CHARLOTTE Purdue proved herself as a marathon runner with an excellent fifth place in the Frankfurt Marathon on Sunday.

The Aldershot, Farnham & District athlete recorded 2hrs 30mins 04secs on just her second attempt at the marathon distance – a performance that takes her to the top of the Power of 10 rankings.

The women’s race winner was Mamitu Molisa of Ethiopia in 2-25-27.

Purdue, who dropped out of the Berlin Marathon last month, shaved over two and a half minutes off her debut time at the London Marathon in April.

Her time is also inside the Olympic qualifying standard and puts her in a strong position for selection for the 2017 World Championships in London.

Chris Thompson, also of AFD, was a convincing winner of the previous weekend’s Great South Run, recording 47mins 23secs for the ten-mile course at Southsea.

Thompson thus gained revenge over clubmate Andy Vernon, who had beaten him in the Birmingham ‘Brum Run’ the week before. Vernon was runner-up and triathlete Matt Sharp finished third.

In the final two miles along the seafront, Thompson surged ahead to finish 46 seconds clear of Vernon who clocked 48-09.

Sharp, who won the U23 triathlon world title in 2011, recorded a creditable 48-18.

Ethiopian Tirunesh Dibaba won the women’s race in 51-49, while AFD’s Lily Partridge was best of the GB runners with 54-41 for fourth place to also claim the title in the England Athletics 10-mile Championships.