If you watched the London Marathon on Sunday, then in between arty shots of Big Ben you may have spotted one or two of the AVR gang that ran in the heat, writes Dave Mutter.

Graham (Gummer) Newton had surgery only two weeks ago and was uncertain if he would compete, but in the end the urge to run was too great and he had a great run, finishing 4,754th out of 35,755 in 3:32:57; a full ten minutes quicker than last year and he was 13th in the over 65 category.

If anything he ran the first half too quickly, 1:36:37 so maybe next year he will improve again. After running the Grizzly and then another 20 miler the week after Roger Bramley’s knee started to complain and made running quite painful. Roger overcame the pain and running for SENSE finished 8,341st in 3:47:10. Running together for the Donkey Sanctuary, Sue Campbell and Adele Foxwell enjoyed the run and were joint 14,680th, 4:12:50. Simon Davey’s goal was to beat the 4:30 barrier and he achieved that finishing 13,370th, 4:26:44 and in her first London Michelle Bee running for RAFA (Royal Air Force Association) was very pleased to be 26,124th, 5:02:35.