Jonny Mellor finished 50th in Sunday's European Champs marathon, nearly 20 minutes slower than his best. It was one of the most quietly admirable performances of the week from a British team that has needed a humble hero as much as its medal winners.
Major championships are not simply about medal winners and podium placers. In every event there are tales of grit and determination from athletes who finish further down the field.
As Jakob Ingebrigtsen explained after his 5000m victory on the first day of the European Championships: "This sport needs people to show up and it needs people to compete. And it needs everyone to be here whether you are No.1, No.5 or No.45."
Jonny Mellor was one of these athletes in Sunday's marathon in Birmingham. Aged 39, he fought his way around a tough course to finish 50th in 2:27:56.
For a man who has a best of 2:08:43 from Valencia last year, it was clearly painful to run nearly 20 minutes slower. He admits he nearly dropped out, too, but friends and family cheering him on the course kept him going when he was tempted to quit.
"I had loads of friends and family around the course, they were all spread out on the loop. That's probably the only thing that got me round the course," Mellor said.
One of them was his long-time coach, Steve Vernon, a man who regards himself more as a friend and "sounding board" these days. He describes Mellor as a "humble hero" and gave Mellor a quick pep talk at around 25km to convince him to carry on.
Mellor said: "I did stop at one point and they were there to say, 'get through it, keep going'. It's been about 11 years as a marathon runner and there have been ups and downs, I'm proud of myself for getting through it today."
When it comes to athletes battling their way to the finish, Mellor's run wasn't as dramatic as Derek Redmond famously staggering to the finish with a pulled hamstring and a helping hand from his dad at the Barcelona Olympics in 1992. Nor fellow marathoners like Jim Peters in 1954 or Callum Hawkins in 2018 trying to continue after collapsing en route in the Commonwealth Games.
Still, Mellor's run on Sunday epitomised the lonely grind of an athlete who knows they are not in peak shape – and that the medals are well out of sight – but they are nevertheless determined to do their best. This is what makes Mellor's performance one of the best of the British team this week, despite his modest position.
The Liverpool Harrier knew he hadn't enjoyed the best build-up to these European Championships either. A few years ago he was diagnosed with Immune thrombocytopenia – a rare autoimmune disease that stops the blood from clotting properly and can result in excessive bleeding and bruising – and this had led to problems in his preparations for this weekend's big race. Yet despite this, he refused to pull out and wasn't making excuses either.
Mellor is the epitome of what is often described as "a runner's runner", a true grassroots character who is just at home in a club-level road race in Wilmslow or Stockport as he is on the start line of a major championship. It is what makes him such a popular figure in the running community.
What's more, his rollercoaster career has mirrored the ups and downs of the marathon itself. At the 2018 Commonwealth Games he was controversially overlooked for selection despite having a qualifying standard, but he bounced back to finish a fine sixth in the 2022 Commonwealth Games marathon in Birmingham.
His Olympic dreams in 2021 were ruined when a freak attack of gout, caused he believes by sleeping in compression socks and possibly linked to his autoimmune disease, forced him to miss the British Olympic trials. Yet he was still running PBs in 2025 with the run of his life in Valencia last December.
You can never imagine someone like Mellor actually retiring either. He will run and run until he can't run anymore.
Not surprisingly, he is targeting masters records when he hits 40 in four months' time. The British M40 marathon mark of 2:10:28 will be hard as it is held by Mo Farah but there are plenty of other non-Farah records at various distances to shoot for.
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"I might have a little longer to recover than usual because my body feels like it needs it after a really tough build up," he told AW on Sunday moments after the finish. "I turn 40 in December and I'd love to be in a position to chase some of those British records next year as a veteran 40."
