Most of the international attention at the Berlin Marathon concentrated on Eliud Kipchoge’s 5th win at this event and Tigist Assefa’s incredible performance, smashing the women’s marathon world record by 2 mins 11 seconds, but North Down AC’s 4 runners in Berlin put in performances equally worthy of note, recording 3 new personal bests and a best run for several years following lengthy injury and surgery. Ashley Dixon was first of the NDAC quartet to pass through the Brandenburg Gate to the finish line in 2:34:41, taking more than 2 minutes off his Boston Marathon time earlier this year. Fiona McQuillan smashed her PB as well with an outstanding time of 2:53:51 and Helen Byers also took a huge amount off her previous best marathon, finishing in 3:23:05. Michael Stevenson ran his second fastest marathon comfortably beating 4 hours, in 3:58:22.
