The Virgin London Marathon may have a new name but the distance stays the same, as does the commitment to the training needed to complete the course.Leading home the Great Yarmouth Road Runners was Jeff Helmore in a time of 3-10:32 with Neil Sibley following close behind in 3-11:14.

The Virgin London Marathon may have a new name but the distance stays the same, as does the commitment to the training needed to complete the course.

Leading home the Great Yarmouth Road Runners was Jeff Helmore in a time of 3-10:32 with Neil Sibley following close behind in 3-11:14.

Tony Anderson did a personal best of 3-46:47 which shows that even in the biggest of races personal bests can be obtained. Next club member home was Edward Shulver finishing strongly in a time of 3-49:51.

Marie Worrall also finished in a pb time in 4-00:08.

Nicos Symeou, despite airports being closed, managed to get home in time to carry on his charity work and finished in 4-48:41. Marie's training partners, Debbie Balfour-Hurren and Andrea Teasdale, finished their first marathon in a superb time of 5-03:57. Well done to all our club runners who have done Great Yarmouth Road Runners proud.

Also tackling the marathon distance was Matthew Sutton. The Rotterdam Marathon was the challenge, but finishing in a time of 3-28:01 showed that Matthew was more than up to the task.

If anyone who watched the marathon on TV and thought they could do it, how about trying the Great Yarmouth Road Runners Half Marathon sponsored by Adnams brewery in August?

Entry forms will be available from www.gyrr.co.uk within the next couple of days.

Great Yarmouth & District Athletic Club training for the London Marathon didn't go to plan for four members.

The weather, foot surgery, colds and falls were amongst those listed, but all gave 100 per cent effort as they ran around the 26.2 miles of London.

The first home was Dawn Clegg, who beat her pb by 17 minutes to finish in 5-20:29.

Dawn had run with Stef Herod until Tower Bridge, when the aches and pains set in for Stef who was therefore pleased to complete the course in 5-39:03. Next was Sue Ryles who had also suffered during the winter months with a foot injury and hadn't realised that she finished under six hours until Monday morning, having forgot to deduct the 14 minutes it took to get over the start line, so she was elated with a time of 5-57:21. Pat Brightman came home in 6-18:27.

Thanks goes to all their supporters who made the journey to London on Sunday: Pete, Karly, Tim, Maureen, John, Elaine, Cindy, Sue and Penny.