Isle of Man runners were in marathon action on both sides of the Atlantic over the last few days. 

Christa Cain stole the show with a sublime run in the Boston Marathon on Monday, completing the 26.2 miles in a time of two hours 46 minutes 53 seconds.  

This was a personal best by nearly four minutes and unofficially moves her up to fifth in the all-time Isle of Man marathon ranking list for women.  

Only the late Brenda Walker, Sarah Webster, Margaret Lockley and Jess Draskau-Petersson are ahead of her, which in itself says how good her run was as they are four of the greats of Manx athletics. 

Also competing in Boston were fellow locals Simon Scott and Phoebe Coates. Scott’s time of 3:26.51 was just over a minute outside his personal best which, on such a warm day, was an excellent run. 

Completing her second marathon, Laxey’s Coates clocked an excellent time of 3:01.09 in Boston which, although about three minutes down on her debut time set in Belfast a year ago, was still an excellent performance given the hot conditions and was more valuable experience gained.  

On the other side of the Atlantic, a scutch of locals competed in the Manchester Marathon on Sunday. 

Leading the way were Eamon Farrell (2:44.47), Matthew Colley, James Read, Rory Dearden, Lewis Crowe, David Gardner and Sam Cannell who all went round in sub three hours.  

Joanne Schade set a new Isle of Man women’s v55 record with her time of 3:15.15, while Moira Hall did likewise in the women v70 class by clocking 5:04.53. 

Also in action on Sunday was Northern AC’s Andrew Wilkinson who took part in the Guernsey Marathon. The Ramsey Grammar teacher recorded a time of four hours 19 minutes and 27 seconds - an excellent effort for the 60-year-old in his 16th marathon. 

Thanks goes to David Griffiths for the above information.