IT was a cold and windy start to the day last weekend for Clare Short and Liz Vernon who ran the Great West Run in Exeter.

The half marathon (13.1 miles), now in its 26th year, started and finished in Exeter Arena, taking in Exeter city centre and ending with a lap of the track.

Almost 3,000 people entered the two lap course event organised by Ironbridge Runner.

Liz managed a superb personal best time of 2hrs 20mins 20secs coming in 1,822 position and Clare Short came in at 1.56.09 in 1,061 position.

Clare told the Times: 'It was a really fun event. I am fairly pleased with my time and felt strong – mainly due to all the run training and big workouts at Bodyzone gym.'

Clare and Liz are very focused on their main event this year – the North Devon Marathon in June!

Liz added: 'We have a couple of smaller events before the marathon, which we are looking forward to, but we need to up our training now in preparation! We know it's not going to be easy!'