PLENTY of the runners who tackled the St Helens 10k on Sunday had tales of inspiration to share – and race winner Matt Crehan was among them.

The 26-year-old powered to a new course record of 31 minutes and 21 seconds as he recorded a superb victory.

It represented another achievement in a remarkable comeback story which saw Matt return to running in 2016 after an eight year absence from the sport.

Matt, son of 1988 Great British Olympian Susan Crehan and Olympic coach Jim Crehan, had given up running after personal problems and his dad’s diagnosis with cancer in 2010.

Matt, from Newton-le-Willows, ended up weighing in at 14 stone before returning to the sport he loves.

Now chairman of St Helens Sutton AC, he says his overall goal is to represent England at the 2020 Olympics.

He said: “After a major life event I decided to get back to something I knew I loved. My mum ran at the Seoul Olympics aged 35 so I knew that if I wanted that dream for myself that I had to get back into it.”

Matt went back to training with coach Ray Vose, running 60 to 70 miles a week for the first year while on his way to dropping down to 10 stone.

“Now I run 100 to120 a week and do one to two hours of core conditioning. I turned my life around and now I’m ranked 15th in the country for 5k and my goal is to run sub four minutes mile like Roger Bannister.”

Matt, who works in digital marketing, had actually been struggling with injury in the build up to the event. But he still knocked 32 seconds off the course record.

He added: “I felt good out there and was going for the course record – that was the aim.

“It’s great to run in my hometown and the support has been brilliant. It was great seeing all the others out there as well and cheering them on as I went past – it’s great fun.

“This is my second year doing it, I was second last year after my good mate John Ashcroft and I’ve just beat his record, so I’m sure he’ll be back next year to have another crack at it.”

He hopes his latest achievement, which saw him beat last year’s winner John Ashcroft’s time of 31 minutes, 53 seconds, will serve him well into reaching his goals.