CARDIGAN runner Mike Kallenberg produced a strong run at Doha, Qatar when making his Great Britain debut in the inaugural World 50k Championships.

Selected off the back of his Manchester Marathon time from earlier this year of 2 hours 19 minutes, Kallenberg was not going to let this opportunity pass him by.

His finishing time of 3:02, in eighth overall, is the 11th fastest time ever run by a British athlete over the 50K distance.

Conditions were far from ideal for the race, with strong winds, temperatures in excess of 27 degree, plus a humidity of 75 per cent, even though the race was run in the evening. Added to this, the surface had marble flooring and block paving in some parts, so was very tough on the legs.

From the start, Kallenberg sat in with the lead group for the first 10K, with the hope of sussing the pace and competition.

After the first two laps, however, the Kenyans ramped the pace up and they took a lot of the lead group with them.

With it being so hot, Kallenberg thought it would be sensible to sit off the pace from this point, and found himself going through the half way stage in 15th place.

From that point his main aim was just to finish, and as they progressed through the second half of the race a lot of athletes found they had gone off too hard in the early stages and started to struggle with the conditions. Fortunately, Kallenberg had a great support team on the course, so had been able to refuel fairly well throughout the race, which enabled him to work his way through the field gradually to eventually finish 8th in a 3:02:00.

The race was won by American Tony Migliozzi in 2:52:09, with the next two places being taken by Kenyans Kiptaoi and Ongeki in 2:55 and 56 respectively.

Unfortunately the other British runner, Michael Crawley, had to pull out at 28k.