Stuart Moran vowed to learn from his mistakes after suffering in the heat at the London Marathon.

Moran finished as the top Sussex runner in 48th place but was on course to run far quicker than his time of 2hr.29min.11sec until being stopped in his tracks with seven miles to go.

The 32-year-old said: “I was bang on pace to run 2hr.22min until it all came unstuck after 19 miles. I came around a corner and my hamstring went into spasm which forced me to stop.

“I managed to massage it better but it went again after 24 miles and cost me a fair bit of time. It was hot and I don’t think I was dehydrated but I will learn from it and bounce back.

“I was disappointed with my time but it was my first marathon and I’ll definitely being doing another one.”

Dave Carter, of Phoenix, was the second Sussex runner home in 2hr.34min.35sec to also finish inside the top 100.

Julie Briggs flew the flag for Sussex in the women’s race as she just squeezed inside three hours. The Arena 80 veteran clocked 2hr.59min.19sec to finish 35th overall and sixth best over-40. Louise Vallier was 48th, and tenth over-40, in 3hr.1min.41sec.