EIGHT athletes from Tavistock Athletic Club took on the significant challenge of the iconic London Marathon on Sunday, April 26.

The unseasonable hot weather meant challenging conditions for the runners who had done most of their training through the cold, wet and windy days of a Devon winter - and it did impact performances.

All, however, were buoyed up by the incredible crowd support throughout the entire 26.2 miles of the course - deafening at times with the many live bands and DJ stations - and the slick organisation meaning that over 50,000 runners, dispatched in multiple start-line ‘waves’, had the most enjoyable and memorable experience.

The runners gained their places in a mix of championship places, ‘good for age’ allocation, club places, main ballot winners and charity places.

First of the TAC runners home was Ben Neale, in a superb time of 2hr 47min 48s. His performance was even more astonishing as he had run the Boston marathon just six days previously - finishing even faster in 2:41:15.

Not far behind, and also with formidable pace, was club chairman Mark West, also gaining a sub 3hr result by finishing in 2:56:56 and then Hannah Smith who was disappointed not to break 3hrs with her championship place, finishing in 3:00:52.

Next to show were Ian Collacott, finishing in 3:09:56, his best ever time at London, Mike Nithavrianakis, who recently completed the Milan marathon, in 3:24:14, and Ed Horn, in fancy dress to support his Children with Cancer UK charity, completing in 3:57:05.

Those starting later were more affected by the heat which reached a peak in the middle of the day. Helen Kula-Przezwanski finished in 5:03:04, Andy Hughes in 5:23:33, and Yami Passmore, a new runner to the club, completing in 5:29:40.

All will soon forget the aches and pains and, with the ballot for 2027 already open, will no doubt be looking to return.