A HOST of Benfleet Running Club members have been put through their paces in a number of long distance events.

Mark Cowan chose to travel across the Atlantic Ocean and compete in the Chicago Marathon.

Cowan completed the course in four hours and 28 minutes.

Ann Reed decided to stay closer to home as she participated in the Bournemouth Marathon.

Reed crossed the finish line after five hours and 23 minutes.

However, other Benfleet representatives were not content with completing 26.2 miles.

Steve Kjar was involved in the Snowdon Ultra-Marathon, which saw him complete 32 miles.

Kjar climbed close to 12,000 feet as he made his way through Snowdonia National Park and to the summit of Mount Snowdon.

The event attracted 50 participants and Kjar’s time of 10 hours and 31 minutes was enough to take 33rd spot.

Lee Baynton competed in the Tour De Tirol, which involved three days of climbing the lofty Wilder Kaiser Mountains.

Baynton finished 12th overall and third in his age group thanks to his time of seven hours and six minutes.

The Tour De Tirol consisted of running close to 75km and climbing more than 3,800m.

Meanwhile, Pete Stalley, Tom Byrne, Graham Booty and Mark Smith were tested in the Ironman event held in Barcelona.

The contest involved a 3.8km sea swim, 180km bike ride and 42km run.

Booty was the first member to complete the gruelling race as he clocked 10 hours, 20 minutes and 57 seconds despite a puncture on the bike. He then notched an impressive marathon time of three hours and 30 minutes.

Stalley, in only his second ever triathlon, smashed his sub 12 hour goal by crossing the finish line after 10 hours, 52 minutes and 14 seconds.

Smith hit his aggressive sub 12 hour target time, coming home in 11 hours, 56 minutes and 53 seconds.

Byrne, completing his second Ironman event in four weeks, came in with a personal best of 11 hours, 58 minutes and 11 seconds.