James Milner swapped his football boots for running shoes and finished the New York Marathon in an impressive three hours, nine minutes and four seconds

Former Liverpool star James Milner traded his football boots for running trainers and crossed the finish line at the New York Marathon in an impressive three hours, nine minutes and four seconds. The midfield dynamo averaged seven minutes and 12 seconds per mile to complete his first world major.

Milner brought the curtain down on a career spanning more than 20 years over the summer and has since been putting his exceptional football fitness to the test on the roads. The 40-year-old delivered a remarkable time on a course far better known for its gruelling hills than its swift finishing times.

The former Newcastle, Leeds, Brighton, Aston Villa and Manchester City midfielder could not quite match the benchmarks already set by Arjen Robben, who clocked two hours and 58 minutes in Rotterdam, or Aaron Ramsey's two hours and 59 minutes in Stockholm, though both men also exceeded three hours on their maiden attempts.

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It will be no surprise to his teammates that Milner has taken on a significant fitness challenge. The veteran was renowned for remaining unbeaten in Liverpool's notorious lactate threshold sessions during pre-season, where players would push themselves to their absolute limits, and had shown some early promise in cross-country running as a youngster.

Speaking ahead of his debut marathon appearance, Milner revealed that he had been stopped from running during pre-season in the latter stages of his career, meaning his first hurdle was simply 'building up the mileage without getting injured'. Milner admitted he would have backed himself to run a quicker time had he still been in his playing days.

"A few years ago, I feel like I could have definitely done sub-3:00," he said.

"My career went on longer and longer. Two years ago, I had a knee operation, and when I woke up from the knee operation, I couldn't lift my foot. And I had a second operation that day to check, and then I couldn't lift my foot for six months. I had nerve damage.

"So I feel to go from not being able to walk properly and maybe never being able to walk to coming back, playing football in the Premier League, and hopefully potentially finishing a marathon, I don't want to get too much caught up on the time."

Milner stayed true to his pre-race strategy of setting off at a brisk pace and hanging on, rather than opting for a more cautious approach. He crossed the halfway point in one hour 31 minutes before battling through the second half in one hour 38 minutes.

Despite a spirited showing from Milner, he remained some distance behind the elite end of the field. Fellow debutant Andreas Almgren, 31, claimed victory in two hours, six minutes and one second, having taken European 10,000m gold over the summer.

He edged out Italy's Yemaneberhan Crippa by 13 seconds, with Lesotho's Kamohelo Mofolo finishing a further 12 seconds adrift. In the women's race, Kenya's Sheila Chepkirui secured her second New York Marathon crown, crossing the line in two hours 24 minutes and 36 seconds.

The 35-year-old defeated American favourite Jessica McClain, who produced a remarkable late surge to come from behind and pip Kenya's Hellen Obiri by just a single second.