STUART Holloway of City of Salisbury Athletic and Running Club had to give best to his big rival Nick Buis of Totton at the Heartbreaker half marathon on soft and muddy tracks near Fordingbridge.

His time of 82min 6sec was good enough for third place among the 200 finishers but with heavy training in his legs he was more than four minutes adrift of the winner.

In the full-length marathon based on the same tough course, Scott Huntley was the club’s sole competitor and acquitted himself well with a time of 3hours 33min 43sec.

One of the most demanding distance races on the Wiltshire running calendar, the 11mile Terminator on the Marlborough Downs lived up to its name with a series of strength sapping climbs near the finish. Ian Shelley found the conditions to his liking, taking sixth place in 1.30.13.

David Osment was in the top hundred with 1.48.37, and Liz Roberts and Kathryn Waterworth also survived the day with a shared 2.25.30.