ARRIVING at the finish line with broad smiles on their faces, today’s half marathon runners gave themselves a well-deserved pat on the back.

But 44-year-old Nick Hitchings didn’t stop running – he had to get back to the start for the marathon.

Jumping in a taxi and then sprinting the last mile, he made it back in time to join the legions of runners ready to start the epic challenge.

And Nick had a good excuse to stop before he even laced up his trainers on Sunday morning.

The previous day, the Worcester man had run both the 5k and 10k events at the Bournemouth Marathon Festival.

He said: “I did both the races yesterday, and then I did the half this morning and after it was done I had to whizz to the taxi rank to start again.

“The taxi couldn’t get close to the start, so I had to run the last mile. I’ve been running for around seven hours today.”

Nick decided to run the 48.6 miles for charity Leukaemia and Lymphoma Research after his mum was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma.

Fortunately, she is now in remission.

“It’s a pretty big challenge but nothing compared to what my mum has been through,” he said.

“It was very tough. The worst bit was 12 miles into the full marathon, when I really started to struggle.”

Despite the gruelling day, Nick is confident he’ll return for next year’s event.

He said: “I probably wouldn’t do the half marathon and marathon together again, but I could definitely do the 5k and 10k events.

“I thought it was a great event and I really enjoyed it.”

To donate, visit Justgiving.com/nick-hitchings-challenge40