ALL roads led to London at the weekend for arguably the biggest and certainly the most publicised races of the year, as athletes travelled south to the capital to take part in the London Marathon.

While many Dudley Kingswinford Running Club members were glued to their televisions hoping to catch a glimpse of the blue hoops, the hoops themselves were slogging themselves around the streets on a day that turned surprisingly warm, great weather for spectators but not so for those competing.

Those hoping the streets of London were paved with gold may have been a little disappointed, as they appeared to be littered with bottles of water and Lucozade Sport, but a large group still returned to the Midlands with their own little piece of gold around their necks.

It was a nip and tuck battle to be first from DK to cross the line with the first three from the club coming home within seconds of each other.

James Wright claimed the honour finishing in 3.00.16 in 1951st, Darran Bishop was 1995th in 3.00.39 and Kevin Duckworth finished in 3.01.00 in 2044th.

Matt Biggs was going well until halfway, but nursed himself home with an injury in 3.09.00.

Helen Tromans was first lady home for the hoops and 176th in her gender and an impressive 14th in her age group finishing in 3.10.11.

Mark Judge recorded a new PB in 3.11.29, Lorna Hulme finished in 3.17.35 despite having doubts about even reaching the start line earlier in the week and Tahir Yasin finished in 3.54.48.

David Fennell came home in 4.22.23, Aimee Pugh finished in 4.46.17, Carol Fisher in 4.47.08, Jan Burbie in 4.48.19 and Nigel Warrington in 4.49.47.

Lisa Perkins finished in 5.31.33 and Deb Rochelle stopped the clock in 6.12.52.