If good things come to those who wait then Jonny Mellor has served his time and then some.
After two Commonwealth disappointments, not to mention a freak Olympic mishap, the 35-year-old marathon runner finally finished a race on this stage, coming sixth at Birmingham 2022, the best of the home nations entrants.
The Birkenhead athlete had made his Commonwealth debut at Glasgow 2014, only to have to drop out of the 10,000 metres. Four years later he was overlooked for the Gold Coast, while he missed last year’s Olympics in Tokyo because of a gout-related ankle problem.
