Hercules Wimbledon AC's Claire Grima finished a brilliant sixth in the women's over-35 championship race in Sunday's London marathon.

Grima, 36, who was running in the event with her husband, Dave, ran a steady race passing the half-way just past Tower Bridge in one hour 20 minutes 49 seconds, and reaching the finish on The Mall in 2.45:51, smashing her previous club record of 2.49:10 set in in 2011.

She said: "I was very pleased to improve on my own record. As usual, the atmosphere throughout the race was fantastic and I felt good most of the way.

"It was relatively mild but there was a swirling wind in some places."

Grima is ranked fourth among UK over-35 women marathon runners this year as a result of her performance, and her sixth place in the women's race was a significant improvement on her previous highest of 10th in 2011.

Husband Dave, although finishing almost three minutes behind Claire, was able to emulate her achievement with a lifetime best performance.

He clocked 2.48:35 to slice 10 seconds off his previous best time set in the Amsterdam marathon in October last year.

The top Hercules Wimbledon finisher among the 36,000 runners was Joe Clark who also posted a best marathon time of 2.39:09 for 171st place.

Clark, who was competing in the London event for the seventh consecutive year, chopped more than eight minutes off his previous best marathon time set in 2013.

Rob Tuer was just 20 seconds behind Clark also significantly improving on his previous best marathon time.

He was 182nd in 2.39:29 to improve on his previous best time of 2.47:45 posted in the London race last year.

Andrew Blake also got inside the three-hour barrier clocking 2.56:35, while David Scrimshaw just missed out recording 3.00:29.

Hercules Wimbledon chairman Dave Clarke, winner of the Stockholm marathon in 1989, and three times English senior men's cross-country champion, was hampered by calf muscle and hamstring problems in his bid to get inside the three-hour barrier on Sunday, and finished in 3:08:53.

Charles Hampden-Smith was Hercules Wimbledon's top veteran over-50 finisher in 3.06:49, just 19 seconds outside his best marathon time set in London 2012.

More than 20 Hercules Wimbledon youngsters took part in the mini marathon races over the final three miles of the main marathon course from Old Billingsgate to The Mall.

The highest place finisher was Zoe Illis who was 11th out off more than 200 runners in the girls U17 race in 18:27, while her Wandsworth team-mate Emma Headley was 22nd in 19:15.

Oscar White led the Wandsworth team to third spot in finishing 12th in the boys U13 race in 17:30, and Matt Gibbons was 13th for Merton in the boys U15 race in 16.52.

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Marathon man: Joe Clark clocked 2.39:09 for 171st place on Sunday