With the London marathon next weekend, what better than to beat all those home by running the flat Asics Greater Manchester Marathon that started and finished at the Theatre of Dreams (Manchester United FC), writes Dave Mutter.

Paul Johns was chasing a personal best of 3:26 and, four miles into the race, caught the three hours and15 minute pace runner, stayed in front of him for 16 miles before Paul saw him run off into the distance.

Doubts entered Paul’s mind about going off too fast, but he kept plugging away to cross the line smashing his PB by finishing 628th out of 10,000 in 3:17:09.

Wilf Walsh completed in a very good 4:09:26, but with a sore hip. How about this for anyone slightly older than Wilf who would like to try a marathon – for Diane Newton it was her very first time over the 26.2 mile distance which she completed in 5:15:13. She was seventh over 60 lady, 1,378th lady overall and really chuffed with her performance. She is now plotting her next marathon.

Not to be outdone Steve Reynolds ran the Taunton Marathon finishing 107th in 3:52:55, with Anna McLoughlin 151st, seventh over 40 lady in 4:07:36. Despite a 500 metre sprint to get to the start line on time Rebecca Platt completed the associated half marathon 303rd, 1:48:15; this was over four minutes quicker than her PB.