Louth Athletics: Four down, two to go in James' marathon bid

Having previously run the London, Chicago and New York marathons, James clocked a sub 3-hour time in Berlin on Sunday, and now just has Tokyo and Boston to complete the set.

Preparation was not ideal for the Louth runner after unexpected issues in Berlin with baggage allowance and train tickets, while slower runners were allowed to start ahead of him, making for difficulties on a narrow course.

But this did not deter James from giving his best in the wet, damp and cold conditions, completing the 26.2 miles in 2hr 55min 53secs, only three minutes outside his target time.

He reached the halfway point in 1hr 25min 24secs, and ran some impressive even split times all the way to the line.

* Kerry Stainton put together a four-strong Louth Athletics relay team to take part in the Hull Marathon.

Kevin Wallis completed the first six miles for Team Kerry Stainton before Kerry took over for the next 7.1 miles followed by Jason Stainton (7.8 miles), before Carlissa Daniels took on the final 5.3 miles, crossing the finish line in an excellent team time of 3hr 08min 29secs.

The team did fantastically to finish fifth overall in the four-person relay team competition with a brilliant second place out of 92 teams in the unisex/mixed team category, just 56 seconds behind the winning team of East Hull Harriers and AC.

It was an impressive performance for a team which consisted of three veterans and a junior.

Jason Oxby completed the marathon as an individual and ran a great race, achieving a personal best of 3hr 43min 30secs for 28th place out of 111 in his age category, and 176th overall from a field of 857 runners.