MORE than 1,700 runners laced up their running shoes to sprint to Avebury this weekend as part of the annual Race to the Stones event.

The adrenalin pumping competition is the largest ultra-marathon in the UK and attracts some of the best runners from around the world to try and get to the 5,000-year-old stone circle from Lewknor in Oxfordshire in the quickest time.

The 63 mile route took runners along The Ridgeway with some completing the race non-stop, while others took it at their own pace over the two days staying overnight at base camp.

Thomas Payn from London was first over the finish line at Avebury on Saturday afternoon and set a new race record of 8 hours, 20 minutes and 30 seconds.

Sarah Morwood won the women’s race, beating last year’s women’s winning time by more than an hour, in 9 hours, 14 minutes, 17 seconds. She came fifth overall. Marlborough's Nathan Montague also scooped third place.

Nick Tuppen, managing director of Threshold Sports who founded Race to the Stones, said: “This was the best Race to the Stones yet. We had a record turn-out with people from all walks of life.

“Determined fundraisers lined up with some of the top runners in the country and all took on the breath-taking challenge of the Ridgeway. All will be sore having completed the distance but their sense of achievement and memories will last a lifetime.”

This year 40 per cent of the field of Race to the Stones was female. Sorrell Walsh, the winner of last year’s women’s race, came second beating her 2014 time by 17 minutes at 10 hours, 20 minutes and 35 seconds.

Vassos Alexander, the BBC Radio sports presenter, completed the race in 11 hours, 49 minutes and 41 seconds before going on to take part in Jenson Button’s triathlon in Derby on Sunday afternoon and blogger Sophie Radcliffe completed the race in 13 hours and 18 seconds.

Rich Bailey is a 42-year-old spirits buyer from Marlborough who took up running to show his 11 year old son that he could achieve extraordinary things after he was diagnosed with a rare form of hereditary cancer in 1994.

Before the race he said: “Running is a big stress reliever. The operations I have been through can make long distance running difficult and I have to be careful what I eat. But I find that it helps me to feel in control of the disease rather than the disease controlling me.”