IT WAS a stark choice - run your first ever marathon and get a lift home or walk 15 miles back to West End.

Neil Webster had cycled from his West End home to Winchester to see his friend John McKenzie compete in the Clarendon Way Marathon. Unfortunately he suffered a puncture just as he arrived.

For 33-year-old Neil, a tanker driver who had never before competed in a marathon and who admits he is not exactly a keep fit fan, there was only one option.

"John suggested that if I ran the marathon he could give me a lift back home," said Neil.

"I had just cycled 15 miles and I was knackered when I arrived. But I had a puncture.

"John sorted me out with running kit five minutes before the race started by chucking me his spare trainers. I ran all the way and did it in five hours, 16 minutes and 47 seconds. When I crossed the line there were still people behind me."

Neil, of Torridge Gardens, West End, finished in 138th place out of 144 runners in the marathon, which started at Winchester College and finished more than 26 miles later at Wyvern College, Laverstock near Salisbury.

The Clarendon Way Marathon is described on its website as "mostly off-road, tough and challenging but possibly one of the most scenic races you'll ever enter". It was perhaps more suited to Neil's friend John, 48, a member of Southampton Running Club who finished in 53rd place.

Neil, a married father-of-two who works for BP in Hamble, said: "I'm just an average sort of guy and I have always been in awe of people who do marathons. I've always said I would do one at some stage in my life.

"I've been told you should run the London Marathon first because it's flat and on the road."

Personal trainer Owen Hedicker at the David Lloyd health club in Southampton said it was very rare for someone to just turn up and run their first marathon.

Owen, who has trained people from scratch to compete in half and full marathons, said: "He must have had some natural fitness.

"It's amazing. Most people can't run five or ten minutes down the road.

"It's almost unique for someone who does not train. For example, if you are running the London Marathon they give you a training schedule eight months before the race.

"The fact he was cycling suggests he has some fitness."

Neil added: "I did get a lift home from John in the end but I could hardly walk. I've had to take two days off work to recover.

"If I did it again I would do it for charity."