CHRIS Poxton has shaved more than a minute off the CAAC 10-mile record for M40 men.
The long-distance specialist clocked a time of 54mins 36secs at last month’s Tom Scott Memorial Road Races.
It smashed the previous best of 55mins 48secs set by Grant Wilkie in December 2010.
Chris, 43, revealed he was confident of setting a new benchmark at the event in Strathclyde Park.
He said: “I knew the record was within reach coming into the race. I had come second in the category at the Half Marathon Championships in Inverness with a time of 1hr 12mins 31secs, going through 10 miles under the previous record time.
“It’s important to back yourself and be confident within sensible parameters, so I had planned to come in no slower than 55 minutes by keeping it faster than 5mins 30secs pace for each mile. The conditions were perfect and I ran a good race.
“It meant a lot, both in terms of being proud to appear on the club records, as there are a lot of first-class veteran athletes, but also that I am still able to push myself and gain PBs on the wrong side of 40.”
Chris, who works as a fund analyst at a bank, only started running at the age of 27.
An Achilles tear brought a premature end to his first Edinburgh Marathon that year before clocking 3hrs 58mins at the EMF event the following year in 2008.
From there, he says he “chipped away” at his times, culminating in setting the men’s vet club record of 2hrs 33mins 51secs at the Wrexham Elite Marathon in April 2022.
He also completed this year’s London Marathon in 2hrs 37mins despite a disrupted build-up including illness and a delayed train journey south that saw him forced to stand from Newcastle to Kings Cross.
Chris, who joined CAAC in late 2016, feels he still has some more record-breaking runs in him.
He added: “I would like to better my marathon time. I had aimed to do that at London this year but it wasn’t to be. I had lacked mileage and knew it wasn’t feeling right on the day.
“I’m already making plans in preparation for the Chester Marathon in October. I’m not sure if any of the other club records are within reach – possibly the half-marathon if I can make some breakthroughs, but Keith Hood is an amazing athlete who has set numerous great times.”
PHOTO CREDIT: BOBBY GAVIN | THAT ONE MOMENT