Our two resident Matts, Doctors Jones and Devlin, continued the weekend theme of personal bests at the Chester Half Marathon on Sunday as both took significant chunks off their previous marks for the 13.1 mile distance.

On a course that proved tougher than expected, Matt J, racing on terra firma for the first time since his Saharan adventure at the Marathon des Sables, was his usual consistent self, ticking off kilometres in the mid-3:20’s to cross the finish line in 72:18, a new personal best by 1:19 and good for 8th place on the day. It’s a welcome return to form on the roads for Jones, who is gradually building his mileage back up following the MDS with one eye on another marathon in July.

Matt D grafted hard for his new PB of 74:56, which left him in 17th position and represented a huge 6:07 improvement on his previous quickest time set on Newcastle’s Town Moor in 2015. Matt has been racing impressively and looking very good in training in recent weeks, and it is clear there is more improvement to come, both at this and shorter distances on the roads.

Both men were slightly taken aback at how difficult the course and conditions proved to be, which made the winning time of 63:56 by Kenyan Mark Kibiwott Kangogo all the more impressive.