London marathon 2019: Tish Jones finishes second Brit, Garret Lee first man home for Belgrave

Tish Jones broke her own club record to finish second British woman and Garret Lee was the surprise first Belgravian home in the men's race.

“Tish Jones, look at the smile on her face!”

Here’s the moment the Belgrave club record was smashed, and World Champs qualification achieved, all with a huge grin 😃 pic.twitter.com/Mm9ydAodKl

— Belgrave Harriers (@BelgraveHarrier) April 29, 2019

Tish Jones had an exceptional race to reduce her club best by 2:56 for 2:31:00 and take a giant leap toward the Tokyo Olympics. Her time should be good enough for Doha World Champs qualification, and it's not too early to say that the 2:20s should be next, given a bit of company in comparison to this race run largely solo.

Rochelle Basil was fifth in the women's open race in 2:39:07.

On a day full of surprise twists and turns, Rochelle Basil fired in a dramatic club debut. Only 50-50 to start, with a torn muscle in her foot and a bad knee, she gave it a go and ran a remarkably steady and assured race.

If that's what she does with the mother of all nightmare build-ups, we can't wait to see what she does with a smooth one! Out in 1:19:39, back in 1:19:28. Disgustingly clinical.

Garret Lee at mile 22.

This was an absolute beaut from Garret Lee (2:24:38). Out in 71, back in 73 for a huge PB and first Bel home. You'd have got very long odds on that at the start of the day, but such is the mystery of the marathon!

Andrius Jaksevicius at Tower Hill with 4 miles to run.

As solid and brave as ever, Andrius Jaksevicius was another to set the cruellest of early paces, but only gave a few minutes back to the course over the second half in his 2:25:01.

Poor old Ben MacCronan "could've run 100k" at the pace he travelled the last half in; but with both hammies on inexplicable lockdown, the dreamt of sub 2:20 must wait another day. 2:33 for 'Craka', and we hope to see him back next Spring.

Bradley Courtney-Pinn at mile 22.

Brad Courtney-Pinn took Rochelle's immaculate 11-second negative split and raised it to 31s. By the end he caught a first glimpse of Ben and settled on 2:33:37, smashing his previous best of 2:42.

Andrew Cumine ran consistently well to come home in 2:38:53, just sneaking under his 2:40 PB.

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#londonmarathon2019 : DNF I’m the fittest I’ve ever been, but my body wasn’t ready for that many miles on the road yesterday. Hit halfway in 1:06:33 feeling so relaxed that I thought I was going to drool on myself. Unfortunately my legs couldn’t take the hits. 4 runs on the road in 4 months was a rookie error. Shit happens, get back on the horse 🐴

A post shared by Daniel Wallis (@danwallis11) on Apr 29, 2019 at 3:21am PDT

But Dan Wallis' brutal early pace proved costly and he pulled out soon after 35k, citing lack of road running off the back of a long stint on the dust trails in Ethiopia. This DNF all adds value to last year's tactical masterpiece when he was 15th overall.

Name	Time	Place
Tish Jones	2:31:00	16 (elite)
Rochelle Basil	2:39:07	5 (Champs)
Garret Lee	2:24:38	19
Andrius Jaksevicius	2:25:01	22
Ben MacCronan	2:33:06	146
Bradley Courtney-Pinn	2:33:37	160
Justine Lynch	3:04:52	190
Iona Cousland	3:12:29	342
Andrew Cumine	2:38:53	349
Paul Freary	2:57:46	1866
Will Johnson	3:31:25	5720
Aidan Grace	4:03:47	15800

Tish Jones is cheered on at mile 22 by clubmates Arne Dumez, Andy Fyfe, Scott Mills, Matt Welsh and Ross Finlay.

Top image credit: Nigel Bramley