NAILSWORTH’S Dan Robinson will take a break from running after he finished 19th at the European Athletics Championship Marathon in Barcelona on Sunday, writes Ashley Loveridge.

The 35-year- old Stroud AC athlete was able to perform solidly, and with positions of 29th at halfway and 23rd at 31km, his eventual finishing position of 19th meant he had once again run his usual considered marathon strategy with a strong second half in a finishing time of two hours, 24 minutes, six seconds.

However, Robinson had hoped to finish in the top ten.

He said: "It was a solid run from me - I'm not pleased with that and it wasn’t my best day - but in these conditions it's ok.

“I'm so pleased for team-mate Lee Merrien , he's been at altitude for five weeks and the sacrifices he's made - to come eighth is a fantastic achievement for him I'm really pleased," said the reigning Commonwealth bronze medalist.

“ I suffered on the last lap but then most people did - it was just 'get to the finish' by then.

“ I'm pleased for my teammates - but for me it's about seeing how I recover and I will take a break from runni ng for a bit.

"I think experience does help - this is similar to Osaka and Beijing, and that probably helped a bit."

Switzerland’s Viktor Rothlin won the men’s marathon in a time of two hours 15.31 minutes to finish comfortably ahead of Spain’s Juan Martinez and Dimitri Safronov, of Russia.

Merrien was the best-placed athlete representing Great Britain, finishing eighth in a time of 2:20:42. Following close behind Merrien was 28-year-old Dave Webb, who finished 16th. Robinson (19th), Ben Moreau (24th) and Martin Williams (28th) also finished the race for Great Britain but Andi Jones was forced to drop out just past the halfway point with heat exhaustion.