Evans breaks through in Chicago race

Paul Evans made his big-city marathon breakthrough in Chicago yesterday, winning in a personal best time of 2hr 08min 51sec, writes Mike Rowbottom.

"This has got to be the best moment of my career so far," he said. "It's my first big marathon win, and a personal best is the icing on the cake. It's good to know I'm still getting better at 35."

Evans, second in the last New York marathon and third in this year's London race, finished well clear to take the $40,000 (pounds 25,500) first prize. Evans, whose previous best was 2:10.31, joins Steve Jones, Paul Davies Hale and Eamonn Martin as British winners in the windy city.