Devizes Hockey Club player Peter MacAnaw says there was no way he or his teammates were going to quit the Chicago Marathon despite the extreme weather.

Temperatures of up to 31 degrees and a humidity of over 90 per cent caused forced the pull out of several participants and made organisers send out a warning message to those remaining.

MacAnaw said that after months of hard work, it was the thought of all the money being raised for charity that spurred on the trio past the finishing line.

“It was hot, hot, hot is all I can say,” said MacAnaw “About nine to ten miles in the warning level went from moderate to high. They advised you to slow down and take in a lot more water.

“Some people around us went to walking pace or even stopped altogether.

“There was no way were going to quit though. We didn’t go all that way to pack it in half way through.”

The only adverse effect of the weather was the finishing times ended up being considerably slower than they had planned.

MacAnaw projected time of four hours slipped to 4hrs 53mins while his Devizes teammates Grant Humphries and Nick Paget went round in 5hrs 1min and 5hrs 37mins respectively.

Most importantly the trio predict they will have raised more than £3,500 for their chosen charities, which include Wiltshire’s Dorothy House Cancer Hospice.

“We paid for all our own flights and expenses relating to the trip,” said MacAnaw. “So all of the money donated went directly to charity.”

More than 1.5 million people lined the streets of Chicago to watch the event, although some of the runners enjoyed the day more than others.

“I really liked the challenge. Hopefully for me it’s the first of many although Nick said afterwards that will be his first and last,” said MacAnaw.