COTSWOLD athlete Steve Edwards ticked off another world record when he became the first person ever to run 400 official marathon races in under 3hr 20min.

Edwards, from Moreton-in-Marsh, set the landmark figure in the Hereford Marathon on Sunday. when he crossed the line in fourth place in a time of 3:17.21.

It also happened to be the 650th marathon of his illustrious career.

It was exactly a year ago to the day that Steve ran his 600th marathon, so his last 50 marathons have come at a rate of almost one a week.

The Bourton Roadrunner is renowned for his consistency in the world of extreme multi-marathon running and his average finish time for all 650 marathons is a world's best 3:18.

He also shows no sign of stopping any time soon.

Edwards said: "The last year has been harder than ever.

"In 2012, I achieved what I thought was my ultimate lifetime challenge to become the first person in the world to run 500 sub-3:30s.

"Then last year I carried on to take my overall marathon total to 600, but then I thought 'what about 400 sub-3:20s'?

"This has meant continuing with a twice-daily training schedule to maintain the fitness required to run those kind of times.

"It's not only physically demanding but trying to stay focused week in week out, month after month, really has tested me mentally.

"I do have a very loving and supportive wife, Teresa, who has been with me for the majority of this journey which started in 1988 and I know that without her support I couldn't have achieved all that I have."

Steve's next big landmark could be 700 marathons but he's also only 15 away from 300 sub-3:15s.

"However, I'm nearly 52 years old, and running those sort of times will become ever more difficult with the number of running years and miles now starting to take their toll," he said.

"But on the distant horizon there's the possibility of completing 1,000 marathons in the fastest average finish time – now wouldn't that be something."