Isle of Wight Marathon
PHEW what a scorcher for hardman, Barry Hards. On the hottest day of the year so far, the Stubby vet made light work of a tough course to win the Isle of Wight Marathon.
Barry led home a field of 103 runners to win in a time of 3hrs 5mins 32secs, a winning margin of more than seven minutes from second-placed Nicholas Holmes from the Fleet & Crookham Club.
Last month, Barry battled his way through overnight snow to compete in the Taunton Marathon in Somerset where he finished ninth in cold conditions in a time of 2:55.47 to finish second Vet 45.
Now just turned 50, Barry made light work of an event organised by Ryde Harriers and which has been described by Runners' World as "Relentless ups and downs make the UK's longest-running marathon a formidable opponent".
For the 52nd staging of this race, runners started in Ryde and headed out on a singe lap course covering Ryde, Binstead, Wootton, Newport, Rookley, Aretton, Sandown, Brading and back to Ryde.