Nick delighted by capital gains

Nick Collins finished 77th out of 24,000 runners at the Manchester Marathon on Sunday.

The Ashford & District athlete made no secret of his ambition to beat his 2021 London Marathon time of 2hr35min38sec.

And the training paid off, with Collins finishing the race - the fourth-largest in Europe - in 2:33.35.

James Booth finished in a sub-three-hour 2:59.38, Paul Spencer recorded 4:14.43 and Kim McHenry - lifted by the atmosphere - set a PB of 4:50.43.

Rachel Jenkins finally got to run the Cardiff Half-Marathon after a wait of more than 900 days for the race to go ahead.

She was rewarded with blue skies, a brilliant crowd and a time of 2:19.30.

All three A&D runners set personal bests at the London Landmarks Half-Marathon.

Keith Lynn broke the twohour barrier, finishing in 1:59.03, Trevor Sparkes took almost four minutes off his previous best, recording 2:00.03, and Emma Jenkins was chuffed with 3:04.14.

Holly Forrest completed the Saxons, Vikings and Normans Nutty Nuts Half-Marathon in 3:11.55 and Rick Holden ran the marathon distance in 3:41.20, while Becky Hodgson covered 6.56 miles at the Runbelievable Cookiethon in 1:48.30.

Holden went on to achieve a personal best of 3:09.19 at the Paris Marathon, the route taking in iconic landmarks.

Richard Boakes went close to breaking the 20-minute mark at the 5k Ashford parkrun, crossing the line in 20.13.

Jack Hodges (19.10) came third, with Daniel Green (19.19) and Kieran Hodges (19.21) also in action.

Trevor Sparkes finished the Bushy Park parkrun in 24.37, while Will Whittington (26.26) and Emma Jenkins (36.00) took in the sea air of Walmer and Deal.

Six Ashford Striders athletes took on the London Landmarks Half-Marathon.

Lisa Gribbin was first to finish with a PB of 2:13.48, followed by Carole Thomas (2:15.10), Lucie

Shrubsole (2:19.50), Caroline Miller (2:20.48), Jayne Hatton (2:24.13, PB) and Rachel Oliver (2:26.44).

Lisa Fulcher ran the 10-mile Runnergise trail race in Canterbury in 2:18.19.

Mark Niles was the first of 12 Striders to finish the Ashford parkrun in 22.15, Tamsin Ritchie was first female in 26.21 and Ian McCuthcheon achieved a season’s best of 26.50.

Other times: Jason Sanders 27.28, David Gadsby 27.54, Amanda Cooper 28.11 (125th parkrun), Amanda James 28.23, David Holland 30.16, Angie Craffey 30.17 (PB), Brian Forrester 30.54, Vicky Shrubsole 33.10 (25th parkrun), Shami Copham 33.13.

Elsewhere, Tyree Spicer and Gribbin finished the Great Lines parkrun in Medway in identical times of 35.39.

Nicola Crawley (27.59), Andy Found (28.41), Justin Burden (32.31) and Siobhan Hagan (34.39) were in action at the Kingdom parkrun in Penshurst.

Martin Whittingham ventured to the Leas parkrun in Minster, finishing in 28.55.

Ashford Striders’ Jayne Hatton, Rachel Oliver and Lisa Gribbin took part in the London Landmarks Half-Marathon