BURY AC men’s team captain Byron Edwards joined more than 20,000 other runners competing in last Sunday’s Berlin Marathon.

His time of 2hrs 45mins 51secs may not have been a personal best, but it saw him finish in the top 800 of the enormous field in a race won by Ethiopian legend Kenenisa Bekele in 2:01.41 – just two seconds off the world record.

Edwards was philosophical about his performance, reflecting on the fact his marathon best was 2:52:00 at the start of 2019.

He will now switch his attention to the Chicago Marathon which he is due to run on October 13. It will be his fifth marathon this year.

A number of Bury’s runners took part in Saturday’s Stretford parkrun.

The flat fast course was to Luke Harreld’s liking as he ran out as clear winner in a time of 16:26, while Sarah Thomas finished as fourth woman in 20:03.

The other Bury runners were Patrick Babb (18:21), Giles Bennet (18:50) and Peter Henderson (25:41).

The previous Saturday, Jena Dickinson and Scarlett Hamilton took part in the North East Counties Open Pentathlon in Jarrow and both had a successful day.

Dickinson, in her first full multi-event competition of the season after a lengthy recovery from knee issues, produced solid and consistent performances that included a hurdles PB of 12:28 to win her heat.

A strong run into second in the 800m behind Hamilton earned her a final points total of 2,507, which is a new personal-best score, and a well-deserved bronze medal.

Hamilton produced a great, two-second lifetime best in her hurdles to finish third in her heat and another PB in her shot on the way to a highly creditable 10th place finish overall and a total score of 1,984, also a new PB.

This weekend, both the senior men and women compete in the prestigious National Road Relay Championships in Sutton Park in the Midlands.