PHIL Eccleston smashed his personal best and comfortably gained a London Marathon Championships qualifying time at the inaugural Run Wales Wrexham Marathon last weekend.

His impressive 2hrs 36mins 42secs was good enough to earn him second place overall, 43 seconds behind the winner.

He said: "Words cannot describe how I feel right now, all my hard work has paid off."

"Staying injury-free is the hardest part but I managed it and went to the start line feeling strong.

"With a massive 13 minutes taken off my previous best at Blackpool two years ago I need to focus on the possibilities of how far I can take this in the forthcoming 12 months."

Mel Walker also helped put Burnden on the map with a first veterans' over-70s category win with a superb time of 4:25:13.

"I am a little sore right now," he said. "This may well be my last race at the distance so I am happy to walk away with the first V70 prize.

"There’s plenty left for distances up to half marathon though and that’s where I will now concentrate my efforts – after much rest."

However, with a London Good For Age qualifying time, and plenty of time to reflect, Walker may revisit the distance next year.

Beverley Walker and Maria Parkinson ran together in a time of 4:44:45 with mutterings of "never again... until London."

In the half marathon, Gari Jones returned to his homeland which gave him the inspiration to run a 10-minute personal best of 1:53:05.

The Oulton Park Half Marathon provided training mileage for another three marathoners.

Six laps of the undulating Oulton Park race track proved favourable for Ed Ashton who ran to within a minute of his personal best set earlier this year with a strong 1:32:24.

The consistent Allison Grace finished in 1:59:47 and Fiona Ashton in 2:07:08.

Closer to home, the popular Roddlesworth Roller, run on a scenic and undulating 9k course attracted a strong field of competitors.

Ady Merritt continued his recent good form to finish first for Burnden in 41:45.

Kirsty Normanton picked up the first F40 prize in 42:09 and Lesley Fisher first F55 in 43:44.

Other results: Don Nichol 46:34, Lawrence McDonald 48:51, David Pearson 56:44 and Karin McGuinness 1:06:24.

At the Flower Scar Fell Race, Marcus Taylor finished the 5.5-mile (1,400ft climb) course over rough moorland of the South Pennine fells in 55:33 amongst a strong field of more than 470 competitors.

At the Trafford 10k, new member Rebecca Martin ran her first race in a Burnden vest, clocking an impressive 1:09:11.