Morris took an hour of her personal best in last year's London Marathon

Morris, preparing for April's London Marathon, was outdone by seasoned British international Debbie Mason.

The Tipton Harrier's winning time of 73 minutes two seconds was 16 seconds faster than her Team GB rival.

But Morris showed she is over her back injury by lowering her fastest-ever time for the distance of 73mins 44secs.

Helen Lawrence from the Wirral also had a solid run, finishing third in a time of 73.49.

The men's race saw Simon Kisamili also clinch an easy victory in 64.15 - but there was a dead-heat behind the Kenyan winner.

The judges were unable to separate the Salford pair of Andy Jones and his Ethiopian-born clubmate Tomas Abyu, who crossed the finishing line together in 64.49.

Tipton's Matt Smith and Belgrave's Birhan Dagne retained their titles in the Flora London Half Marathon at Silverstone.

Smith smashed the course record by 20 seconds at the warm-up event for next month's big race in the capital.

He clocked one hour, five minutes and 20 seconds at the grand prix motor-racing circuit.

Dave Taylor ensured a brisk start to the men's race, taking the field through the first mile in four mins 48secs, with Smith comfortably settled behind him.

Smith stayed among the front-runners and made his decisive break from the pack after 10 miles.

The women's race saw Dagne defy the chilly wind to win in 1:16:23.

Nikki Slater, a former British cross country international who was running competitively for the first time in seven years, finished runner-up in 1:17:47.