British distance runner Emile Cairess broke the European 10-mile run record at the latest Podium 5k by SportsShoes.com event on March 4 at the Steve Burke Sports Hub in Barrowford, Lancashire.
Cairess clocked a time of 45:57, running 15.5 laps of the 1.1km road circuit at the ‘Breaking 10’ event. He beat the long-standing European 10-mile record of 46:02 set by Richard Nerukar in 1993 by five seconds.
The record marks the latest success of Cairess’s running career. Last year, he equalled Mo Farah’s UK 10km record following a 27:44 run in Valencia, Spain and also won a silver medal at the European Cross Country Championships in Turin, Italy.
As a student, he also held the 1500m record at Bradford Grammar School, which was previously held by Nerukar and two-time Olympic triathlon gold medallist Alistair Brownlee.
The ‘Breaking 10’ event was organised as part of Cairess’s preparation for his marathon debut this year. He will run the London Marathon and is aiming to break the marathon debut record of 2:08:05 set by Welsh athlete Steve Jones in 1984.
Founded in 2014, Podium 5K began with a single race around the Steve Burke cycle track in Barrowford.
Poduim 5K was recently acquired by SportsShoes.com to enable further record attempts and the diversification of its running events.
As well as the European 10-mile record, Podium 5K races at Barrowford have seen a host of record-breaking runs. These include the British men’s road record of 13:20 achieved by Mark Scott and an unofficial women’s world record of 14:41 by Beth Potter.
Commenting on record-break, Podium 5k founder and SportsShoes.com event organiser, Chris Barnes said: “It’s a fantastic achievement by Emile to break the European record which has stood for 30 years. His success joins the growing list of running records which have been broken at Podium 5k events.
“We’re pleased to have been able to support Emile and collaborate with his athletics sponsor Adidas to create the perfect running conditions to help his training ahead of his marathon debut this year.
“Now Podium 5k is part of SportsShoes.com, we look forward to hosting more events like this in the future to help people go faster and break more running records.”
Podium 5k has organised more than 45 non-profit races for affiliated and non-affiliated athletes and expanded to include events in London, the Midlands and Wales.
Future events include SportsShoes x Podium Underground, a 3km race on an underground electric go-kart track beneath London’s Canary Wharf on March 17 which includes a DJ and cash prizes for winners.
Bradford-headquartered SportsShoes.com was established in 1982 and offers customers more than 17,000 products from 150 global running and outdoor brands.
From a running perspective these include Asics, Nike, Adidas, Hoka and New Balance whilst in terms of outdoor they include Haglöfs, Montane, Rab and Patagonia.
Last year, SportsShoes.com announced a new retail partnership with running events series and community RunThrough. The company also became official shoes partner for governing body England Athletics.
For further information visit www.sportsshoes.com
Header image: New record – British runner Emile Cairess broke the European 10-mile run record at Podium 5K by SportsShoes.com’s event in Barrowfield, Lancashire.
