DESPITE the terrible conditions, near 2,000 runners took part in the third Standard Chartered Jersey Marathon, relay and fun run yesterday.

The 260 marathon runners, and the 250 five-man teams taking part in the relay event, had to contend with atrocious weather conditions. The course took the runners around town and up Waterworks Valley to St Ouen, before returning to St Helier via Les Quennevais and Corbière.

The wind and rain did not deter over 300 taking part in the fun run, sponsored by the Jersey Evening Post, with all age-groups represented, some in fancy dress.

Neither did the weather affect the top runners from recording excellent times – better than they did in last year’s perfect conditions. Last year’s champion Andrew Henessey won the men’s event with a new record time of 2:29:05 – a full six minutes faster than last year’s time. And Jersey’s multi-Island Games medallist Jo Gorrod (pictured above) in her first ever marathon attempt, took the women’s title with another record time of 2:58:44.

• Results of the men’s and women’s races can be found in our sport section at www.thisisjersey.com/sport

• Pictures: Matthew Hottton and Rob Currie    • Picture sales: Click here