ULTRA-DISTANCE specialist Phil Smith surpassed his own standards of endurance at England’s longest non-stop trail race.

Smith achieved a top ten finish in the 250-mile Thames Ring, which covers a circular course between west London and the Midlands, with a leg-shattering performance of 90 hours 18 mins.

The organisers assess the challenge, equivalent to almost ten ordinary marathons, as "not impossible – but outstandingly difficult", a description the City of Salisbury runner now agrees with, but who is expected to make a full recovery after a strenuous weekend.

At the hilly 26-mile Giant’s Head trail marathon near Cerne Abbas, Stuart Holloway did well to finish after what he described as a ‘nightmarish’ final few miles, but still made it into the top 30.

Liz Roberts had no such problems and having relished the ten hard climbs on the way round, stopped the clock at 5 hours 31 mins.

Over the shorter Sydling Hill 10k in the same part of Dorset, Andy Robbins clocked 68 mins 9 secs, followed by Linda Robson, Charlene Gibson and Kathryn Waterworth.

In the South Downs half marathon, Fiona Pengelly ran well to record 1 hour 47 mins 41 secs and she was closely followed by Sally Greenslade.

Her impressive 1.49.43 was good enough to see her win her age group outright, seeing off some fine runners.

Mel Holloway was the Salisbury club’s only participant in the newly-launched Lordshill 10k on the road and, in warm conditions, he was timed at 49.34.