IT was happy 50th birthday for the Berlin Marathon this year and it celebrated the milestone in style, ensuring its place as the largest marathon event in the world.

54,280 runners completed the course this year and among the tens of thousands were two from Aberystwyth Athletic Club.

Edd Land finished in time of 2.50.18 with Tracey Breedon completing the course in 3.16.24.

Edd was happy with his time but it was one of the most crowded races he has run: “This has become one of the must do marathons in the world by now and as this was their 50th year, they wanted to make an impact.

“And they succeeded by making this the largest marathon event in the world.

“It was great to be a part of a record breaking event but that did mean it was quite a crowded field of runners and difficult to get into your stride.

“But the weather was perfect which helped and it was good to see Aber AC being represented in this special race.”

Back to the UK and to Scotland where Hannah Dee chose the iconic Loch Ness location to run her first marathon which she completed in a time of 5.19.54.

Hannah Dee at Loch Ness
Hannah Dee at Loch Ness (Photo supplied)

She said: “This was my first marathon and it was amazingly well organised.

“There weren't many crowds at all until the last two or three miles, it was all on small roads through woodland and on the side of the loch, beautiful scenery all around us.

“I'm very pleased to have made the distance and jogged all the way, although slowly! I couldn't have made it without company and support in training from my Aber AC and parkrun friends."

Coming back to Wales and the Bangor half marathon is the third in the Welsh Castles series following on from the Snowdonia and Caernarfon half marathons.

Edd, Lina and Paul in Bangor
Edd, Lina and Paul in Bangor (Photo supplied)

Three Aber AC runners made the journey northwards with two finishing in the top 20.

Edd Land came in second overall in a time of 1.20.56 securing a category win with Paul Jones coming in 13t hoverall in a time of 1.28.35 securing third place in his age category and Lina Land completed the course in 2.01.51.

Paul Jones now looking forward to competing the castle series quartet: “I have thoroughly enjoyed the four half marathon races so far and now preparing for the last one in Conwy in November.

“All three of us had a great day out in Bangor on a challenging but extremely picturesque course.”

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