Daniella shows plenty of heart to smash her personal best in the London Marathon

Strong performances and some significant personal bests meant the athletes could leave the capital well pleased at their performances.

Just two weeks after winning the Boston Marathon in 2:34:14 Phil Martin was back in action and this time came even closer to the 2:30 barrier with a 2:31:57 after hitting halfway in an aggressive 1:13:03.

But while many would be putting their feet up and relaxing after racing over 26.2 miles the prolific racer is going to be back in action straight away in his fourth marathon of the year in the Rightmove MK Marathon next week!

Next in for the club was another Masters’ international, Kirk Brawn, who is continuing to improve in the over 40s category. This time there was a two-minute personal best as Brawn secured his second sub 2:40 clocking with a 2:37:39 to better the time he set when representing the England Masters team in the Chester Marathon.

New member Mark Popple continued his recent run of good form and personal bests in taking a six-minute chunk off his best for the distance. A 2:49:46 saw him not only lowering his best that had stood since 2016 but also going under the 2:50 mark as his improvements continue.

Also breaking a barrier for the first time was Mark Alderson, on schedule for his first ever sub-3 for most of the race he was slowing in the latter stages but rallied to duck under with a 2:59:29 lifetime best.

Just outside the three-hour mark was James Skinner in 3:00:06 having come back from injury to carefully manage a marathon build-up.

Another who was racing in non-ideal circumstances was Simon Fell. He had been looking set to target a much faster time until falling ill in the last 10 days before the race. But, having committed to running for the Children With Cancer charity and Beads of Courage, instead of withdrawing Fell adjusted his goal and made sure he completed the distance in a creditable 3:00:52. He will be looking to put the fitness gained in the marathon build up to good use over the summer season.

Also in action for Peterborough were James Sadlier who finished in 3:20:17 after finding the latter stages tough, and Ricky Bellett who ran a 3:23:15.

But it was on the women’s side that the biggest breakthrough performance by a Peterborough AC athlete came.

Having joined the club at the end of last summer Daniella Hart has continually improved and run a string of personal bests across a range of distances.

But it has been the London Marathon that she had set her eyes on from the start of 2019. And this showed in her performance as a run of 3:09:17 saw her taking more than 30 minutes off her previous best performance for the distance.

There was a well-judged race for US-based Peterborough member Angela Treleven who came through half way in 1:37:08 before finishing in 3:15:07.