Olly Chadwick and Abir Ali completed the Tokyo Marathon. Olly finished in a personal best time of 2:38 one of the fastest recent marathon runs by a Wallasey AC athlete and Abir crossed the line in 3:58. Olly said after the race "Once in a lifetime experience this. Having the opportunity to travel round Japan and finish the trip by racing the Tokyo marathon has always been a bucket list trip for me and it lived up to every expectation I started this block 6 months back, at a time where I had been injured for 3-4 months where at that time I wasn't able to run any further than 5k. Getting accepted in Tokyo marathon was a long term goal I needed to focus the rebuild on and one that I very much saw as a second chance after having to cancel Chicago. The Tokyo block went about as well as it could have picking up 2 PB's along the way then leading into 8 weeks of focused marathon work in the new year. But results to one side I can honestly say I have enjoyed the training in this block more than I ever have and I'm in a place where I truly am just enjoying the sport Leading to race day I knew there would be a lot of uncontrollables timezone, diet, and the non negotiable sight seeing steps around Osaka and Kyoto. So as much as I was there to try and run well and did feel some nerves the day before on the day I just felt so ready to control what I could and make most most of the experience. To come away with the position I did and a 6minute PB on a day with record breaking temperatures is something I'm very proud of. Especially given where fitness was at the start of the block. I left everything out there on course, took lessons from previous marathons and for the first time managed to break through the wall in the marathon. Still got a long way to go to really nail the marathon distance but no doubt this race was a big step in the right direction."