It was personal bests all round for the wheelchair athletes in action at the Dubai marathon on Friday morning as Nikki Emerson (coach: Ian Thompson) claiming a podium place in third position, while JohnBoy Smith (Jenny Archer) continued his strong recent form to place fourth in a world-class field.

Emerson, who will compete for Team England at the Commonwealth Games in April, fine-tuned her preparations in excellent fashion. Her previous best was 2:02.02 set in Minnesota last year but she took a significant chunk off that mark today. The T53 athlete pushed to a time of 1:55.52 for third position overall in a race won by Switzerland’s Sandra Graf.

Also in the women’s race, Meggan Dawson-Farrell lowered her previous best by over three minutes, completing the 26.2 miles in 2:00.42.

After a second place in New York and a fifth place in Berlin at the backend of the last year, Johnboy Smith opened his 2018 season with a lifetime best, placing fourth overall. He took thirty seconds off the mark he recorded in Berlin last September, crossing the finish line in 1:32.15. Switzerland’s silver bullet Marcel Hug won comfortably in 1:25.14.

Another to go faster than he ever has done before over the marathon distance was Callum Hall (Thompson), who lowered his best to 1:36.35, down from 1:38.51.

Named in the British team for the World Para Athletics Marathon Cup earlier today, Rob Smith (Job King) looked impressive as he clocked a T52 UK best of 1:55.51.

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