IT was massive marathon weekend for athletes from Dudley Kingswinford Running Club.

Mark Homer travelled the furthest to take part in the iconic Boston Marathon and came up with a great performance to finish in an impressive 3.28.39 in miserable conditions, the rain throughout making the experience an uncomfortable one.

Although the fabled Heartbreak Hill, which has seen many a runner flounder on the course, was regarded by Homer as “a myth” saying “we do worse on the Wolverhampton half.”

A little closer to home a much larger group competed in the Manchester Marathon with Darran Bishop first home in a PB of 2.54.50, Graham Wildgoose got a PB in 3.12.17, Kieran Pitt made an impressive debut in 3.32.18, Richard Tonks sliced a massive chunk off his best in 3.36.21, Jo Clare and Karen Doy both finished in 3.54.12, Paul Baker ran 4.00.32, Dave Ede 4.07.54, Lisa Newell finished in 4.35.08 with Gina Collins only a second behind, Andy Fraser ran 5.02.34 and Sam Hemming clocked 5.17.51.

Finally, a small group raced over the half marathon distance at Ironbridge with Matt Biggs best placed in eighth in 1.21.38, there was an epic battle just behind as Andy Sprague, Rob Sannwald and Dave Norman swapped places through the race finally finishing in that order in 20th in 1.26.16, 23rd in 1.26.55 and 24th in 1.27.07. Gary Bonner was 43rd in 1.31.59, Simon Hughes 73rd in 1.36.07, Carol Fisher was 230th in 1.48.55, Sally McConville was 378th in 2.01.23 and Preston Grundy finished in 2.17.53 in 491st place.