Two years ago Naomi Garrick set a new Guinness World record for the Marathon, running as a bride, but this year she went for a different category, writes John Perratt.

The existing record for her to beat was three hours 59 minutes in the outfit of a lady doctor complete with white coat and stethoscope.

She had in fact been spotted training around town recently in costume and many observers thought that she was either chasing someone who had escaped from an asylum or that she herself had broken out from one!

The training though did the trick and her time of 3.54.06 was five minutes better than the previous record. She did however, have the full backing of Sidmouth Primary School for whom she was raising funds for new outside equipment.

Our first runner home, not unsurprisingly, was Milan Goc in 2.49.49. He has run a bit quicker, but now in the M45 category he can still get under the three hour mark and his position of 565th out of 35,000 plus runners is a strong reflection of his ability.

Simon Minting on the other hand was attempting his first marathon. His running background has previously been the 400m on the track and so his first time at the distance was bound to be tough. He was going well up to around the 30km mark but then faded somewhat to finish in 3.16.08.

Two ladies that we don’t see too often are fairly regular entrants to London. Fiona Cummins seems to do it on a bare minimum of training, but still clocked up a very respectable 4.05.18. Pam White from Salcombe Regis likes to train by herself and obviously do so very effectively as she was the second Lady Over 60 in a really amazing time for her age group of 3.39.49.

Finally, 16-year-old Jason Drew was invited to London to compete for the South West in the Inter Region Junior races which support the Marathon. No results are currently available, but he will have surely found the atmosphere inspirational