Wymondham AC’s Juliette Watkinson sets new personal best to win Humpty Dumpty 10K as Waveney Valley AC’s Matthew Jeffries cruises to overall victory

Wymondham AC's Juliette Watkinson set a new personal best on her way to winning the Humpty Dumpty 10K - event eight of the Sportlink Grand Prix Series.

Watkinson followed up her victory at the Holt 10K last month with another impressive performance, breaking 40 minutes for the first time as she came home in 39:48.

She was pushed hard all the way in the female field with Norwich Road Runners' Jessica Behan taking second spot in 40:37 and Louise Juby (Dereham Runners & AC) third in 42:26.

"That was hard and hot - the first half was lovely but the second was tough coming uphill," said Watkinson. "Jess Behan kept me well on my toes today - she was running really strong.

"But I managed to run my own race and I'm really pleased to get under 40 (minutes). We've had some brilliant training at Wymondham and we've been doing loads of track stuff. It's good to see it paying off."

Watkinson was third in the Sportlink GP Series going into Sunday's event, organised by the Great Yarmouth & District AC, and hopes to feature in the top three come the end of the season.

MORE: Love running? Join the Run Anglia Facebook group here"I've had a couple of wins now but there are some really strong girls, who are really inspiring, that aren't all coming to the grands prix races," she added. "Faith Viney and Amy Beck are really inspirational to try and follow. I'm not quite as fast as them yet but I'll keep plugging away!"

Waveney Valley AC's Matthew Jeffries was in a class of his own to win the race overall in 33:47. Bure Valley Harriers' Michael Eccles, who took victory in the North Walsham 5K on Friday night, was second in 34:55 with Jan Kaiser (City of Norwich AC) third in 35:17.

"The second half of the race was tough," said Jeffries. "It's my first 10K of the season so I just went out to just see what I could do.

"I led the race the whole way - that makes it a bit harder mentally because you've not got the people to chase. But it was a decent race, decent prize money and it was well worth coming to give it a bash."

Jeffries is coming out of a marathon training block after posting 2-37 in London earlier this year but is putting thoughts of another marathon on the backburner for now.

"I've been a bit sporadic with my races after London just to see where I was," he added. "The 5K is slowly coming down and the average pace is coming down.

"I've been putting in the hard work in the week and then really focusing on the shorter stuff to get the speed back in the legs.

"I'm not planning on another marathon next year and, if I do, then I won't do London. I'm not sure if it's the winter training or what but if I do another one then I will probably do an autumn one. My PB of 2-35 was in Berlin so if I do another one then it will probably be autumn (2020)."