Last month, four Newport & District Running Club members took on the London Marathon, probably the most famous road race in the world. Still in its Autumn slot, more than 40,000 runners have trained through the summer to be ready to tackle 26.2 miles through the streets of the capital.

Phil Dolding was the first Novaportan runner back in the 2022 edition, finishing in 8,534th place overall, in a time of 3 hours, 43 minutes, 57 seconds. Gary Mountford was next, 14,360th finisher with a time of 4:06:39. Following him home was Simon Yap, who ran a time of 4:07:46 to finish 14,627th. Christian Barbagallo crossed the line in a time of 4:20:55 to take 17,817th place.

Gary Mountford passes Big Ben

Gary Mountford said afterwards: “After being allocated a club place in 2020, I eventually ran the London marathon in 2022 in a time of 4:06, which was a new PB, my previous time was 4:20 in 2017. Running with Christian helped me keep a steady pace and took my mind off the distance.”