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Swansea Harrier Josh Griffiths was the first British athlete home at the London Marathon 2017.

Griffiths, from Ammanford, making his marathon debut, recorded a time of 2:14.49, beating Robbie Simpson's 2:15.04 into second place.

In doing so Griffiths sealed the qualifying time for the World Championships.

What made the achievement even more impressive was the fact Griffiths was competing at club level - and was not among the elite runners.

He finished 13th overall.

The sports coaching student, who ran the Llanelli Half Marathon last month, said to the BBC: “My first marathon today, I never even considered a British place, it was always to qualify for Commonwealth Games for Wales.

“I thought with the Commonwealth Games I’d give the marathon a shot. I never considered the World Champs until I crossed the line.”

The Harrier added that he was still in shock when interviewed post-race.

“I wasn't expecting this. This is all very new to me. The goal for me today was to try and qualify for the Commonwealth Games team for Wales," he told getwestlondon.co.uk

“I was hoping to run under 2:16 but I knew it would be a big ask as it's my first marathon but I thought I'd give it a go.

“It felt great all the way round. The crowd really helped carry me around and I was passing people. I still can't quite believe it.”

Griffiths paid tribute to the Harriers in terms of development of talent, and paid tribute to clubmate Matthew Rees, who sportingly helped a fellow runner over the finish line on The Mall.

“It's a club on the up. They've just won the national road relays. They've got some really good runners and Matt is one of them.”

Griffiths added he can't wait to start his preparations for the World Championships.

“We'll have to plan and train for that. It wasn't on my radar at all but it's not something you can turn down and I can't wait to get started. I don't want to get too carried away when it comes to medal hopes.

"I love the challenge. I started doing it when I was about 13, 14 running with school. I joined a local club and every year I've progressed slightly.”

Daniel Wanjiru won his first London Marathon title after coming home in a time of 2:05:48 seconds.

The Kenyan won the race just five seconds ahead of his fellow countryman, and overwhelming favourite for victory, Kenenisa Bekele.

Bekele holds the 5,000 metres and 10,000 metres world records as well as eight Olympic and world titles.