I'm on McLeod nine!

May 24 2007 By Bill Mcguirk, The Evening Chronicle

Ryan McLeod ran the second-fastest outdoor 3,000m in the UK this season by an under-23 athlete, clocking 8min 4.81sec at the Lough-borough International.

With that impressive performance behind him, the Elswick runner now targets a place in the European Under-23 Championships which are being held in Debrecen, Hungary, in July.

McLeod, 21, now based in Loughborough, knocked a huge 16 seconds off his previous 3,000m best time and was delighted with his performance, saying: "You have to be happy when you put a race like that together.

"I was pleased with the way I ran the race and when I heard my time I was over the moon.

"Being in Lough-borough has helped me enormously. My training has upped a gear with so many good athletes to train with and that showed in my result."

McLeod (pictured below) has to reproduce that form over 5,000m if he has any hopes of making it to the European Championships.

McLeod's current best time for the distance is 14min 25sec, which he ran two years ago, and the standard set by UKA for Hungary is 14min 10sec.

"There is a 5,000m in Manchester at the BMC meeting on June 9 so I'll be running there with the hope of dipping under the qualifying time," he said.

"Then there is the England Athletics Under-23 Championships in Bedford later in June, so I'll have two attempts of making the team for Hungary.

"However, one of the disappointments of those dates is that I'll have to miss the Blaydon Race this year.

"Last year was a smashing race in the battle for the North East awards with four or five of us in contention right till the end.

"Hopefully, next year the Blaydon won't clash with anything as I think it's one of the best races in the country."