Tyrone teenager Nick Griggs broke the course record as he won the Queen’s 5km men’s race but insisted “there is a lot quicker to come this year”.
“I’m feel like I’m in much better shape than 14:12 but it was really windy out here,” said the 17-year-old.
Emma Mitchell won the women’s race around Belfast’s Ormeau Embankment.
She won ahead of Nikita Burke in second and Robyn McKee in third, while Ian Guiden and Ben Branagh were second and third respectively in the men’s race in an event which attracted over 900 runners.
Griggs’ time was three seconds faster than his track 5,000m personal best of 14:15.98 which is a mark that will surely be considerably lowered in the coming summer track campaign.
He spoke last month of how the World Under-20 Championships are his main summer target, meaning he will not be in a position to compete at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham.
The Newmills lad burst on the athletics scene as a 16-year-old last summer with a sensational victory over more experienced athletes when he took the 3,000m title at the European Under-20 Championships.
That came six weeks after his beloved brother Joshua, who was a highly promising gaelic footballer in Tyrone, died tragically while working on a summer job in Banbridge.
‘I was in school today, came home on the bus’
The Cookstown High School lower sixth student maintained his brilliant form in the recent indoor season as he set three new Irish under-20 records, which included his sensational 3:56.40 mile European Under-20 record which was the second fastest ever indoor mile by an under-20 athlete.
However despite his growing reputation and profile, Griggs insists “nothing has changed”.
“I’m still in school. I’m just enjoying it doing my training every day and then going out and racing the best that I can.
“I was in school today, came home on the bus, got changed and then headed here.”
Griggs plans to begin his summer season by running a 1500m at the Belfast Irish Milers Meet on 14 May which will also feature Ciara Mageean.
