Roland Hall of Honiton Running Club fancied a marathon to set off his Christmas so on the Sunday before the festive feast he travelled along the coast to Portsmouth, writes Judy Davey.

The beginning of the run started with a torrential downpour which may have pushed the start time forward a few minutes as the runners seemed to start very suddenly.

The first two miles were along the Promenade of Portsmouth which then led onto the beach for about half a mile.

After which followed a two-mile trail, bogged and flooded with water at times, along the coast to a pathway which led runners up to the seven mile marker. For the next few miles they were on and off road until about 10 miles, then rough stony terrain taking them to the half way point where runners were turned around and looped back the same way home.

Hall reached mile 13 in a time of one hour 29 minutes, and, given the wind was against them on the way home, he felt he did well to maintain his pace. He thought at one point he was going to achieve under three hours, but the wind on the last two miles back up the Promenade took its toll and his pace slowed down from seven minute miling to 8:15 meaning a finish in 3:02:44. A fantastic achievement giving him 14th place overall; an incredible personal best time of about half an hour on testing terrain. All in all he enjoyed a fantastic day running with and meeting some lovely people along the way.