WILL Crisp knows he won’t enjoy too many races like the British Milers’ Club PB Classic at Milton Keynes, writes KEVIN FAHEY.

In one fell swoop the 17-year-old Swindon Harrier not only broke the landmark four minute barrier for 1500m for the first time but also enjoyed the biggest single improvement of his personal best in his career so far as he soared from a time of 4:12.70 to 3:58.25.

“That’s a nice 14 seconds off my best and I don’t reckon I will be doing that again any time soon.” said Crisp.

“I knew I should be running a PB as my 1500m was slow compared to what I have run over 800m but I didn’t think I would take off that much time in one go.

“I was hoping for sub four minutes but the race went a lot better than expected and I felt really good.

“In fact I felt quite strong at the finish so given the right race I think there might be more to come this season if I have another go at the distance.”

But for now nothing is planned by Crisp and coach Bryan Clinton as they switch their focus back to the 800m, which remains his top priority.

“I would still love to run under 1:50.00 for the 800m this season and hopefully I will get my chance at the England Athletics U20s Championships,” added Crisp, who recently improved his best to 1:51.54.

His confidence is clearly high as those two runs leave Crisp top of the South West U20 men’s rankings over 800m and fifth in the 1500m.

Crisp wasn’t the only Harrier to enjoy the good conditions at Milton Keynes.

Talented all-rounder Ben McIntyre, who is in coach Kevin Buttle’s group, opted for the 1500m steeplechase for only the second time in his career and slashed a mighty 17 seconds off his debut time with a sparkling 4mins 43.86secs to leap to second in the South West U17 rankings and 16th fastest in the UK.

“Ben has been working on his multi events this winter with a greater emphasis on strengths and weight training,” said Buttle.

“He is a really talented boy and the next day after the steeplechase he went and ran a PB of 54.8secs for 400m in the Wessex League just to see if he could put two hard races back to back. That certainly paid off.”

While McIntyre’s performance was the highlight from Buttle’s group many of his other athletes also impressed with personal bests for Joseph Knibb, Jack Latus, Theo Roberts (all 800m) and Patrick Mochan (1500m).

“There were some very good PBs and Jack, who recently won the North Wilts Schools’ title and Swindon Schools’ champion Patrick were both using the event as a warm-up for the Wiltshire Schools’ Championships this weekend,” added Buttle.

Harriers’ rookie Oliver Doughty, who is in his first season of track running under the tutelage of coach Clinton, carved 10 seconds off his personal best with 2:40.44 in the U13s age group.

Sophie Caple, who is also coached by Clinton, was the only female from the Harriers to make the trip to Bedfordshire and she clocked 2:27.57 in the 800m which was just 1.7secs off the personal best she ran at the start of last month.

British Milers’ Club PB Classic at Milton Keynes - Men – 800D: 7 Elliot Doughty (Swin, U17) 2:01.70; I: 10 Joseph Knibb (Swin, U15) 2:14.90 (PB); J: 4 Jack Latus (Swin, U15) 2:11.87 (PB); 8 Theo Roberts (Swin, U17) 2:16.00 (PB); K: 8 Jack Gunning (Swin, U15) 2:29.84 (PB); L: 10 Oliver Doughty (Swin, U13) 2:40.44 (PB) 1500A: 6 Will Crisp (Swin, U20) 3:58.25 (PB); D: 11 Ethan Pierce (Swin, U17) 4:27.60; E: 13 Patrick Mochan (Swin, U15) 4:30.06 (PB).

1500 steeplechase: 13 Ben McIntyre (Swin, U17) 4:43.86 (PB).

Women – 800G: 8 Sophie Capel (Swin, U17) 2:27.57.