BRIDPORT Runners' Ben Renshaw finished third in the III Internacional Maratón Santa Cruz de Tenerife.

Renshaw crossed the finish line in a time of two hours, 57 minutes and seven seconds behind winner and local hero Miguel Angel Vaquero Agama and runner-up Alejandro García Torres.

In the high-class field of 166 competitors, Renshaw fought his way to the podium despite nearly pulling out after six miles.

The place on the podium marks his best position in a marathon race and his first international triumph, so far.

He started in the London Marathon in the previous three years, in the Berlin Marathon 2014 and the Bournemouth Marathon Festival 2013, his first long-distance race.

Renshaw said after the race: “I was very pleased with the times even though I was a bit slow, but the first lap was so hot, I nearly pulled out at six miles.

"So I changed my race plan and pulled back one minute per mile and sat there for a while.

"Then the temperature dropped, and I managed to claw back into overtaking into third place a mile before the finish.”

Renshaw wasn’t the only athlete from Bridport in Tenerife – a team of four Bridport Runners had travelled to Tenerife on Thursday for the race.

Together with Ben, Kazy Vincent-Janes and Adam Slater started in the marathon while Anthony Bird took on the half-marathon among 618

other competitors.

All the Bridport Runners did very well. Slater finished as second Bridport Runner and 13th overall in the marathon in a time of 3:18:56, while Vincent-Janes completed the race in 4:07:08.

Bird, for whom it was his first half-marathon race ever, came in at 2:42:55.