ENGLAND mountain bike ace Liam Killeen continued his build-up to the Melbourne 2006 Commonwealth Games in impressive style by winning the Marathon World Cup event in Canada.

The 23-year-old from Malvern usually competes in cross-country events but entered the gruelling 101km marathon at Mont-Saint-Anne as an additional training run.

He won it in a time of four hours 35 minutes and 30 seconds -- almost three minutes ahead of silver medallist Massimi de Bertolis, Italy's reigning world champion marathon rider.

Killeen currently stands in eighth place after four of the eight rounds of the cross-country World Cup.

He won a bronze medal in Team England colours in the cross-country event at the Manchester 2002 Commonwealth Games, his first senior medal at international level.