The Brit equaled his 5km personal best in the FNUL x Adidas x SportsShoes 5km, while Charlotte Dannatt also ran her fastest time over that distance in London.
Jack Kavanagh continued his excellent form this season with an impressive display to win the men’s elite FNUL x Adidas x SportsShoes 5km race (November 28).
The Surrey athlete, who clocked 13:44 at the Podium Festival in March, equaled that mark in his four-second victory over Joe Wigfield at Battersea.
Not only has Kavanagh surpassed Jack Rowe’s long-standing record of 13:36 since 2021, but only Sam Atkin and Will Barnicoat have gone faster than him over 5km this season.
It has been a big year for Kavanagh, who represented England and also came second to Josh Kerr in the 5000m at the UK Athletics Championships last summer.
Earlier this season, Kavanagh left his teaching job at Oxted to pursue athletics full-time, a decision he believes has been justified.
“I’m very proud because the Liverpool Cross Challenge didn’t go as planned. [Kavanagh DNF’d]” he told AW. “I didn’t really put a place or time into this race and I think the result came with that.
“I started running indoors as a hobby and soon became addicted. I went to my local track where I met my coach Neil Danby, who is a former Olympian. I trusted everything he said and went from there.
“It wasn’t easy as a teacher as my mind was always ‘go, go, go’, so I had to learn that rest is important during the day. I also found it important to have hobbies. Now I want to do my first indoor races and continue to be curious during training.”
In the elite women’s race, Charlotte Dannatt surpassed her 5K personal best of 16:01 with an authoritative win in the FNUL x Adidas x SportsShoes 5K.
The Briton clocked 15:37, beating American Taryn Rawlings by four seconds, while also improving India Weir’s course record of 15:44 from earlier this season.
Dannatt has had a busy few weeks and arrived at Battersea after finishing 15th in the Liverpool Cross Challenge.
Over 5km, she is now the eighth fastest Briton over the distance this season.
“I wasn’t really that focused on the time and the focus was more on the race,” she told AW. “The plan was to hold on as long as I could, as I knew what these girls could do in the 1,500m. I thought they were going to pass me at the end.
“I think I would be bored if I did just a track, road or cross-country one. With my height, since I’m quite tall, I’m probably better suited to both track and roads.
“I had a few years where I ran without confidence, so this is the first season where I believed I could do it again.”
SportsShoes.Com awarded Kavanagh and Dannatt £2,000 for the course records.
