With the Virgin London Marathon just over seven weeks away, Michelle Ross-Cope proved her preparations are going along very smoothly with a superb personal best in Sunday's Bath Half.

The City of Stoke athlete finished powerfully and full of running in a time of 72mins 09secs to slice 26 seconds off her previous best set when winning in Wilmslow last year.

"I am very happy with that," said Ross-Cope. "Initially I stayed behind Joyce Kandia for the first mile but I felt strong so decided to push on.

"I feel I've got a lot of miles in my legs over the past few years and it is paying off now."

Ross-Cope said she is never confident but the manner of her victory should give her reason to relish the London showdown, especially if she can follow up Sunday's run with positive results in the Wilmslow half marathon and Derby 10k.

"They are my next two races and then I'll be easing off for London," added Ross-Cope, who clocked 2hrs 36mins 02secs on her debut at the distance last year and is clearly capable of going quicker.

"I was on for 2:32 at London last year until the last couple of miles so hopefully I can go better this time."

Runner-up Susan Partridge was also pleased with her run, especially as she feared the worst early on.

"I'm amazed with my time as I felt awful," said Partridge. "My legs were heavy and mentally I was just not there.

"I even forgot to start my watch and it wasn't until I reached halfway that I started to feel better and saw that I was on for a decent time."

Partridge's time of 72:44 was only 11 seconds outside her PB, set three years ago in the Great North Run. Defending champion Kandia, of Kenya, was third.

The last time Dan Robinson started this race several years ago he failed to finish but this time it was mission accomplished as the two-time Olympian from Stroud set out to run at marathon pace as part of his build-up towards London.

"I wanted to get around in about 64 minutes without running myself into the ground and that's what I did," said Robinson, who clocked 64:44 for fourth spot and looked barely out of breath within seconds of crossing the line.

"I eased off for a couple of days but otherwise I have been training really hard for London. That's just what I wanted."

On his half marathon debut Tipton Harriers' Phil Nicholls followed Robinson early on as both men passed through 10k in 30:10, 43 seconds adrift of the leaders. Nicholls eventually had to let go but was satisfied with fifth place in 65:08.

"I have to be pleased with that for my first one," said Nicholls, who will now switch back to the track for the summer.

Kenyan Ezekiel Cherop finished strongly to claim overall victory with British international Thomas Abyu, who gamely held onto Cherop until halfway, runner-up for the second successive year in 63:48.

"It was windy and it was my first race of the year so I'm very pleased with that," said Abyu, who confirmed he is unlikely to run London.

Cherop was also pleased with his day's work, saying: "There was great support all along the course and I feel I could have gone faster were it not for the cold and wind. Bath is a lovely place to run."

While it was blustery and bitterly cold, despite the bright sunshine, there were a remarkable number of PBs as the top 21 runners beat 70 minutes. Thirty went sub-72 and 54 men beat 72 minutes.

After Nicholls came Woodford Green's Dave Wardle, who sliced a second off his PB of 65:15 set in the 2005 Great North Run.

Another five-year-old PB that finally went was to a delighted Kairn Stone with 66:07, clipping six seconds off his previous fastest mark.

In between, mountain running expert Martin Cox celebrated victory in the veterans' over-40s class with a PB of 66:01. In 10th was Bournemouth's Steve Way, who smashed his PB by almost two minutes with 66:10, while 11th-placed Lancaster's Michael Aspinall trimmed 61 seconds off his PB.

Serpentine's Nicholas Torry obliterated his best of 68:52 by over two minutes with 66:48 as seven of the top 12 men clocked new bests.

Not to be outdone, six of the top 12 women also broke their PBs, including first veteran over-40 Deborah Walters of Birchfield Harriers, who just edged out duathlete Kat Grimmett.