Scotland's Martin Williams, who works as a policeman in England, won the seventh Albert Bartlett Edinburgh Marathon on Sunday after breaking the tape in a time of 2.18:24.

The 31-year-old English-born Scot held off the challenge of Andi Jones as he broke away with two miles to go, ducking under the mark needed for a ticket to the Commonwealth Games in New Delhi next year.

Williams' participation in India, where he will represent Scotland due to his Scottish mother, is subject to a final validation but that is unlikely to prove a problem after he finished 36 seconds inside the qualification time.

"I thought that in this heat, I'm going to die," said Williams. "But there was a nice breeze. I thought at least it's on my back and the course was good.

"It was nice running with Andi who seemed to be just out for a Sunday run. We were chatting, certainly up to half-way. For most of it, I felt really good."

England's Holly Rush took victory in the women's race in 2.41:38, seeing off the challenge of Scotland's Toni McIntosh, who was six minutes behind in second.