also provided a qualification opportunity for the England Athletics Age Group Masters 10K representative match, which will be held in Colchester on 19 May 2027.

Rose Baker produced an excellent performance, finishing 319th overall and, more importantly, second woman in the 60+ age group in a time of 45:38.

Her time was comfortably inside the published qualification standard, putting Rose in a strong position for selection for the England Athletics Age Group Masters team in 2027.

Larkfield 10k, East Malling, Kent (Sun. 20th Sept.)

Just five club runners made the short journey to East Malling in Kent for the Larkfield 10K.

Kyle Hurst was the first club finisher, recording an excellent 11th-place finish in a time of 34:45. Olesya Golovina was our sole female representative, finishing 101st overall in 45:31.

The other club finishers were Terry Stark (39:06), Jonathan Woodall (42:04) and Ian McCarthy (58:04).

Editor's Note: The Kent U14 and Masters Championship reports have been held over until next week’s update. Thank you for your patience, and we look forward to sharing the reports with you then.)