FOUR members of Cardigan Running Club successfully completed the gruelling 56-mile Comrades Marathon in South Africa – and they ‘enjoyed’ it so much they are planning to do it again next year.

Heddwyn Evans led the quartet home as he completed his run in 8hrs 54mins 23secs, with Andrew Toft finishing in 10:45.42. Clive Evans was next home in 11:04.51 and Eurwyn Penlan Davies made it in 11:50.19, just inside the cut-off time of 12 hours.

The race, which attracts 20,000 runners from more than 60 countries each year, was first run in 1921 and was the idea of World War I veteran Vic Clapham, to commemorate the South African soldiers killed during the war.

Clapham, who had endured a 2,700-kilometre route march through sweltering German East Africa, wanted the memorial to be a unique test of the physical endurance of the entrants

“We knew it was going to be challenging but it was an amazing experience,” said Cardigan builder Clive Evans after completing the daunting run in the KwaZulu-Natal Province between the cities of Durban and Pietermaritzburg.

“When we were on the start line I had goose bumps and decided there and then, before the gun had even gone off, that I wanted to do it again next year.

“I had a problem with my calves at one stage, but a local woman massaged them for five minutes and I was able to get through.”

With temperatures topping 27 degrees centigrade, 4,000 runners failed to complete the course in the allotted time limit of 12 hours to give an indication of just how tough it was.

“This year was the ‘up run and next year it is the ‘down’ run and that’s meant to be even tougher but it’s something I definitely want to do,” added Clive, who recently raised £3,500 for Cardigan Cancer Care, Autism Pembrokeshire and Pembrokeshire Blind Society after a 39.1-mile run from Aberystwyth RFC to Cardigan RFC.