The in-form Stewart Merry maintained his impressive start to 2026 with a fine run in the Bourton 10K.

The 43-year-old Cheltenham Harriers runner smashed his personal best for the distance, finishing second in a time of 31 minutes, 39.02 seconds.

That was some 50 seconds better that his previous best set at Frampton last year and came just a few weeks after he finished second in the Linda Franks 5 Mile.

“It’s been a good start to the season,” Merry said. “I see the Linda Franks as a warm-up to see where you are after Christmas and the new year, and then the Bourton 10K is always a good race because it’s in February.”

Merry finished eight seconds behind Witney Roadrunners’ Matt Locke on Sunday and he continued: “I’m running the London Marathon in April so I’m in the middle of my marathon block, I was pleased with my run.”

This year’s London Marathon on Sunday 26^th April will be the third time that Merry has taken part in the iconic event.

He ran it for the first time in 2023, finishing in two hours, 57 minutes, a run that was all the more impressive because he was very much a novice runner.

So how did he he get into the sport?

“My daughter was diagnosed with leukaemia when she was 18 months old,” he explained.

“When she finished her treatment I wanted to give something back to the people who had helped her so I ran the London Marathon to raise money for the charity Children With Cancer.”

Happily, his daughter Savannah, who is now seven, is fully recovered, while her dad, who was always a keen sportsman, is certainly making up for lost time as far as his running is concerned.

In 2025 he ran the London Marathon in two hours, 29 minutes, 14 seconds and he said: “This year I’m aiming for anything below 2.30, I just want to prove that last year wasn’t a fluke.”

The London Marathon is one of the six majors around the globe over 26.2 miles and Merry, who lives in Tewkesbury, has also run the New York, Chicago, Berlin and Boston marathons. He is hoping to complete the set by competing in the Tokyo Marathon next year.

He is also a very accomplished half-marathon runner – he finished fifth in last year’s Cheltenham Half in 1.09.57 – and is set to compete in the Bath Half on Sunday 15^th March.

“I run about 70 to 80 miles a week,” said Merry, a former Tewkesbury School pupil, who is very grateful to the support he has received from Cheltenham Harriers.

“I’ve put in a lot of hard work but the Harriers have brought me along massively.

“When I ran the marathon for the first time I didn’t know anything about running.

“They’ve brought me down from 2.57 to 2.29 in two years, without them I wouldn’t be the runner I am today.”

And Merry has certainly got plenty to look forward to because he will represent England for the first time in the Age Group Masters Half Marathon in Swansea in June.

“Getting to wear an England vest will be a big highlight,” he said.