Four Morpeth Harriers among the record numbers taking part in this year's London Marathon

First back for Morpeth was seasoned London veteran Andrew Lawrence, recording a time of 2:35:39 with another consistent run.

Behind him were three other runners in blue and white vests who all recorded personal bests despite the rather blustery conditions, a real tribute to their months of often solitary dedication, with training this winter frequently taking place in the wet.

Rob Hancox ran 3:03:11, a delighted Anna Wright 3:18:33 and her training companion, Jane Kirby, was not far behind in 3:28:24.

Saturday had seen the series of Mini-Marathons taking place over a 2.6 kilometre course on The Mall, with more than 13,000 youngsters given a taste of the big race experience and this time there were three Harriers representing the North East region in an inter-area regional match.

Ewan Line was 200th in the Under-13 Boys, recording a time of nine minutes 29 seconds.

Joe Close and Elliot Kelso both ran in the U17s, with Close clocking 8:09 to finish in 80th place and Kelso a few seconds ahead in 60th place in eight minutes exactly.

There were record numbers of runners at this year’s marathon, where Peres Jepchirchir set a new women-only world record of two hours 16 minutes 16 seconds. Her Kenyan compatriot, Alexander Mutiso, won the men’s event in a time of 2:04:01.

The final finisher, Vishal Gupta, crossed the finish line on The Mall in a time of nine hours two minutes.