Nene Valley ace runs well on her return from hamstring injury

Foster had spent five weeks on the sidelines while nursing a hamstring injury, and went into the race with no real ambition other than getting round safely.

Her apprehension slowly turned to delight as the miles went by and she found herself completely unhindered by the injury, and was at one stage in contention for a notable race win.

Finishing with a time of 86:31 and in 47th position overall, the 27 year-old was only three seconds off her personal best (PB) set in London earlier this year.

“ I had a hamstring tear and was out for nearly five weeks so I was very surprised at how well I did,” said Foster.

The winning lady was 50 year-old Julie Warner with an impressive time of 84:14. Warner has borrowed Philippa Taylor’s mantle as the top over 50 marathon runner in the country while the Nene Valley Harrier recovers from a major achilles operation.

Alistair Dales of Eye Community Runners was not far behind Foster finishing 51st with a PB of 87:30.

n Ruth Jones also finished runner-up in a half-marathon at the weekend.

The flat land around Newark held no appeal for the Grantham-based Nene Valley Harrier, so instead she headed for Dorset to take part in the Bridport Jurassic Coast Half-Marathon.

The course on the Dorset cliffs is so arduous that it qualifies as a fell race, a rarity for the South of England.

Jones took it in her somewhat weary stride to finish in a rather modest 1:56.03, but such was the difficulty of the course that times were largely an irrelevance.

Clearly relieved to have finished the race, and perhaps exaggerating slightly, the 38 year-old shepherd’s wife said: “That was by far the hardest race I’ve ever done with vertical cliffs to climb up and fall down in the wettest and windiest weather imaginable. I feel sick now and want to lie down forever. “

With the race run in the countryside used for filming the TV series Broadchurch, the only obvious crime was that Jones did not receive a prize for her endeavours.

n A pair of Eye Community Runners found themselves among the prize-winners at Friday’s Sleaford Striders Summer 10k.

Laura Whitton was second lady home with a 43.41 clocking while Roy Young’s time of 45.37 earned him the over 60 prize.