BRADFORD on Avon runner Ruth Barnes had a double reason to celebrate her first appearance in an England vest at the Cardiff 10k.

The 37-year-old member of Avon Valley Runners not only won the Home Countries’ International Masters match but also carved 32 seconds off her personal best with a time of 34mins 15secs.

That was good enough to place her fourth overall in the high-quality women’s race and consolidate her second place in the 2016 South West rankings.

“I have to admit, I was really hoping to get under 34 minutes for the first time but I can’t be too disappointed to take a big chunk off my personal best,” said Barnes.

“To also finish fourth overall and win the Masters International event was very pleasing.”

Maybe it was the prospect of representing England for the first time but Barnes admitted she was feeing unduly nervous before the event and probably didn’t run her best race tactically.

“I was not feeling that confident when I left Wiltshire early on Saturday morning,” added Barnes.

“I felt pretty sluggish and maybe that was due to having tapered off all week. But at least I didn’t have to worry about getting to the front of the start line as I had a place with the elite so that helped.

“But the top girls went off very fast and I just decided to stick with the leaders to see how I went. When I saw the 5k spit of 16mins 40secs, which was faster than my PB, I knew I had gone off too fast and I definitely paid for that in the second half.

“But if you don’t go off hard then you never know how fast you might have gone.”

Barnes is nothing but committed, both in training and racing, and that explains why she has enjoyed such a great year with personal bests at 5k (16:44), 10 miles (57:35) and the half marathon (79:28).

Her performance also earned her an invite to the Swansea Bay 10k this Sunday but she will treat that more as a training run as she needs to get in some hard work this week in preparation for the Great South Run 10 miles event next month.

Fellow AVR member Jackie Rockliffe also took advantage of the good racing conditions as the 46-year-old clocked a PB of 38mins 19secs to smash her previous best by 40 seconds.

“Jackie was absolutely delighted,” added Barnes.