SIX months ago Salisbury parkrun stalwart and City of Salisbury club-runner Jef Hutchby, even though by his own admission unfit and overweight at the time, set himself a rigorous training schedule many doubted he would be able to maintain, to be followed by the challenge of a city marathon.

At Liverpool’s ‘rock’n roll’ 26miler on Sunday he finally achieved his goal, defying his doubters and running without a pause in the warm conditions to finish in a good 4hours 57mins – slower than his personal best set decades ago but a fine performance to build on.

Marathon enthusiast Phil Perry continued his 2017 odyssey, completing his sixth marathon of the year in the hot and hilly 26miler at Dorchester. His time of 3.51.01 compared well with his best set at Manchester in April.

Mike White looked to be in good shape at the same event when calf injury struck at 21miles, and he did well to finish after walking the final five miles to still beat four hours. Other Salisbury finishers were Di Cross 4.39.11, Liz Roberts 4.46.02 and Charlotte Boardman 4.48.02. Pete Dengel made his marathon debut in Edinburgh where he clocked 3.44.

In the Casterbridge half marathon Peter Manning was the club’s quickest in 1hour 43min 11sec and he was followed by Lizzie Guasch 2.25.14, Andy Robbins 2.25.29 and Marie Manning 3.04.23.