Triathlon star Emma Pallant-Browne put together a hugely impressive performance on the roads last weekend, as the British long course pro ran a new 10km personal best.
Competing at the Cancer Research UK London Winter Run, Pallant-Browne raced alongside a number of other Hoka sponsored athletes and finished second in the women’s race.
Also competing at the event, Belgian Pieter Heemeryck and fan favourite Joe Skipper tested their fitness over the distance and challenged for the podium up front.
Podium and PB for Pallant-Browne
Based in South Africa, Pallant-Browne kicked off six weeks abroad in style on Sunday, running an incredible new personal best of 32:33 to just miss out on the win behind Meghana Rao and finish in 17th overall.
Comparing the Brit to some of her peers truly underlines her running credentials. For example, IRONMAN 70.3 Oceanside winner Tamara Jewett, who is often seen one of the fastest runners in middle distance triathlon, has a PB of 33:33 for the same event.
Anne Haug, who is the number #1 ranked runner according to the PTO, has a 10km road PB of 33:06, which was set in Berlin four years ago. Based on pure run speed alone, it is clear EPB is one of the best if not the best runners in non-draft triathlon.
Heemeryck takes down Skipper with top performance
On the men’s side, Hemmeryck, who was one of the standout performers in the triathlon world last season, started his year strongly in London, as the Belgian placed fifth behind some top professional runners in a time of 30:28.
Further back in ninth, Skipper wasn’t far off his 10km personal best set at the Leeds Abbey Dash, clocking a great 31:33 to sneak inside the Top 10 and win the M35 category.
Despite racing each other six times since 2018, this was only the third time that both athletes had finished the race, with Skipper never having beaten Heemeryck when the Belgian had finished the race.
Whilst a 10km race on the roads is a far cry from the demands of the IRONMAN World Championship in Hawaii where these two will most likely next meet, the results provide an interesting insight into how the top pros stack up against each other over the single disciplines.
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