A total of 304 runners finished the Stevenage Marathon - hailed by organisers Fairlands Valley Spartans.
While the half marathon takes place every year, the marathon is only held every 10 years with this the fourth running on the Spartans 40th anniversary.
The race started at the corner of Grace Way and Martins Way and finished in Hampson Park.
It was won by Stephen Buckle of St Albans Striders in two hours 40 minutes 32 seconds, beating Christopher Westcott of Stevenage & North Herts Athletics Club.
David Harris-Cherguit was third in 2:50:20, beating team-mate Adrian Busolini (2:55:17) into fourth.
The women's race was won by the host club though, Suzy Hawkins coming home in 3:32:21.
Spartans had 38 finishers in the marathon with Alison and Paul Shelley running after their exploits at the Chicago Marathon one week earlier.
Paul’s time was 3:42:06 and Alison's 4:54:22.
The club also had some PBs to celebrate. Craig Bacon managed 3:39:10, Martin Jacob 3:57:30 and Gerry Rosen 5:33:36.
In addition there were another 413 runners who completed the half marathon. 29 of them Spartans.
Simon Fraser was the first Spartan male in 1:28:23 while Yuko Gordon was first FVS female in 1:45:44.
The event also formed the county championships for the distances.
Hawkins' run gave her the win in the FV45 group, while Claire Pullen, Samatha Tophill and Alison Shelley completed a podium lock-out in the FV55 group.
The two county finishers in the FV65 group were both Spartans too, Karen Liddle beating Sharon Crowley.
Linda George was third FV35.
For the men Harris-Cherguit won the MV40 category while Jim Brown topped the MV70 group.
In the half marathon, there were Spartans county gongs for Jayne Riddell (FV55, third), Gordon (FV65, first) and Brian White (MV60, second).
All the proceeds from the event goes to Pancreatic Cancer UK.
Stevenage Striders had a good day out on home turf too with plenty of PBs and medals.
Eleven of them went quicker than before in the marathon, including the club's quickest runner - Matthew Robinson who clocked 3:05:10.
Martin Scales (3:29:30), Jonathan Renney (3:34:31), Andrew Manning (3:42:51), Dave Skidmore (3:42:56) and Keith Dennis (3:56:43) all dipped under four hours.
The other PBs belonged to Andrea Skidmore (4:09:18), Lina Tzompova (4:21:27), Neil McKinnon (4:53:44), Kevyn Hopkins-Hall (5:01:34) and Maxine Shackell (6:32:18).
There were five PBs from the club in the half marathon, again including their fastest runner overall.
That was Michael Dennis with 1:28:05 while Jim Whitehead (1:57:00), Lennie Cant (1:59:01), Jeannette Parker (2:34:18) and Francesca Mansi (3:04:53).
The quickest female Strider was Kate Towsey in 1:51:10.
For Claire Fisk of North Herts Road Runners, the marathon was her first over the distance but she finished in 3:53:27, placing her first in the FV50 age group, second in the FV45 county group and third overall in the county senior category.
Andy Liddle was competing in his first race as a Squirrel, opting for the half marathon distance.
He finished in 1:54:03 to set a PB in a superb club debut.
Stevenage Phoenix enjoyed an eventful marathon with many quick runs.
Alex Wasley first time over the distance brought a time of 3:47:57 while Aaron Reynolds claimed a PB of 3:53:18.
Graham Eden (4:09:34) was another marathon debutant, as were Nick West (5:02:33) and Martin Wasley (5:53:48).
Mark Legate picked up a PB of 4:41:48 while Ashton Marshall finished in 4:10:56.
Four from the club took on the half marathon.
Martin Harris and Katie Mitham ran together., the former finishing his first half marathon in 1:50:31 while Mitham's 1:50:52 was not only an incredible 33 minutes quicker than her PB, it was also a club female senior record.
That only slighted shaded the 22 minutes David Poulter knocked off his PB, clocking 2:23:53, while Andy Chapman's first half finished in 2:01:43.
In other action, there was the return of the Three Counties Cross-country League, round one coming from Irchester County Park.
That attracted 29 from NHRR, looking to defend their team title won over the last five seasons.
And they came out of the event second overall in the combined standings, the women leading and the men in fourth.
The winning women's team contained Hannah Ridley, Helen Nutall, Astrid McKeown and Paula Holm while Mike Roberts took the overall win for the men, beating team-mate Rob Jowett in second.
The others scoring for the team were Travis Kruger, Matt Sayers, Vince Wright, Ian Datlen, Steve McKeown and Mike Over.
Men's team captain John Auld said: "This is a great start to the season and is something to build on as we attempt to defend our title."
Further afield and back over 26.2 miles, Rhia Botha ran the Cape Town Marathon, finishing in 3:12:29 and setting a PB.
She was the 54th woman out of 5,894.
For Phoenix, their other events were led by the Duxford Dash, a popular fast and flat course at the RAF base.
Seven Phoenicians ran in either the 5k or 10k distances.
Wendy Summerbee and Charlie Day completed the one lap 5k course in 33:02 (PB) and 35:56.
First home in the 10k was Conor O’Neill in 45:42 followed by Katka Laughton in a PB of 50:21.
That also broke the club's FV45 record.
Also among the PBs was Ben Murphy and Amy Whitby, clocking 53:27 and 1:09:10.
Simona Leadbetter completed her second 10k race of the week in 1:02:53.
The first had been the Battersea Park Chase the Moon event which she completed in 1:00:19.
Laughton was also at that one, running 1:00:16.
The Abingdon Marathon got the attention of Chris Leigh who finished in 3:53:30 while Spartans had Charles Cook in Oxfordshire, finishing in 3:02:53.
Chris Watling of FVS clocked 1:24:24 at the York 10 mile race while there was a marathon PB for Andrew Patterson in Amsterdam, finishing 95th out of 16,763 with 2:34:09.
The major result elsewhere for Spartans though was Ashley Johnson's 1:24:25 at the Great Eastern Run.
That was not only a PB but broke a 20-year-old club record for the half marathon.
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