STEVE Way fired a timely warning to his Commonwealth Games rivals by running faster than his scheduled pace en route to winning the Bournemouth Littledown Marathon.

The Bournemouth AC star broke his own course record round the playing fields of the Littledown Centre and took off eight minutes from the record he set last June with a finishing time of 2:27:10.

Way was satisfied with Sunday's time but admitted he hoped it would not damage his ultimate ambitions.

He told the Daily Echo: “It was a bit fast. The target was two hours, 30 minutes and I was three minutes under that.

"It doesn’t sound much but I’m trying to weigh up the benefits of a hard training run with making sure I am still capable of doing a hard session on Wednesday.

“I was pleased with how comfortable 2:27 was.”

Steve Paterson (2:50:08) came second, while third place went to Luke Shearring (2:55:17).

The fastest non-elite runner at this year’s London Marathon at 2:16, Way has five weeks of training and half-marathons at Hackney and Torbay before he reduces his workload in the week before his Glasgow appearance.

And he believes his fast recovery speed can enable him to begin the race on July 27 in the best possible shape.

He added: “I’ve still got five weeks of hard training before I cut down.

“One of things that I learned from the London Marathon and the 100ks I’ve done this year was that I only needed roughly a week's worth of tapering.

“A lot of people stick with the expected three week taper but having experimented a short taper definitely gives me an advantage.

“I’m not as fit now as I was before London but I don’t want to be peaking now.

“Hopefully, if everything goes well in the next five weeks, I can be feeling the best I’ve ever felt.”

Way joked that he had “to learn how to do a signature because everyone knew who I was” in the aftermath of Sunday’s race.

Sunny Caltiz-Patel, of Sandwell Valley RC, was the fastest woman round the 26-lap course.

Caltiz-Patel crossed the finishing line at 3:35:47 and was followed by Littledown Harriers’ Heather Khoshnevis (3:47:05) in second with the podium completed by Kerstin Cummings of Bournemouth Joggers (3:49:13).

Caltiz-Patel’s victory was made more impressive given that she has only been running for 18 months and is nursing a hamstring injury.

The 47-year-old said: “I didn’t expect it at all, it was a complete surprise. I have been running with a hamstring injury that I've had for six months. I'm absolutely delighted.”

Wimborne AC’s Andy Horsley was the fastest male 40+ veteran (3:14:10), while Steve Edwards, who has a world record for running over 500 marathons under 3:30, was the best-placed male 50+ veteran at 3:19:30.

Danny Kay, 73, took the top male 60+ veteran prize, crossing the line at 4:08:03.

Caltiz-Patel and Cummings were also the fastest female 40+ veterans, and Khoshnevis was the 50+ veteran’s winner.