MORE than 2,000 walkers and runners made the Sarsen Trail and Neolithic Marathon a resounding success on Sunday.

The challenge is the main annual fundraising event of the Wiltshire Wildlife Trust. It was keen to maximise the amount raised this year, having lost more than £10,000 in expected income with the cancellation of last year's event because of the foot and mouth crisis.

More than 1,000 applications were swelled by almost as many last-minute entries, leading to long queues at the start of the event at Avebury, and the half-way point at Redhorn Hill, near Urchfont.

The winner of the Neolithic Marathon was Dennis Walmsley, from Nailsworth, Gloucestershire, the UK's 100km running champion. He used the event as a training run for the forthcoming 100km World Cup in Belgium. The women's race was won by Maddie Horton.

Walkers on the 26-mile route spanned all age groups. The youngest was ten-year-old Toby Ryan, from Kent, whose grandmother lives in Shrewton. He completed the full 26 miles.

He was walking with his father Timothy, born and raised in Shrewton, who underwent open-heart surgery two years ago at the age of 37.

Another who completed the trail was 78-year-old John Cowlard, from Calne, the oldest entrant who was completing his third Sarsen Trail.

Mr Cowlard trains for the event by doing a paper round. No stranger to marathons, he completed the London Marathon aged 64 and 66.

He said: "I love the Wiltshire countryside. One of the highlights for me was a wonderful field of cowslips close to the end of the walk."

Contenders for the most travelled entrants were a group of friends who met when they worked in Tashkent, Uzbekistan. Wearing distinctive Uzbek square hats called Tubadeks they ran the half marathon from Charlton Clumps to Stonehenge.

The only hiccup on the day was a double booking which had members of the Swindon and District Motorcycle Club guiding their trial bikes through the straggling line of walkers, runners and dogs.