Aoife Cooke will be Ireland's second contender in the Women's Marathon at the Tokyo Olympics.

The Cork native from Eagle AC convincingly beat the women's Olympic qualifying standard which is set at 2:29:30, by finishing in a time of 2:28:36 as she won the Cheshire Elite Marathon on Sunday.

It was also a marked improvement on her previous personal best time of 2:32:34 which she had recorded at the 2019 Dublin Marathon - her last marathon race before this Sunday's Cheshire showing.

She will join the already-qualified Fionnuala McCormack as Ireland's representatives in the women's marathon this summer. Stephen Scullion, Kevin Seaward and and Paul Pollock are the three Irish athletes who have already achieved the standard for the men's marathon.

Cooke's time moves her fourth on the all-time list of Irish women's marathon runners ahead of Sonia O'Sullivan.

Letterkenny AC's Ann-Maria McGlynn, who finished third in the Cheshire race in the village of Pulford, also set a personal best of 2:29:34 but it was ultimately just four seconds short of the qualifying standard.