With very little on the calendar this week, Dudley Kingswinford runners were forced to cast their net a little further afield in search of race action.

Few could have travelled further than Phil Smith who lined up at the start of the Barcelona Half Marathon, the lure of the Catalan capital and warmer weather being enough to tempt the Dudley Kingswinford athlete from his usual Black Country haunts to race over the 13.1 mile distance.

In a high quality race where nine of the first ten places were filled by East Africans, or at least former East Africans, the winner Tadesse Abraham representing Switzerland, clocked a lightning quick 1.00.42. In what appeared to be a proper burn off, only five seconds covered the first three places and the winner of the women’s race, Florence Kiplagat, wasn’t much slower, clocking 1.05.09.

In a stellar field, Phil Smith came home in 1.38.45 in 4,018th of the near 12,500 competitors to at least claim first, and only, Dudley Kingswinford runner home.