CATIE O’Donoghue’s preparations for the London Marathon later this month appear to be ticking along nicely on the evidence of her latest victory.

The 26-year-old, from Lakeside, broke the course record when winning the Chippenham 10 miles road race on Good Friday, clocking a time of 63mins 22secs in what was her first attempt at the distance.

“It was an awesome event and really exciting,” said O’Donoghue.

“There was an out-and-back section at one stage so I could see that the Chippenham girl, who is a really good runner, wasn’t far behind me so that kept up the pressure on me.

“Fortunately, I got my pacing right, which was a surprise.”

On a wet and miserable day, which forced the organisers to tweak the course as sections were flooded, O’Donoghue can take great encouragement from her performance – especially as she went straight to the event from work.

“I was on nights so as soon as I finished my shift I drove over to the race,” added O’Donoghue, who works as a nurse in the Bristol Children’s Hospital.

“It was a bit of a crazy thing to do and I wasn’t expecting too much from the race but I absolutely loved it. Even though it was chucking it down with rain, the marshals were brilliant and I thought the organisation of the race was great.

“I would definitely recommend this race to anyone.”

O’Donoghue will now have one more race for her club Bristol & West AC at the National 6-Stage Road Relays and then it will be onto London on Sunday, April 22.

Best-placed local man was Juan Angel Gonzalez Diaz, of Swindon Triathlon Club,in 10th with a time of 59mins 31secs, while Ben Gregory of Royal Wootton Bassett Hounds RC was 13th (59:45).

  • SWINDON Harriers’ Sergio Martinez-Gonzalez opted for something short and faster and headed down the M4 for the first race in the new Filton Flyer 5k series organised by Bristol & West AC.

In his first road race of the year after a successful cross country campaign, Martinez-Gonzalez finished seventh in a time of 16mins 32secs.