Channing leads the locals home in the London Marathon

The 29 year-old from Paston runs for Bedford and County AC, but has dual membership with Helpston Harriers. He was a model of consistency, crossing the line in a time of 2:24.58 having gone through the halfway mark in 1:12.16.

With a previous fastest time of 2:34.27, the former British Universities boxing champion was always going to go the distance and it was just a question of how much time he would knock off his best mark.

Channing now has Stamford speedster Aaron Scott in his corner, and gained a nod of approval from the runner/coach who has rapidly established himself as a ‘go to local running guru’ while taking a break from competitive racing.

Channing also provided one of the lowlights of the day when he was sick while crossing the line in front of a live audience of millions.

“The target was 2:26 pace, that’s what Aaron said I was capable of on the workouts and times I had hit in his programme,” said Channing.

“Josh Lunn said he would run with me to about 15-20 miles, and early on there was a big group of guys probably around 15 that were all working together at about 5:30 pace with Josh leading it.

“It was a great group and everyone was passing around water and gels. Josh dropped out at mile 20 and the group split straight away, and there was just me and Michael Taylor of Riverside Runners left.

“We worked together and picked off loads of runners on the way to the finish. With a mile to go I had enough left in my legs to pick it up a little and shake him off.

“Over the last kilometre I could feel my body telling me I needed to be sick (I have thrown up in all my London marathons to date) but managed to hold it off until the moment I crossed the line. I wasn’t even aware I had broken 2:25 until I checked my watch.”

Super-coach Scott, who is building a small but talented squad of athletes, was a happy man, delighted that his training methods had paid off so well. Scott’s own marathon successes have been built on a belief that there is no substitute for hard miles, an ethos that he has instilled in Channing.

There were some fine performances from the Peterborough AC contingent with Daniella Hart taking the honour of being first local lady. Hart crossed the line in a time of 3:09.17 on her first outing over the distance.

Phil Martin maintained his consistent marathon record with a 2:31.57 clocking, just 34 seconds off his fastest ever time.

Martin had mixed feelings after the race saying: “I feel absolutely broken after that. I rolled the dice and went through half way in 1:13:03 (my second quickest half ever) and was on target for a big PB until blowing up in the last 10km to cross the line in 2:31:57. It was my second quickest marathon ever but horrible splits, there’s definitely a sub 2:30 in there though.”

Peterborough AC’s Kirk Brawn knocked almost two minutes off his previous marathon best with a 2:37.39 clocking while Simon Mead ran well, going round in 2:45.10.

Mark Popple and Mark Alderson have both recently left Stamford Striders to join Peterborough AC, and left their mark on the race with big new PBs of 2:49.46 and 2:59.29 respectively.

Simon Fell of Peterborough AC was looking good for a time close to that of team-mate Mead, but ran out of steam in the last 10km to finish in 3:00.06.

James Sadlier suffered a similar blow out as he crashed and burnt his way to 3:20.17, after looking well placed to go under three hours until the final few miles.

There were mixed emotions in the Fell household with wife Liz, a Nene Valley Harrier, running 3:40.56, her fastest ever time over the distance.

Bushfield Jogger Martin Gichuhi went nine minutes quicker than last year, clocking 2:43.24 while Werrington’s Jeff Lucas was delighted with a new quickest time of 2:44.24.

The same could not be said for his team-mate Paul Halford. With three sub 2:30 marathons to his name, he was disappointed with 2:51.38. After running out of gas in the last five miles and then facing what every marathoner dreads, a nightmare car journey home, the Welshman said: “Despite my dreadful run/walk today, nothing came close to the 90 minutes for four miles on the M4 afterwards.”

Helpstons’ Mr Consistent Jim Morris kept up his amazing record, running his 12th marathon in between 2:46 and 2:51 over the last six years.

Morris clocked 2:46.53 and the 53 year-old remains confident that the elusive sub 2:45 time will one day come.

Eye’s Terry Fone ran another fine marathon, and his time of 4:12.2, placed him eighth in the over 75 category.

The Yaxley Runners ladies squad are making a name for themselves and Kerry Balmer ran a cracking 3:30.09. Balmer was closely followed home by Louise Alexander whose time of 3:33.18 while in full training for an iron-man triathlon suggests there is a lot more to come. The 41 year-old also competes for Nene Valley at track and field.

Nene Valley’s top men were absent but over 50s Chris Mooney and Barry Warne went round in 3:22. 07 and 3:38.57 despite both having too many niggles to train for the event.

Emma Tomlinson-McCrae crossed the line in 3:38.57, while marathon man extraordinaire Darryl Coulter ran one of his slowest yet most satisfying of his 96 races as he went round in 3:46.47, 11 weeks to the day since he broke a leg.

Nene Valley second claimer Jordan Foster admitted she has overdone things since dipping under three hours in the 2018 Lucerne Marathon. However, the London-based athlete toughed it out to get round in 3:09.43.

James Borrett led the Eye contingent home in a time of 3:01.05 with Alastair Dales finishing in 3:11.20.