MIDDLE distance ace Jonny Kay aims to start what he hopes will be another big year for him at the Northern Indoor Championships this weekend.

The 23-year-old Bolton United Harrier ended the last year by achieving his big target of breaking the 31-minute barrier at the Telford 10k in December.

And this weekend he will look to build on that impressive performance by continuing his momentum in Sheffield.

Kay had the best year of his career so far in 2018 when he hit the national stage by competing in the English Championships at 800m, where he finished sixth and recorded a new personal-best time of 1min 52.24secs.

That finishing position was one of the highlights of his career so far, along with setting a new PB of 3:48.96 for 1500m last season and last month's performance at Telford.

The latter had been a major target race for him for some time, with the aim of running faster than 31 minutes, which is classed as an elite time enabling those who achieve it to compete in 10k races featuring the best runners in the country.

He knew he was in the form to go for the time when he ran a 5k in a PB of 14:52 the previous week.

And the confidence that gave him proved well-founded as he clocked a superb 30:31 at the Telford 10k.

Reflecting on that race, he said: "I was very happy with it.

"The race went to plan. I realised in the warm-up the first mile would be a fast downhill one so I didn’t want to get too carried away too soon.

"I ended up running a consistent race throughout and was able to finish strongly.

"This time will allow me to now compete in elite 10k races."

The Heaton man, who is coached by Dave Shaw and will compete in the 3,000m at Sheffield on Sunday, has set his sights on more PBs on the track this season and on making his first appearance at the British Championships.