Isle of Man athlete Christa Cain produced a stunning performance in the Copenhagen Half-Marathon on Sunday.

Her time of one hour 12 minutes and 34 seconds took 2m and 42s off her previous best, set in Ramsey last month.

It is a new Isle of Man women’s 35 age group record, beating the time set by Brenda Walker in the 1991 Great North Run by nearly two minutes.

It also makes Christa the third fastest Manx woman over the half-marathon distance and she is within one minute of the Isle of Man record time set by Commonwealth Games athlete Sarah Astin in Seville last year. Astin was also in action in Denmark at the weekend, posting a time of 1:12.58 to finish just behind her fellow Manxwoman.

She is 40 seconds outside Sarah’s sister Gemma’s best time set in Manchester in 2023.

Walker’s fastest recorded time of 1:13.35 was set in the 1991 Island Games half-marathon in Åland, but the historical records indicate that there was doubt over the course measurement, which was presumably why the time wasn’t ratified as an Isle of Man record.

Instead, Walker’s time at the Great North Run later that year stood as the Manx record for more than 30 years until the two Astin sisters both beat it in recent years.

Cain’s performances have been one of the big ongoing stories of Isle of Man athletics in the last couple of years.

Having not even taken up running properly until her mid-30s and now 39 years of age, her dedication to being the best athlete she can possibly be is extraordinary, and one wonders how much better she can still become.

It is sad that there are no road events in next year’s Commonwealth Games, because Cain would undoubtedly have been extremely competitive in the marathon.

Instead, she will have to focus on continuing to improve and to break records, with her next target being the Chicago Marathon next month.

DAVID GRIFFITHS