Stroud’s Tom Mortimer opened his race season in record-breaking style following the disappointment of having to pull out of the GB trials for the European Indoor Championships due to injury.

Competing in the 5k event at Barrowford on Saturday night, he had a dominate and controlled run against a top class field which included GB international Phillip Sesemann.

The Stroud AC runner sat in the pack until the last mile and then went to the front, upping the pace and quickly making it a two horse race.

He continued to lead going into the last 200m, holding off the sprint finish from Sesemann to take the victory and break the 36-year-old South West Counties record by three seconds.

Only three British men have run faster in the last 25 years.

Tom also equalled ex-5000m world record holder Dave Moorcroft's personal best on the road, with a time of 13min 39s.

Stroud AC coach Chris Brown said: "That was on impressive run and we felt there is more in the tank.

"Tom's injury put him back and he has been in heavy training and doing high mileage to try and catch up on lost time over the last five weeks so this bodes well for this Olympic year."