Twice Mountain Marathon winner Sam Jones added the Isle of Man road marathon to his impressive CV with a start to finish victory in Sunday’s event.

Having previously only done a half-marathon on Tarmac, in a time of 1hr 10min, a fast time was within his capability and, despite a warm-to-hot day he managed to get round the undulating Ramsey/Bride/Andreas course in a sub-two hour 40 minute time.

At eight miles, reaching the converted chapel at Kerroogarroo between Andreas and St Jude’s, the Manx Fell Runners’ man was the best part of four minutes ahead of fellow local James Read, who was in close company with visiting runner David Clarke, who had shadowed Jones for the first mile or so. A close third at this point was John Scott of Longford Athletics Club.

A chasing group of four more locals - Paul Jennings, John Quaye, David Williams and Matt Callister - were at another two minutes. Jack Freeman was running a lone race in ninth spot, followed by a trio containing Marc Potter (Riversway Roadrunners/Preston), fellow Englishman Sean Eve and Western AC’s Jonathan Pugh who had started strongly.

The leading woman was Molly Whitehall (London Fields Triathlon Club) in 24th place, followed by Elizabeth Holmes in 27th and leading local woman Kathy Garrett a few metres behind in 28th.

Jones was a touch over 1hr 19min at the halfway point, approaching mile-22 in 2hr 13min, well clear of his nearest challengers. The 32-year-old went on to reach the finish line of the Altenar-sponsored event at Ballacloan Stadium in Ramsey with a winning time of 2:39.03.

The margin of victory was a healthy 3m 45s over Read, with leading over-45 Clarke making up the podium at another 3.35. Only 19s behind him was Williams, with fellow local Jennings fifth (first in the 40-44 age group) in 2:57.06. Kirk Michael’s Callister was sixth in 2:58.15, edging out early third-place man Scott in the sprint for the line.

As Read did not enter the IoM Marathon Championship, Jennings was runner-up in that ahead of Callister.

Freeman continued a lone sojourn in eighth, while Pugh (Western AC) completed his good run in a satisfying ninth place ahead of Quaye (IoM Veteran Athletes Club) and leading 55-59 Geoff Rice (Western AC). Fellow locals Brayden Roche and Gavin Callister also ran well to finish in the top-18 in sub-three and a half hours.

Visiting triathlete Whitehall won the women’s race in a time of 3:25.54, 18th overall, a little down on her PB of 3:21 in what was her first attempt at the Isle of Man event.

She had a comfortable winning margin of five-and-a-half minutes over local woman Garrett, who will have been well satisfied with her result on what was the first leg of the No Rest for the Wicked series. In addition, it secured her the IoM Women’s Marathon title for 2024.

Nigerian Christiana Akingbola was third female in 29th, followed by fellow visitor Homes in 32nd, then locals Rowena Peter in 37th (first 40-44), Lucy Barlow (Manx Fell Runners) 39th and Jayne Farquhar (Manx Harriers) first 55-59 class. She is also contesting the whole week of events.

Barlow and Farquhar made up the podium with Garrett in the IoM championship.

Isle of Man Marathon, sponsored by Altenar, IoM Veteran Athletes’ Club, Ramsey - Sunday (26.2 miles): 1, Samuel Jones 2hr 39min 03sec; 2, James Read 2:52.48; 3, David Clarke 2:56.23; 4, David Williams 2:56.42; 5, Paul Jennings 2:57.06; 6, Matt Callister 2:58.15; 7, John Scott 2:58.16; 8, Jack Freeman 3:01.03; 9, Jonathan Pugh 3:07.10; 10, John Quaye 3:08.54; 11, Geoff Rice 3:10.10; 12, Sean Eve 3:15.22; 13, Roland Whitear 3:17.42; 14, Christopher Hopkins 3:19.57; 15, Brayden Roche 3:21.35; 16, Robert Hardcastle 3:24.10; 17, Gavin Callister 3:24.38; 18, Molly Whitehall 3:25.54; 19, William Giltrow 3:27.29; 20, Marc Potter 3:27.38; 21, David Joynson 3:30.57; 22, Kathy Garrett 3:31.27; 23, Ian Goatman 3:35.18; 24, Sergiy Sidenko 3:36.52; 25, Hamish Foster 3:37.08; 26, Stephen Toal 3:41.04; 27, Kohei Hibino 3:42.08; 28, William Morris 3:49.53; 29, Christiana Akingbola 3:50.48; 30, Sam Lawrence 3:51.38; 31, James Kearney 3:53.57; 32, Elizabeth Holmes 3:55.18; 33, Ben Cutler 3:55.27; 34, Michael Deller 3:56.12; 35, Thomas Lindsay 3:56.54; 36, Stephen Dorricott 3:57.56; 37, Rowena Peter 3:59.33; 38, Alan Gelling 4:05.45; 39, Lucy Barlow 4:05.49; 40, Neil Wall 4:10.24; 41, Jayne Farquhar 4:11.27; 42, Kris Large 4:17.43; 43, Alex Stokoe 4:17.43; 44, Paul Mackie 4:18.03; 45, Matt Cory 4:23.29; 46, Bo Larsen 4:25.15; 47, Muhammad Laklouk 4:31.59; 48, Leighton Ginty 4:33.29; 49, James Beattie 4:34.51; 50, Jacquie Phillips 4:36.25; 51, Steve Wade 4:44.33; 52, Fabian Benz 4:45.50; 53, Petr Hrček 4:49.32; 54, Daniel Kerr 4:55.06; 55, Hilary Bell 4:57.43; 56, Tom Hanks 4:57.46; 57, Sam Sturrock 4:58.08; 58, Juan Bellando 4:58.09; 59, Jonty Bregazzi 4:58.47; 60, Tom Hanna 5:00.42; 61, Fiona Gosling 5:03.07; 62, Ilona Luoma 5:07.13; 63, Gavin Banks 5:08.27; 64, Anca Burian 5:09.04; 65, Simon Fearnhead 5:10.18; 66, Geroge Sturrock 5:19.50; 67, Lucy Fern 5:24.24; 68, Thomas Glave 5:27.13; 69, Gary O'Brien 5:30.15; 70, Colin Longworth 5:30.15; 71, Jonathan Leece 5:36.22; 72, Gill Mitchell 6:01.01; 73, Colin Gill 6:18.49