Jake Wightman and Jenny Simpson win 5th Avenue Mile
Jake Wightman claimed his first New Balance 5th Avenue Mile victory while Jenny Simpson secured her seventh in a wet New York City on Sunday.
At the end of a superb season which has featured 1500m bronze medals at both the European Championships and Commonwealth Games, Scottish star Wightman capped his summer with a time of 3:53.5 to deny New Zealand’s Nick Willis a fifth title.
Willis was second in 3:54.2 ahead of Wightman's fellow Scot Neil Gourley who ran 3:55.3 on his road mile debut.
Last year's runner-up Chris O'Hare was sixth and Charlie Da’Vall Grice seventh.
In the women's race, Simpson won for the sixth consecutive time and seventh overall, running 4:18.8 for the 10th-fastest women’s time in the event’s 38-year history.
Her fellow American Colleen Quigley placed second in a PB of 4:19.2, while Britain's Melissa Courtney was third in a PB of 4:20.2.
Laura Weightman, who ran a British mile road record of 4:17.6 at last year's event, was seventh, Sarah McDonald 10th, Adelle Tracey 12th and Steph Twell 14th.
Among the many age-group races, British runner Roman Hodgson from Colwyn Bay made the long trip over to New York City and finished runner-up in 4:52 behind Harry Wood Prince's 4:47 in the 8-14-year-old race. Hodgson's dad, Mike, promised to take him to the race if he won the Westminster Mile in London in May, which he did in 4:54.
Full results can be found here.
