Dartmoor Vale Marathon 2007
A WORLD record may have been broken at Dartmoor Vale Marathon this year by a foreign runner who completed his 1,521st marathon.
Around 850 runners, including many from South Devon, took part in the event made up of three road races: a marathon, half marathon and 10 kilometre route — all starting and finishing at Newton Abbot racecourse.
And 200 children also took part in a fun run.
Organiser Jeff Brown said: “The whole event has gone very well and although it was cold first thing in the morning, the weather turned out to be beautiful.
“One thing which was interesting this year, which has never happened before, we had two German runners from Hamburg; 72-year-old Horst Priesler who completed his 1,521st marathon which he hopes will be a world record and Peter Wienke who completed his 593rd marathon.”
The route for the marathon and half marathon took runners out along the Teign Valley to Chudleigh and back down country lanes alongside Ugbrooke Park.
The 10K route took entrants around the edges of Kingsteignton on a fairly flat route.
The marathon runners completed two laps — a new course for 2007 — using part of last year’s course.
Mr Brown said: “The change introduced one significant hill, from Chudleigh up towards Ugbrooke, but we no longer wind our way through the streets of Kingsteignton towards the end of the lap.
“Some runners have said they really liked it and others found it really hard because of the steep hill.”