There are no other events quite like Highgate Harriers’ Night of the 10,000m PB’s. A carnival atmosphere, copious amounts of beer and world class racing. The tenth anniversary of the first edition certainly lived up to the high expectations.

Sunderland Harriers & AC had one athlete competing in the energy sapping, mentally challenging 25 lap endurance race, Stephen Jackson made the long journey down to London. The venue itself was the iconic Parliament Hill, to many cross-country enthusiasts this is the Wembley of the National cross-country championships.

However, just at the bottom of the mud and grass section is a 400m track that for the last 10 years has hosted a 10,000m racing extravaganza that not only attracts the world's best runners, but also thousands of fans that create an atmosphere that would rival any football stadium.

The entry process for the event is very strict, with a limit of sub 32:00 for men and sub 38:00 for women, fortunately, Stephen's entry was accepted and he would be one of 241 athletes toeing the line across 8 high quality 10,000m races. All races were streamed live on YouTube for free.

Stephen was due to start in race 1, but was belatedly promoted to race 2 with a start time of 1545. The field was stacked as Stephen toed the line and bang! The gun went off and 34 athletes went into battle, pacers were used in all races and it was Gregory Jayasuriya (Middlesbrough & Cleveland) who got off to a solid start leading the front group.

After 6 laps, it was Cole Gibbens (Invicta East Kent) who decided to breakaway from the group with two 69 second laps, this took the wind out of the lead chasing group as Gibbens began to display a great showing of front-running. Stephen at this time was having a good solid race, keeping his mind on the task in hand and letting his legs do the talking.

With five laps to go it was a case of how big a winning margin Gibbens would have, but he was starting to show signs of a stitch. Maybe the drink of water in the 3rd lap or the two 69s laps were coming back to haunt him. Unfortunately for Gibbens it was the chasing duo of Harry Smith (City of Salisbury) and Callum O'Neill (Southampton) who sensed blood and began to move in for the kill.

With 600m to go it was Smith who caught Gibbens and he kicked immediately with no response from the latter. As the final bell tolled, Smith put a surge in as O'Neill pushed hard with Gibbens literally digging deep to hang on to them.

It was Smith who went on to win the race in 30:52, O'Neill claimed second with 30:54 with long-time leader Gibbens completing the podium places in 30:58.

As for Stephen Jackson who had not long turned 40 years of age, the carrot that was dangling was the Club V40 10,000m record which is held by his coach Glenn Forster (31:23). Despite a fantastic brave performance he fell just short finishing 12th in 31:40, gaining a nice PB to boot.

Gregory Jayasuriya finished 20th in 31:54.

24 athletes in the race achieved pbs.

I caught up with Stephen to get his thoughts on his race and the experience of the event as a whole.

"The race was the spring target for me as I decided not to focus on the marathon again until Berlin in the Autumn.

I’d had a decent winter although there were some mixed results during a busy cross country season.

I knew after a decent run on the long leg at the Northern 12 stage relays I was in 31-32 minute 10k shape.

The race was a fantastic occasion and I couldn’t have asked for a better set up to try and run quickly. There were pacers and wave light technology for 31:30 and I think in hindsight I should have attacked a little earlier.

I moved through the field well in the closing stages and was pleased with a sizeable 10,000m pb.

There is definitely more to come and my plans is to return next year having gained some experience over the distance."

There were two other North East athletes also taking part, Dan Garbutt (Durham City Harriers) was 9th in the C race with a time of 30:22. Jacqueline Penn (North Shields Poly) finished 23rd in the women's B race with a time of 36:52.

The highlight of the evening came from Ethiopian Mizan Alen Adane, who ran 29:59.03 in the women's A race to become the twelfth woman to break the 30 minute barrier; it was also the fastest time ever run in the United Kingdom. Her performance was so impressive she lapped the entire field on her way to victory.

Jess Warner-Judd (Blackburn Harriers) was the fastest Brit clinching the national title crossing the line in 31:09.28. Her time from the World Championships in Eugene last summer was a Budapest World Champs standard, and her top-two Brit placing secured her spot for August.

Chasing Jess were Sam Harrison (Charnwood) 31:11.40 and Amy-Eloise Markovc (Wakefield) 31:17.81, both ran pbs. Both performances were impressive for different reasons, the former on the back of the London Marathon and the latter returning from injury.

The final race of the evening saw two-time Olympic medallist Paul Chelimo (USA) take a commanding victory in only his third track 10,000m. A blistering 58 second last lap saw him finish in 27:12.73, agonisingly just shy of the 27:10.00 World Championship standard.

Finishing tenth overall, Andy Butchart (Central) 27:47.43 was the fastest Brit, in second was Zakariya Mahamed (Southampton) 27:56.70, with Ellis Cross (Aldershot & Farnham) 28:27.01 completing the British podium.

122 athletes set pbs on a thrilling night of racing.