After missing out on an Olympic bronze medal by only six seconds, Jon Brown at least managed to celebrate running in what he considered his first drugs-free marathon.

Brown - one of the most vociferous critics, particularly of those using erythropoietin (EPO) which he believes is widely practised by many elite marathon rivals - has constantly demanded an exposure of the drug cheats.

But after Sunday's endurance event, where he ran a time of two hours, 11 minutes, 17 seconds, the Sheffield star missed a medal by less than 30 yards behind Tefaye Tola, whose Ethiopian team-mate Gezahgne Abera pushed ahead in the closing stages ahead of Kenya's Eric Wainaina to win the race by 20 seconds in two hours, 10 minutes, 11 seconds.

"It's the first marathon I have ran where I've felt the playing fields have been even," said the 29-year-old Yorkshireman, who stayed with the leading group of four runners until the last six miles.

At the end of August, Brown was delighted when arriving from his Vancouver home to prepare for his second Olympics - he placed 10th over 10,000metres four years ago - to learn there would be an intensive drug testing programme undertaken - particularly to catch the EPO cheats.

Constantly outspoken about the world's sporting governing bodies turning a blind eye to the use of EPO, which for a long period remained undetectable until a breakthrough earlier this year by Australian and French medical scientists, Brown saw a day dawn he never expected to see.

Learning revolutionary tests were to take place, from his training base on Queensland's Gold Coast, Brown, knowing it was no secret endurance runners in particular have benefited from EPO's enhanced production of oxygen carrying red blood cells, said: "It's hard to speculate how they intend carrying out the tests."

But the authorities have. Indeed, just before Brown's tremendous effort, UK Athletics performance director Max Jones said: "With the number of random tests which were expected to be carried out it would be inconceivable anyone using drugs might consider travelling to Australia. Being caught is a high risk possibility."

The campaign seems to have been a success in a Games where the winning times in the middle distance races have been well below the quality of what might have been expected.

It was a slight compensation for the Sheffield man after losing out on the bronze medal. Brown said: "I was running comfortably in the early stages and felt very good. With 10K to go I hit a bad patch. I held back and the other guys got ahead.

"Then I got rid of my stitch. I was running strong at the end. I saw the third guy detached. I went for him but just couldn't quite make it."

In his first marathon since finishing fourth in the 1999 London event, Brown, suffering from a long-term hip problem, said: "It's only in the last six weeks that I have been able to train properly. It's probably been a blessing in disguise. Two months ago I didn't think I would be running."

Keith Cullen, a place in front of defending champion Josia Thugwane, of South Africa, also produced a good effort to place 19th in two hours, 16 minutes and 59 seconds.

He said: "I started off at a fairly even pace, then in the closing stages started picking them off one by one." A very tired Mark Steinle was 56th in two hours, 24 minutes, 42 seconds.