Brawn’s personal best bid was scuppered by blisters, all the local results from the Manchester Marathon

Kirk Brawn (left) during the Manchester Marathon.

The Whittlesey-based Peterborough & Nene Valley AC runner clocked 2:37.46 for 53rd position at the North of England’s premier marathon, having run 2:37.39 at London in 2019.

“I was gutted to be so close,” Brawn said. “All was going to plan until 17 miles when most of my toes blistered up. At 18 miles I knew my target wasn’t on, but I dug in to make sure I got a sub 2.40.

“The build up wasn’t as straightforward as normal. It wasn’t easy to get my warm up done, and the start was delayed for about 10 minutes which wasn’t ideal. The course has been changed since I last ran it in 2018 and picked up more of the city centre. This meant there were a lot more spectators on the course, but it wasn’t as fast as the original circuit in my opinion.

“Having said that the support was fantastic and I got loads of shout outs from local runners coming in the opposite direction.”

Peterborough & Nene Valley AC’s Ben Hannon was also in action and went under three hours for the first time. Hannon finished 479th in a time of 2:58.36 and ran a near perfect race, speeding up in the second half.

After going through halfway in 1:29.53, he was over a minute quicker on the way in, running the second half in 1:28.43. It was Hannon’s second marathon of the year. He had run 3:02.41 at Peterborough in May.

A sizeable contingent of Bushfield Joggers were in action in Manchester with Brian Corleys leading them home in 3:23.06 ahead of Dan Stapleton with 3:28.09. Becky Whitton clocked 3.47.53.

Yaxley’s Claire Piercey enjoyed a good run with 3:42.23, while Eye’s Christopher Sleight clocked 3:40.07 with Roy Young finishing in 3:55.43.

Leading triathlete Jonny Hynes dipped under three hours with a fine time of 2:57.11 and his PACTRAC clubmate Ali Brightly clocked 3:26.15.

** PACTRAC’s Adam Clark finished 44th in the Silverstone Half Marathon, bettering his best time by over two minutes and crossing the line in 1:23:56.

Yaxley’s Kayleigh Draper finished 10th lady in the Silverstone 5k with a time of 22:03, while Yaxley veteran Hugh Burton clocked 44:18 in the 10k race at the Formula One circuit.