In-form Harrison posts Great time

After a hectic first mile, Harrison settled into a steady 5min 45sec miling pace and together with a group of other British athletes passed the five-mile half-way point in 28min 45sec.

Shortly after, Harrison pulled away from the group to drop in behind 2008 Olympic marathon champion Constantina Dita.

Harrison passed 10k in 35.50 - her fastest 10k of the year - but despite a spirited effort over the final four miles she was unable to overhaul the Romanian, finishing 13th in 58.36.

The glorious weather saw the men’s winner, Joseph Ebuya from Kenya, set the world’s fastest time this year of 45.16.

The women’s race saw Commonwealth 10,000m champion, Grace Momanyi, also from Kenya, win in 52.03.

Harrison has also found time out from her busy schedule to help out fellow Leamington C&AC athlete Steve Hundal.

After successfully completing an Ironman triathlon in Austria earlier this summer, Hundal has set his sights on qualifying for the World Ironman championships in Hawaii in 2011.

With the third leg of the Ironman consisting of a 26.2-mile run, Hundal approached Harrison and her coach Les Barnett for advice on how to lower his marathon best from 3hr 1min 40sec.

Barnett worked out a 12-week training schedule for Hundal, which included several quality training sessions with Harrison ahead of Monday’s Adidas Dublin Marathon.

Running comfortably inside 6.30 miling for the first 20 miles, the M40 athlete passed the halfway mark in 1hr 22min 10sec and knew he was well on target to achieve his sub-three-hour target.

Despite some twinges in his hamstrings with three miles to go, he maintained a steady pace to cross the line in an outstanding 2:48.00, slicing 13 minutes off his previous best.

This placed Hundal 125th out of more than 13,000 entrants, and 18th in the M40 age category.

It also ranked him second behind Harrison in the Leamington C&AC marathon rankings for 2010.

After the race, Hundal said: “I’m over the moon and I’d like to say a big thank-you to Les and Sue for ther support and encouragement.

“I’m now looking forward to 2011 with extra confidence.”