COMMONWEALTH GAMES: Emma Mitchell's a record breaker at Gold Coast

The 24-year-old from Banbridge was well on pace for a personal best at half-way but had to run solo in the closing stages before ending as the first competitor from the UK through the line in a time of 32:49.91 as Uganda’s Stella Chesang stuck gold

“I’m very happy,” she said.

“It’s the fastest I’ve ever ran. When these girls put their foot down and began to pull away, it was hard to go with that.

“I had to keep mentally strong. I had to put in work to catch people and maintain my form from training and keep that belief.

“But I’m happy to get that Northern Irish record.”

Mitchell will now confer with her coach Eamonn Christie before deciding whether to contest the 5,000m later this week but hinted she would relish another appearance at Gold Coast 2018.

“The atmosphere was fantastic out there,” she said.

“And I’d love to come back. But I’ll speak to my coach and decide about Saturday.

“But I have to be happy with that and I loved it out there.”

Ben Reynolds narrowly missed out on a spot in the 110m hurdles final, finishing fourth in his heat in 13.70 secs to end up as the ninth-quickest in the overall times.

“I tapped hurdle seven and from there on, I really had to dig deep,” he admitted.

“I didn’t really put together a nice race, it was ok. And there was the heat as well. I came out and had to drench myself in water.

“I came out with a nice energy. It was just about putting a race together and if I do that, come the summer, I know now I’ll be in personal best shape.”