JACKIE Rockliffe smashed her personal best to reclaim her Avon Valley Runners club record at the Virgin London Marathon.

The 45-year-old mum, from Trowbridge, competed the 26.2 miles challenge in a time of 3hrs 7secs 03secs to not only beat her her nine-year-old personal best of 3:07.45 but eclipse Liz Ringham’s 2008 record by just four seconds.

“That was a bit close,” admitted Rockliffe. “I didn’t really know what time I was on for because I didn’t wear my watch and I felt rather up and down through the whole race.

“At one point I must have been on for sub-three hours as I was running so strongly but then suddenly, I wasn’t feeling good at all and was wondering whether I would even get to the finish line.

“But coming along the Mall and seeing the clock at the finish, I could see three hours so thought I had better try and sprint to the line.

“When I finished, I still didn’t know if I had broken the record. It was only when I got my kit and my phone that I saw messages from people at AVR who had been tracking my progress online.

“It is great to get the record back because I had held it twice before, firstly when I ran 3:11 in 2007 and then 3:07 before Liz took it off me."

Rockliffe’s run placed her 11th overall in the women’s club race and 12th in the veterans over 45 age group, and she was also the leading female runner in Wiltshire.

Mike Rose was AVR’s leading male finisher as he also smashed his personal best with 2:42.12, easily beating the time of 2:49.40 he ran in Chester last year.

Thomas Coney dipped under three hours at 2:55.09 and Dominic Beddis finished in 3:08.16 on his debut.