Runners and supporters turned out in their thousands for the second reborn Chippenham Half Marathon this morning, which saw elite runner Adrian Marriott cross the finishing line in a record time of 1.09.36.

The 1,800 runners set off on the course which took in parts of Chippenham town centre before heading out into the nearby villages, at 9.30am on Sunday morning.

Runner Steve Cole, 44, from Pewsham came 12th overall with a time of 1.18.29.

He said: "It was fine until about mile 11 - the last two miles are always harder because they are uphill, so I started to suffer a bit then.

"I didn't do any specific training for the marathon, but I do a lot of cycling and I managed to beat my time last year so I was pleased. There was a lot more people supporting us in and around town which always helps too and there was less traffic on the roads this year too. It was very well organised"

He added: "I think I'll come back again next year, we had some great banter amongst the group when we were running round, I really enjoyed it."

Matt Pentecost, 26, of The Causeway was delighted to beat his effort at last year's race despite suffering an injury from pot holes in the road.

He said: "It was going really well until I got to the eighth mile and I hurt my knee when I fell on a pot hole out in the villages - I was nearly crying with pain.

"I got 2.13.20 this year which was better than last year so I was really pleased."

Organiser Kevin Napier said he was delighted with the event.

He said: "We were a bit worried with the postal strike on that we wouldn't be able to get the race packs out to everyone but everything worked out in the end.

"And even the weather was just fantastic - it has been a brilliant day."

RWE Npower won the Corporate Challenge team competition, followed by New Road Nursery.