London marathon top-10 finish

Helen Sharpe ran a great time of 2.47.22 to claim a top-10 finish in the 2014 Virgin London Marathon. She joined 31,000 other competitors on a warm morning in the capital, and finished in 453rd place in the overall field (i.e. including the men). The effort was enough to record a personal best in her second marathon effort, beating her debut marathon time from London two years ago by over 10 minutes.

The race was Helen's first marathon for new club Bristol & West AC, and it saw her pitted against former club-mate Meagan Crawford from Fife AC. Meagan took the early initiative, going through the half-way point in 3rd place in 1:18:17, exactly 3 minutes ahead of Helen. The early pace took its toll however, and in an exciting sprint finish, Helen caught Meagan in the final 300m to win by 7 seconds. The pair claimed 9th and 10th places in the UK Marathon Championships.

​At the front, the elite women's race came down to a sprint finish between two Kenyans, Edna Kiplagat and Florence Kiplagat. Edna Kiplagat won the battle of the two unrelated women and finished in a time of 2:20:21, five minutes slower than the course record set by Paula Radcliffe in 2005. Florence Kiplagat finished second, three seconds back. Tirunesh Dibaba of Ethiopia finished third in her marathon debut after winning gold medals in the 10,000 metres during the previous two Olympic games.