The European 10,000m Cup was held in conjunction with the Night of the 10,000m PBs at the Parliament Hill Athletics Track in north-west London on Saturday (19).
The event has been growing in popularity and exposure since 2013 and Europe’s best distance runners took to the start-line in Highgate to chase positions in the European 10,000m Cup, as well as qualifying times for the Berlin 2018 European Athletics Championships.
The women’s A race duly went to the formbook as Israel’s Lonah Chemtai Salpeter lowered her national record to 31:33.03 to secure the world-leading mark. Chemtai Salpeter broke away from Romania’s Ancuta Bobocel just after the halfway point although she did lead Romania to the team title ahead of Great Britain and Germany.
The men's race will remain long in the memory of anyone who lined the Parliament Hill Athletics Track as Germany's Richard Ringer timed his sprint finish perfectly, coming through on the inside of France's Mourad Amdouni to win in a European-leading mark of 27:36.52. The top five finishers all came away with lifetime bests and the top seven finishers all broke the 28-minute mark.
The Night of the 10,000m PBs has become one of the most popular fixtures on the domestic calendar since its inception in 2013 and the word is beginning to spread. After winning the women's race, Chemtai Salpeter told us she enjoyed the intimate crowd support which spurred her to a world-leading mark of 31:33.03.
'The crowd was so nice, they cheered a lot!'
— European Athletics (@EuroAthletics) May 23, 2018
Lonah Chemtai Salpeter enjoyed her time at the @NightOf10kPBs which hosted the European 10,000m Cup on Saturday. pic.twitter.com/x6wQldzocE
Richard Ringer described the Night of the 10,000m PBs as the best 10,000m race he's taken part in thus far. 'This is a new format for athletics; this is what we want to see,' said the German after winning the 10,000m with a sizeable negative split.