LEE MERRIEN has bounced straight into the top reaches of the national half-marathon rankings with his superb 64min. 27sec performance at the Bupa Great North Run.

And the new island record-holder for the distance admits to surprising himself with the quality of his run.

‘I was really pleased with that,’ he said.

‘I really didn’t know what sort of shape I was in. I figured [beforehand] I would run 65 [min.] or 66 at worse, but it went better than expected.’

The 30-year-old was second Briton to finish from 54,000 starters for what is billed as the biggest half-marathon in the world.

Dan Robinson, a marathon specialist and Olympian, finished just eight seconds ahead of Merrien, who improved on his best for the distance by nearly five minutes.

Merrien (pictured) now sits sixth in the 2009 UK rankings, the quickest run of the year being Phil Wicks’ 62-51 in Reading.