RUNNER Jo Murphy has hailed her record-breaking performance en-route to picking up Scottish and British 100K titles last Sunday as “a dream come true”.

The 34-year-old, from Crossgates, was competing for Scotland at the Anglo Celtic Plate competition, held in Perth, and she stormed to double individual glory.

The event brings together teams from Scotland, England, Wales, Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland to compete over the distance – with the three leading runners from each team counting towards each country’s overall position – and doubles as both the Scottish and British 100K championship races.

Jo, formerly of Carnegie Harriers, was competing in it for a third time and, in one of the most competitive fields ever witnessed in Britain, she was one of three women to break the magical eight-hour barrier with her time.

Having sat a few minutes further back from former champion Sam Amend and her English team partner, Caroline Turner, through the first half of the race, Jo enjoyed a sensational ending as she ended the strongest runner.

She overhauled her rivals to come home in a time of seven hours, 41 minutes and 12 seconds – a new personal best by almost 10 minutes – that also saw her take the female course record that had stood since 2011, when former Great Britain international, Emily Gelder, ran the distance in 8:00.30.

Dunfermline Press:

Jo Murphy with her trophies. Photo: Adrian Stott.

Jo, who helped Scotland finish second in the Anglo Celtic Plate, also secured her qualification for the World 100k Championships, which take place in Berlin in August.

“It’s all just been a bit of a whirlwind between Saturday to now. It’s a bit surreal to be honest,” a delighted Jo told Press Sport.

“Honestly, I’m over the moon. I know we spoke (before the race), and I said it would be great if I could beat my time at Dublin (last year’s event), but that far surpassed my expectations or what I had hoped I could achieve on Sunday.

“I knew I was in good shape but I didn’t think I would take nearly 10 minutes off my time from last year, so it was an absolute dream come true.

“I think the second half was three minutes quicker than the first half, so definitely the strategy with the fuelling and pacing was spot-on. It went really well!

“It’s a good feeling because you’re finishing that second half passing everybody. Most people are slowing up, whereas you’re thinking I’m getting stronger here, this is great.

“I knew that if I won the race, and I was under the British qualifying time, I would automatically qualify for the 100K world champs, so I had that in my mind.

“But I wanted the win; I wanted to guarantee that qualifier. I’ve managed to secure that now, which is a nice feeling.”