The royal blue vests of GREAT BENTLEY RUNNING CLUB were represented by 12 members at the Flora London Marathon, along with a coach full of vocally enthusiastic supporters.

The start of the race saw the sun shining brightly on the 35,000 runners until the eight-mile point, where a torrential downpour cooled the competitors.

The rain continued until mile 16, although this did not deter the vocal encouragement from the large volume of supporters gathered along the famous route.

In-form Kevin Jeffries led the Great Bentley team across the finish line in a fine time of 3h 07m 48s, closely followed by Kevin Cox.

Making his marathon debut, Cox also ran well to finish in a good time of 3h 14m 43s.

Paul Blackwell, who had been entering a lot of races in preparation for the marathon, was well-rewarded with a fine time of 3h 58m 37s and John McKay also ran very well, finishing in a good time of 4h 03m. Unfortunately, his daughter, Jo McKay, suffered a reccurrance of an injury and was forced to withdraw from the race at the eight-mile point.

Mark Ross ran a strong race, finishing in a good time of 4h 08m 19s which was an improvement on his time of last year and Andy Fuller, also making his marathon debut, ran well to finish in a good time of 4h 14m 13s.

Stuart Baggs ran a determined race and was rewarded with a time of 4h 17m 09s, showing an improvement on his time of last year at this race.

Larry Wise made the trip from Northants where he now lives to be among his Bentley running friends and ran a good race, finishing in 4h 18m.

Sean Whatling managed to shake off a pre-marathon injury scare to record a good finish of 4h 24m 46s and Sharon Criklemore competing in only her second marathon was well rewarded with a time of 4h 26m 06s.