Leah smashes eight seconds off personal best

MMU Athletics’ rising star Leah Peploe smashed an astonishing eight seconds off her personal best in the mixed 1500 metres at the weekend.

Peploe, who runs for Leigh Harriers, took third place with a time of 4:42.08 in the heats, with the winner, Tom Clark of Bramhall posting a time of 4:32.30. Her impressive performance after a year of disruption to training prompted praise from MMU’s Athletics Coach Steve Green.

 “Leah’s showing a great level of focus and doing a lot more running than we expected, given the current conditions because of Coronavirus,” he said.

“We have high hopes for her as she’s really making good progress. She’s taken a big slice off her personal best with this performance, and that’s excellent as a yardstick for her.”

Devon-based languages student Chris Perry posted an impressive time of 54.2 seconds in the 400 metres, just a second slower than the winner Callum Garvey. The MMU scholar showed signs of what’s to come with his first post-lockdown performance, but says he still has room to improve.

“It was a tough race for me,” he said. “I was towards the outside of the track so that’s always difficult to judge where you are. Then there was a high wind as we came off the final bend. No excuses, of course, but those factors make it difficult to concentrate solely on your own performance on the track.

During the afternoon session, Chiara Young, of Sale Harriers, finished an excellent day’s work with an impressive time of 2:21.26 in the 800m heats. Manchester born and bred, Failsworth’s finest is a model student — already in her third year studying to be a sport coach at MMU. Chiara shows every sign of fulfilling her desire to become a teacher or coach in the future.

Pictured: Leah Peploe