Pro:Direct Running offering opportunity to test, win or buy Vaporfly NEXT% at the Night of the 10,000m PBs

There is plenty to see and do at the Highgate Harriers Night of the 10,000m PBs on Saturday (July 6) and it is not just about top-quality 25-lap track racing.

AW has a stand at the meeting where we will be selling our latest magazine. There is a question and answer session at 6pm with Liz McColgan, Andy Vernon and Bram Som, while the day also includes inter-schools relays and a Strava-sponsored mile.

Over at the Pro:Direct Running stand, meanwhile, there is the chance to test out and buy the Nike ZoomX Vaporfly NEXT% ahead of its official retail sale launch. You can also win a pair if you clock the fastest time on the night on a treadmill, or you can enter a draw to win a pair via a lottery.

In addition, Pro:Direct Running has organised a competition to win a trip to a Nike shoe launch event in St Moritz, Switzerland, at the end of this month where British elite athletes will be training at altitude ahead of the IAAF World Championships in Doha.

Nike ZoomX Vaporfly NEXT% costs £239.95 and was launched on the eve of the Virgin Money London Marathon in April. There, the shoe was worn by world record-holder Eliud Kipchoge and Britain’s Mo Farah, among others, with many club runners across the country keen to get their feet in a pair in the hope it will propel them to a PB.

We reviewed the shoe in April here and it features a new bright green or ‘phantom glow’ colour pattern with 15% more ZoomX foam in the midsole than its previous incarnation, together with a lighter upper made out of ‘Vaporweave’ plus, of course, the carbon fibre plate that gives the shoe its spring. With comfort in mind, laces are offset to the side to reduce pressure on the top of the foot and there is more padding to protect the Achilles.

Pop down to the Parliament Hill track next to Hampstead Heath on Saturday to watch the 10,000m races and test out the shoe and maybe buy or try to win a pair via Pro:Direct Running.

A look ahead to the European Mountain Running Championships in Zermatt, plus a preview to continental combined events action in Lutsk

Sarah Tunstall, who won individual silver last time this event was staged in its uphill format two years ago, heads Britain’s 16-strong team for the European Mountain Running Championships in Zermatt, Switzerland, on Sunday.

Joining recent trials champion Tunstall will be Rebecca Hilland, who was with her when Britain won team gold in 2017.

Former UK steeplechase record-holder Hatti Archer, who was 10th in the 2016 World Mountain Running Championships, and last year’s bronze winner Emma Gould complete a strong senior women’s team.

Trials winner Jacob Adkin will be joined in the GB men’s team by his coach, Robbie Simpson, the Commonwealth marathon bronze medallist, and Andrew Douglas, winner of the opening two stages of the World Mountain Running Cup this year.

The junior teams include 2018 International Youth Cup champion Matthew Mackay.

From an international point of view, Switzerland’s Maude Mathys will be chasing her third consecutive title as she runs on home soil in the shadow of the world-famous Matterhorn.

Challenging her will be Austria’s three-time winner Andrea Mayr, who has also won the world title six times and is an uphill specialist.

Recent world trail champion Blandine L’Hirondel of France will be dropping down in distance to 10.1km (1020m of ascent) – the juniors run 5.9km (448m+) – while Anais Sabrie of France will be looking to go one better than her silver of last year.

On the men’s side, Norway’s Johan Bugge, who was fifth and top European at last year’s Worlds, is among the top entrants.

Italy’s men include Cesare Maestri, runner-up last year and former world champions Xavier Chevrier and Martin Dematteis.

A live stream for the event can be found below, while start lists and results will be posted here.

European Combined Events Team Championships Super League

Great Britain placed fourth last time at the European Combined Events Team Championships Super League in 2017 and this weekend the team includes England champion John Lane and Commonwealth bronze medallist Jessica Taylor-Jemmett.

Taylor-Jemmett, who has scored 5663 in the heptathlon this year, will spearhead the team of four men and four women in Lutsk, Ukraine.

Lane, who tallied 7786 to win the national decathlon title in Bedford this year, was sixth in the 2018 Commonwealth Games on Australia’s Gold Coast.

Joining them on the team are Commonwealth Games representatives Ben Gregory and Katie Stainton, plus Andrew Murphy, Jo Rowland, Lewis Church and Ellen Barber.

Also look out for world indoor heptathlon bronze medallist Maicel Uibo and defending champion Janek Oiglane in the decathlon and 2011 European under-23 champion Grit Sadeiko in the heptathlon.

Cumulative scoring based on each country’s top three men and top three women will decide the outcome and hosts Ukraine will defend their title in the last ever edition of these championships.

A live stream for the event can be found below, while results will be posted here.

Watch the best bits from Nick Kyrgios' entertaining news conference, after his second-round defeat by Rafael Nadal, in which he discusses his controversial style of play, criticises the umpire and praises Andy Murray on the Briton's return to Wimbledon.

WATCH MORE: Ranty Kyrgios, Muzza returns & Kvitova's aces - day four funnies

England have made nine changes to the side that beat the USA in their Women's Rugby Super Series opener in San Diego.

Captain Sarah Hunter will start at number eight against Canada with Sarah Beckett joining her in the back row.

Catherine O'Donnell, who was a replacement as the Red Roses opened their title defence with a win, comes into the second row.

"It's huge when Sarah Hunter plays for us," head coach Simon Middleton said.

"We have some great back row players but she has so much character and leadership so it's great to have her back."

Middleton has also opted for a new centre partnership of Emily Scott and Millie Wood, with Carys Williams on the wing, while Vickii Cornborough, Lark Davies and Hannah Botterman make up a completely fresh front row.

Jo Brown, who started in the 38-5 win over the Americans, switches from blind-side flanker to open-side.

England, who have won 16 of their past 17 Tests, meet France and New Zealand in their final two games of the five-team tournament.

They last played Canada in the November 2018 Quilter Internationals, scoring five tries in a 27-19 victory at Castle Park in Doncaster.

England starting XV: McKenna; Williams, Wood, Scott, Smith; Harrison, Macdonald; Cornborough, Davies, Botterman, O'Donnell, Aldcroft, Beckett, Brown, Hunter (capt)

Replacements: Kerr, Perry, Edwards, Scott, Cleall, Riley, Scarratt, Reed

MACON, Ill. — Mike Harrison goes back-to-back with the DIRTcar Summit Racing Equipment Modified Nationals, passing point leader Tyler Nicely for the lead in heavy lapped traffic to claim the $1,500 pay day at Macon Speedway on Friday night.

Allen Weisser set the front row with Nicely. Weisser started strong, searching for his second win of the 2019 season with the tour, but no one wanted it more than Nicely.

The Owensboro, Ky., racer has sustained the point lead with consistent finishes, but has yet to pick up his first DIRTcar Summit Racing Equipment Modified Nationals victory this year.

Nicely led by nearly a full Macon straightaway until lapped traffic came into play. With five laps to go of the 25-lap Feature, Harrison closed the huge gap Nicely had and split lapped traffic to get around Nicely for the lead. Harrison made veteran moves around the fifth-mile to leave the field behind and win his fourth DIRTcar Summit Racing Equipment Modified Nationals feature.

Nicely, Nick Hoffman, Tommy Sheppard and Kenny Wallace rounded out the top five.

The finish:

Feature (25 Laps) – 1. 24H-Mike Harrison [8]; 2. 25N-Tyler Nicely [2]; 3. 2-Nick Hoffman [5]; 4. T6-Tommy Sheppard, [4]; 5. 36-Kenny Wallace [6]; 6. 25W-Allen Weisser [1]; 7. 25-Jacob Steinkoenig [10]; 8. 77-Ray Bollinger [9]; 9. 7H-Spencer Hughes [11]; 10. 14-Rick Conoyer [3]; 11. O-Tim Hancock [15]; 12. 87C-Alan Crowder [7]; 13. 59R-Jacob Rexing [14]; 14. 71-Jeff Graham [21]; 15. 7T-Blake Thompson [12]; 16. 777-Trevor Neville [13]; 17. 33J-Jeff Vernier [23]; 18. 88-Rob Lee [16]; 19. 57-Tim Hamburg [22]; 20. 87Z-Zeb Moake [17]; 21. 78-Jeff Ray [25]; 22. 57H-Andrew Hamburg [18]; 23. 45-Kyle Hammer [19]; 24. 9-Ken Schrader [20]; 25. J1-Roger Jackson [24]; Hard Charger: 24H-Mike Harrison[+7]

MACON, Ill. — Gordy Gundaker goes back-to-back in the Herald & Review 100 at Macon Speedway after getting around Bobby Pierce on a last-lap pass to win his second Summer Nationals event.

The St. Charles, Mo., racer won it on the bottom in 2018 and did it again in a thrilling finish, bringing fans to their feet in the final corner.

Twenty-four DIRTcar Late Models checked in on Thursday night at the fifth-mile as the fans packed the stands for the 4th of July special. Two-time event winner Pierce sat on the front row with five-time Herald & Review 100 winner Shannon Babb. On the start, Pierce quickly threw a slider on Babb for the lead to get to the top, but Babb crossed Pierce over to retain the top spot.

Babb lead almost the entire way with several cautions mixed in through 100 laps. Three different leaders in the final three laps set the stage for an epic finish. Heading into turn three on lap 98, Pierce threw a bonzai slide job on Babb for the lead that resulted in Babb making contact with the wall, putting him out of the race with significant right-front damage.

Babb, who led 97 laps until that point, drew the caution and eventually retired from the race.

Pierce then led the field to green on the restart with Brian Shirley and Gundaker following. Pierce ran away to a commanding half-straightaway lead on the white flag lap, as Gundaker passed defending Summer Nationals champion Shirley for second.

It seemed as though Pierce won the race as he powered off of turn four towards the checkered flag, but the caution was thrown.
Ryan Unzicker and Dennis Erb Jr. came together on the back straightaway, putting Unzicker in a very dangerous position. Officials called the yellow for Unzicker, parked on the back straightaway. This led to a single-file restart with 99 laps complete and $5,000 on the line.

Pierce threw it in very hard on the top of turns one and two on the restart and was almost completely sideways upon corner exit, leaving the bottom door open for Gundaker.

Pierce pushed in the middle of three and four, shooting his momentum down, allowing Gundaker to slip by underneath and collect his second career Hell Tour victory.

The finish

Feature (100 Laps) – 1. 11-Gordy Gundaker [6]; 2. 32-Bobby Pierce [1]; 3. 3S-Brian Shirley [5]; 4. 25F-Jason Feger [7]; 5. 28-Dennis Erb, Jr. [3]; 6. 99JR-Frank Heckenast, Jr. [9]; 7. CJ1-Rusty Schlenk [11]; 8. 51-Dean Carpenter [12]; 9. 16-Rusty Griffaw [10]; 10. 24-Ryan Unzicker [4]; 11. 10S-Taylor Scheffler [15]; 12. 13-David Jaeger [17]; 13. 27-Greg Kimmons [20]; 14. 32M-Cody Maguire [18]; 15. 33H-Roben Huffman [19]; 16. 18-Shannon Babb [2]; 17. 31AUS-Paul Stubber [14]; 18. 16H-Mike Hammerle [23]; 19. 25H-Chuck Hummer [21]; 20. 33B-Billy Hough [13]; 21. 18W-Trent Workman [16]; 22. 25W-Allen Weisser [8]; 23. 82B-Jason Milam [22]; 24. 48T-Phil Taylor [24]; KSE Hard Charger Award: 27-Greg Kimmons[+7]

CANANDAIGUA, N.Y. — It took 99-and-a-half laps, but the packed grandstands at Land of Legends Raceway saw a huge Fourth of July fireworks display in the middle of turns three and four on Thursday night when Max McLaughlin and Erick Rudolph made heavy contact in a final-turn battle for the checkered flag.

McLaughlin had led 99 laps, but Rudolph closed quickly as the two passed the white flag and went off into turn one. Some contact between the two in the first corner became huge contact when they exited turn three. Rudolph was on top and edged ahead, lapped cars raced on the bottom leaving McLaughlin a slight spot in the middle. It was too slight and he sailed it off and collected Rudolph as the two spun to a stop.

Only a couple of laps earlier, Matt Sheppard made a stunning three-wide move going into turn three to swipe third place. As it turned out, that was the winning move because when Sheppard raced around the corner on that final lap, he saw the two leaders piled on top of each other. Billy Dunn chased Sheppard across the finish line in second after spending a majority of the race battling wheel-to-wheel in the top three. In third place was outside pole sitter Just Wright, who simply kept his nose clean for his impressive finish.

It was Sheppard’s fourth series victory of the season.

“I wasn’t particularly happy with my race car,” Sheppard said. “I am at a loss for words. I don’t know what to say. It was around lap 65 or 70 and we were riding around in seventh. We were just trying to hold on to salvage something at the end. On a restart, I got around a couple guys and got up to fifth. Billy [Dunn] and Peter [Britten] made some contact and that opened up a door for me. I got up to third but Max [McLaughlin] and Erick [Rudolph] were gone.”

Sheppard was in the right place at the right time.

“At the end, I saw the white flag and if I can hold off Billy and finish third tonight, I’ll take it because this thing was garbage. The next thing I know I got into turn three and I see those guys parked on top of each other. I was like, “What just happened?”

At the conclusion of the Liberty 100, both Max McLaughlin and Erick Rudolph loaded up their race cars in haste so neither were available for comment. McLaughlin took to social media to make a statement, saying the No. 25R ran him up the track off of turn number two.

McLaughlin then entered turn three too hard and pushed up the track making heavy contact with Rudolph’s left rear. He said he “feels terrible” and “didn’t have any intentions to dump him. Mistakes made. Learned.”

Home track hero Dunn had a great finish on the second step of the podium.

“It was a challenging track,” Dunn said. “I would have five or 10 laps where I would feel like I was just as good as anybody in front of me, and then I struggled on the restarts until I put some heat in the tires.”

Wright put together 100 laps of strong, competitive racing and was rewarded with a third-place finish.

“I am at a loss for words,” Wright said. “Usually in 100-lappers we don’t do very well. We pull off and get out of the way. If you had told me this morning that I would be in third place tonight … I had the best car in the top five, but probably the worst driver. We’re figuring it out. Speechless.”

The finish:

Feature (100 Laps) – 1. 9s-Matt Sheppard [11]; 2. 49-Billy Dunn [3]; 3. 19W-Justin Wright [2]; 4. 98H-Jimmy Phelps [20]; 5. 21A-Peter Britten [5]; 6. 99L-Larry Wight [10]; 7. 27J-Danny Johnson [13]; 8. 19-Tim Fuller [9]; 9. 91-Billy Decker [12]; 10. 42p-Pat Ward [7]; 11. 88-Mat Williamson [6]; 12. 5H-Chris Hile [17]; 13. 35-Mike Mahaney [4]; 14. 3-Justin Haers [15]; 15. 7F-Matt Farnham [21]; 16. 111-Demetrios Drellos [23]; 17. 23-Kyle Coffey [24]; 18. 25-Erick Rudolph [8]; 19. 26-Ryan Godown [16]; 20. 12X-Dillon Grover [14]; 21. 6H-Max McLaughlin [1]; 22. 2L-Jack Lehner [25]; 23. 18-Anthony Perrego [28]; 24. R2-Rusty Smith [26]; 25. 17-Marcus Dinkins [27]; 26. 14j-Alan Johnson [18]; 27. M1-Dave Marcuccilli [22]; 28. 11R-Rob Bellinger [19]

PORTSMOUTH, Ohio — Mike Marlar ran away with the Independence 50 on Thursday night at Portsmouth Raceway Park, earning his third Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series win of the season.

Marlar sprinted to a comfortable lead and held the point for the entire race. Marlar had to withstand a five-lap shootout to the finish with second-place running Josh Richards and Jimmy Owens after a lap-45 caution.

Richards moved into the second spot on lap four and tried to stay within striking distance of Marlar, but at stages during the race Marlar held a more than a straightaway advantage over Richards.

Owens, who started sixth moved into third past Hudson O’Neal on lap 33 as he tried to track down Richards inside the last ten laps of the race before settling for the third spot. O’Neal and Jonathan Davenport completed the top five.

“I want to thank Jimmy for running me clean in that heat race,” Marlar said. “We went back-and-forth for most of the race. It was probably one of the best heat races you will ever see. Jimmy could be standing here right now if he would’ve won that race. He had a really good race car tonight as well.”

Owens finished second.

“We have been coming here a long time and I would say it’s the best I have seen this place,” he said. “I had a good race with Hudson and then I thought I could catch Josh then that caution with five to go came out. I am not sure if it helped me or not. But we hung in there and got another good finish.”

The finish:

Mike Marlar, Josh Richards, Jimmy Owens, Hudson O’Neal, Jonathan Davenport, Zack Dohm, Tyler Erb, Tim McCreadie, Shanon Buckingham, Michael Norris, Doug Drown, Jacob Hawkins, Rod Conley, Billy Moyer Jr., Devin Moran, Earl Pearson Jr., Kyle Bronson, Shannon Thornsberry, Stormy Scott, Chris Ferguson, Steve Casebolt, R.J. Conley, Gregg Satterlee, Jason Jameson, Jackie Boggs.