THOUSANDS of blister patches, 750,000 water bottles and 40,000 apples at the finish line were just some of the things which helped get more than 30,000 people through the London Marathon – and Weston-super-Mare runners were out in force.

Sue Collard, from Worle, ran the gruelling 26 mile race with a group of 14 friends.

They were all raising money for the Bone Cancer Research Trust in memory of Sue’s daughter Mary, who died of the disease when she was just 11 years old in 2012.

Sue said: “It was a lovely day, everyone from Weston had a lovely day and enjoyed the marathon.”

Chris Richards, who runs Fairsave News Agents in High Street, Worle, also made it to the finish line of one of the world’s most famous races for the third time, after completing it in 2011 and 2012.

He was running to raise money for the Muscular Dystrophy Campaign.

Chris said: “I never wanted to run a marathon, I never even thought about it before 2011, ever.

“But running and fitness has made me a new man and on Sunday I ran my last one.”

He raised £1,700 for the charity this year, bringing his total throughout the years up to £4,000.

Paul Grinham, from Worle, took on the challenge for Weston Hospicecare.

Paul is no stranger to a challenge, he has run several marathons in the past but this year was the first time he got through the ballot process to complete the capital’s biggest race.

Joe James was inspired to take part in the event by recovery charity Addaction.

She decided to take on the challenge to celebrate being five years drug and alcohol-free by running for the charity, which she now works for.

Jeans Dransfield, aged 68, also ran the marathon, raising money for a defribrillator at Clarence Park Surgery where she works as a prescription clark.

Before she ran the race she had already raised close to £500 from patients and staff and Dr Maksimczyk and Dr Jansen, from the surgery, had agreed to match the donations.

Weston Hospicecare had nine runners take part in the race for them, raising a total of £19,000 between them.

Jeremy Newsome, aged 44, ran for the charity and said: “I’d recommend completing the London Marathon to anyone – you have to be committed and do the training but if you do, I don’t think there’s anyone out there who wouldn’t enjoy it.

Rachel Andrews, aged 43, from Weston also completed the race for Weston Hospicecare. She said: “Having been a volunteer at the Hospice for a number of years and seeing the great work they do, I wanted to use the opportunity of running in the London Marathon to raise much needed funds for them.

“The whole weekend was a fantastic experience.”

Did you take part in the race? Tweet us @WSMercury with your photos.