Pegasus athlete Chris Denton smashed his personal best time by nearly 3 minutes to claim 4th place in the recent Connemara International Marathon.

And his time of 2 hours 57 minutes and 21 seconds also made him 1st UK finisher in a field of nearly 500.

Having completed the London, Dublin and Belfast marathons several times over the past number of years, Chris was looking for something a little different and set his sights on the west coast event as a new challenge. As usual his preparation was faultless, combining long and medium training runs with speed and hill training with Pegasus team mates on club nights.

Conditions west of Galway City on the day were not conducive to fast times. An overcast sky, coupled with strong winds added to the hilly winding course through the scenic but tortuous Twelve Bens Mountains. But with a hard winters training around the Causeway coast behind him, Chris started strongly, and lead the race to the halfway point in around an hour and a half. He was still in the lead at 14 miles when the effects of the fast start began to kick in and he eventually succumbed the lead to the eventual winner, Peter Palmans of Belgium.

Unlike the city marathons, there were not a lot of spectators around the course and the second half of the race was a struggle both mentally and physically. But Chris had prepared meticulously and stuck to his plan and kept himself well hydrated during the tough later miles. With a sub 3 hour time as a major incentive he hung on to finish comfortably in 4 th place, recording a best time and position in his marathon career to date.