Jacob Pickering eased to an impressive victory in the Fairford 10K and said: “I’m happy with that.”

The 28-year-old went round in 32 minutes, 17 seconds, some 12 seconds clear of second-placed Will McKemey, of Birmingham Road and Triathlon Club.

It was the first time that the Cheltenham Harrier had taken part in the race and he said: “I wanted to use it as a marker to see where I was fitness wise.

“I’d been told it was quite a tricky route with it being hilly at the start, but for the first half of the race I felt pretty solid and then the second half I just got quicker.”

His time was close to a minute outside the PB he set in Battersea Park a couple of years ago but the run confirmed that he is getting back to full fitness after a recent injury.

“I was out for five months with my Achilles,” the one-time Pates Grammar School pupil said.

“I didn’t start running again until the end of January, beginning of February. I ran the London Marathon in April and then took a bit of time off.

“I ran the Fairford 10K for enjoyment. In June and July I’m going to run quite a few 5Ks and 10Ks on the road before the serious stuff at the end of the year.”

By serious stuff he means the Manchester Half Marathon in October and the Valencia Marathon in December.

“I'm hoping to run 66 minutes for the half and sub 2.20 for the marathon,” he said.

Both those times would be PBs. His best for the half is 67.20 and his best over 26.2 miles is 2.23.19 set in London last year.

This year he ran the London Marathon in 2.34 which is still a very impressive time, of course, as he looked to build up his fitness.

It’s going to be an exciting few months for Pickering, who lives in Cheltenham, because in January he will start his officer training with the RAF.

“I’ll be based in Lincoln,” he said. “Once I’m there I’ll be running for the RAF and the UK Armed Forces.”

Fairford 10K results (selected): 4 Max Harrison-Tosatto (CLC Striders)  34.29; 5 Peter Duff (CLC Striders) 34.52; 6 Rob Forbes (Cirencester AC) 35.03; 7 David Bell (Cirencester AC) 35.08; 9 Archie Fox (Severn AC) 35.31; 10 Aaron Willis (Cirencester AC) 36.29.