"Bananas" was the cry most often heard as the runners ran towards these two happy marshals . .

. . and a little further down the trail, the feed station was ready . .

. . and everything was ready and waiting at the finish area . .

. . Kirsty had run 5 other marathons in the 5 preceding weeks . . raising money for a children's charity . . and her supporters were ready for her arrival at the finish . .

. . baggage was waiting . . goody bags, medals and more food was all there . .

. . we just needed some runners . .

. . some waited more patiently than others . .

. . but before we knew it, runners were coming through thick and fast . .

. . the third placed man, Matthew, receives his award from the Mayor of Richmond, Councillor Clare Head . . who then gets tangled up with all those medals . . I also took photos of Ben and David, the first two men to finish, but although I didn't know it at the time, the camera I was using at the time wasn't working properly . . apologies to them and to the race organisers for losing those particular moments . .

. . Samantha, Helen and Martha were the first 3 women to finish (here receving their awards in reverse order) and again, the camera was misbehaving and the quality of these photos is poor . .  . .

. . Janet ran her 200th marathon . .which was cause for much congratulation and cake . .

. . and after a brief presentation, and a 100 Club photo . . a brief rest . .

. . it's always great to see the variety of ways runners react to finishing their marathons . .  . .

. . some are thrilled to bits, others anxious as they wait for others to finish . . and some just need to get the weight off their feet . .

. . curious about what's in the goody bag . . still waiting . . and feel that pain!

. . Ealing Eagles made sure they got their team photo once all their runners had finished . .

. . and what a great feeling it is to have finished . .

. . whilst Sharon and Ali were on hand to help ease some of the knots out of those tired muscles . .

. . after over 6 hours in the Park the marshals were still cheerful . .

. . and when Gareth led the final runner in to the finish, we knew we could start to clear up and find our own ways home . .