RUTH Barnes smashed her personal best to more than justify her invite to line-up with the elite women in the Great South Run 10 miles road ace in Portsmouth, writes Kevin Fahey.

The 38-year-old, from Bradford on Avon, joined a field of top class British runners, and a double Olympic champion and eventual winner in the shape of Tirunesh Dibaba of Ethiopia, for the event on the south coast.

Barnes certainly wasn’t overawed as she ran strongly to finish 12th overall of the small elite field of 33 women and was also second veteran over 35 in a time of 56 minutes 47 seconds, which slashed 45 seconds off her previous best.

“To be on the same start line as someone like Dibaba was just amazing,” said Barnes, who is a member of Avon Valley Runners.

“I never thought I would get an opportunity like that in my career and it was fantastic, even though it felt a bit intimidating.

“As I stood there with all the TV cameras and media and looking at other girls who had been on the front page of Athletics Weekly (the sport’s best-selling magazine), I thought to myself: ‘should I even be here?’.

“But I think my performance to finish 12th in that elite field showed I deserved it and I was really pleased with where I finished.”

But Barnes wasn’t entirely happy with her day at the seaside. Such have been her raised expectations over the past year or so that she was hoping to do even better.

“I am happy with the position but not the time as I thought I could have run faster than that,” added Barnes.

“The trouble was that we hit a strong headwind between six and eight miles and my average miling dropped back like everyone else. I picked it up after that and finished feeling very strong but the wind definitely cost me some time.

“Nonetheless, I finished just 16 seconds behind Jenny Spink (recent winner of the Bristol half marathon). I wouldn’t have dared dream of that a year ago as I have always thought she is an amazing runner.

“That is so encouraging for me.”

Barnes wasn’t the only AVR athlete to enjoy the big atmosphere and intense competition at the Great South.

Clubmate Rich Ayling also rose to the occasion as he smashed his PB by a staggering 2.27 minutes to finish 30th in the main race.