SEASONED Stourbridge marathon runner Daniel Harris has celebrated winning his first-ever 26-miler.

Daniel Harris won this year’s Charles Darwin Day Marathon in Shrewsbury, which is held in commemoration of the famous naturalist, geologist and biologist who was born in Shrewsbury.

The event, held at Shrewsbury Sports Village on February 9, involves running 43.5 laps of a tarmac loop to compete the 26.2-mile marathon course.

Organised by How Hard Can It Be Events - it saw around 120 people, comprised of 10k runners, half-marathoners and full marathon runners, take part.

Daniel, aged 52, has completed more than 30 marathons but he was overjoyed to finally win one – crossing the finish line with an impressive Boston Marathon qualifying time of three hours and 13 minutes.

He said: “I've been training for about 16 weeks for this marathon, but really didn't think I had the legs to win it. At about half-way through the race I was in second place, but I was able to pull it back to win!”

Daniel has completed the tough Boston Marathon twice; he’s also run the Chicago, New York and London Marathons plus the 250-mile Cape Wrath Ultra in the Scottish Highlands over eight days and a gruelling 106-miler in 24 hours.

He told the News: “I'm still applying to Berlin and Tokyo, but no luck yet.”