Isle of Man athlete David Mullarkey has made an excellent start to his senior Great Britain career with an eighth place finish in the men's 5,000 metres race at the European Team Championships in Madrid on Sunday evening.

He was running in a 16-strong field which included some high-profile athletes on the European stage.

The pace was modest in the opening laps, and David settled into a very comfortable third place and was mentioned several times by the commentators on the live stream.

When the pace increased later in the race he fluctuated between sixth and eighth place, and on the last lap burn-up he held his eighth place very well and was only about 10 seconds adrift of the winner.

He was well clear of the ninth-placed finisher in a race won by the formidable Niels Laros of The Netherlands.

The former Castle Rushen student's time was 13:53.31 in a tactical race on a very warm evening in the Spanish capital, about 30 seconds down on his personal best.

Athletics correspondent David Griffiths said: ‘It was a great effort and it was wonderful to see someone who grew up running on the NSC track, and racing cross-country on courses such as Crossags, doing so well on the senior international stage. Let's hope this is the first of many GB vests for him.’

- The fourth and final round of Western AC’s Dave Phillips takes place next Friday (July 11).

Based on Peel Promenade and headlands, the event caters from under nines to seniors with traces at 3km and 6km distances for the later.

Entry costs £2 for juniors, £7 for seniors and £10 for those without a running club.

Signing on is from 6.15pm at Roots By the Sea for a prompt 7pm start.