Nolan puts in a marathon effort to triumph on Merseyside

GATESHEAD’S Michelle Nolan had to be on her best form to retain her Vitality Liverpool Half-Marathon title.

The Tynesider was a comfortable winner on Merseyside 12 months ago but this time round she had to fight off the attentions of Wilmslow’s Dianne McVey, who went into the race with a much quicker time.

However, Nolan, who used the event - as well as two 20-mile races in the past few weeks - as part of her preparation for the London Marathon later this month, had just one second in hand as the pair crossed the line virtually together.

Nolan likes the Liverpool course for not only did she set a halfmarathon personal best last year she went under that this time round as she crossed the line in 41st place overall in a field of more than 4,200 finishers in a time of 1hr 19min 36sec.

Liverpool-based Ethiopia-born Dezene Gezimu was a comfortable winner overall with an impressive 1:05:52, Durham City’s Matthew Hornsby the North East’s leading finisher in fifth place with a new pb of 1:12:50.

Meanwhile, former Sunderland Harrier Patrick Martin made his marathon debut a winning one when he comfortably won yesterday’s Asics Greater Manchester Marathon.

Now competing for Stockport Harriers, Martin ran a near-equal split race - going through half-way in 1:11:25 before crossing the finish line in 2:22:37.