HANNAH Claydon shot to the top of the Wiltshire rankings after smashing her personal best in the Chester Marathon.

The 23-year-old Swindon Harrier, from Marlborough, wiped away the memory of her nightmare debut in the London Marathon earlier in the year as she dipped under three hours in 2:56.39.

That gave her eighth place in a strong women’s race and proved she is capable of running a fast marathon after illness wrecked her London hopes.

“I am really pleased with that time,” said Claydon.

“That was definitely what I wanted to get out of the race and I felt strong throughout. I also ran pretty consistently throughout the race reaching halfway in around 1hr 26mins before slowing a bit.

“In fact, I was a bit quicker than Bruce (Tulloh, who has advised her in her preparations) had suggested as he told me to run around three hours pace but I felt comfortable at the faster pace.”

Her London debut saw her struggle to the finish in just over eight hours having refused to quit despite a stomach bug.

“London took forever and now I have brought down my marathon time from virtually a whole day to three hours,” she added.

“I will definitely try another and will see if I can get into London next year.”

Claydon’s time took her above Chippenham runner Eilidh Bell (3:03.09) in the county rankings and she recently claimed victory in the Chippenham Half Marathon in a personal best of 1:23.17.

“Once I have recovered I will get back to racing shorter distances like 10k and 5k events before trying another marathon,” added Claydon.