With spring truly upon us, marathons seem to be sprouting everywhere. The Manchester marathon held recently attracted over 18,000 runners with a few venturing up from Aberystwyth Athletic Club.

It was quite a day for Gethin Holland, a prolific runner but this was his first marathon and he crossed the finish line in an incredible time of 2.51.49. James Thomas was not far behind in 2.57.15 with Aled Hughes crossing the finish line in 3.11.51. Edd Land completed the Aber AC quartet finishing in 3.23.39.

Gethin was naturally delighted: “I have been running for many years but generally very short distances.

"I set myself a goal though to run a marathon and the Manchester course is renowned as being relatively flat and fast course.

"The weather was very kind as well which was a great help and crossing the line in under three hours and in the first 500 finishers was a fantastic result for me. Looking forward already to my next one!”

Staying in Wales and Newport was the destination for club runners Paul Williams and Julie Williams for a slightly shorter race distance of 10k. It was another early 6am start for Paul and Julie from Aberystwyth, but perfect running weather made the journey worthwhile.

Paul crossed the finish line in a time of 38.53, coming 5th in his age category with Julie completing the course in a 1.10.58.

If you would like to hear more about Aberystwyth Athletic Club and join in its activities visit aberystwythac.wordpress.com or find the club on Facebook.