BATTLING through a monsoon to star for Britain in the greatest race of his life has brought York marathon runner Darran Bilton to international notice.

He got back home this week from his gruelling performance in the Hong Kong Marathon last Sunday to find invitations from Berlin and Toronto to run in their marathons.

Bilton finished 26th out of 4,600 runners in Hong Kong, but more importantly came third in the Standard Chartered Bank Nations Challenge charity global marathon series to clinch fourth place for Britain. His time of 2hr 32min 25sec was only just outside his target of 2-30.

His performance also saw the UK win the European Championship in the Continents' Championship section of the series.

"It was the toughest race, not just the toughest marathon, I have ever run," he said. "I took everything out of myself I could.

"It was a really hilly course and at halfway we were hit by a monsoon and had to do the second 13 miles running against a strong wind and facing sideways into torrential rain. In these circumstances to be only 2min 25sec over my target was not bad.

"It was wearing the GB vest which kept me going, or I'm sure I'd have given up. Wearing my country's badge I'd have crawled on my knees to the finish if I'd had to.

"The UK team target in the series was to finish in the top eight and to be fourth is a brilliant achievement against great runners from countries like Kenya and Zimbabwe."

He had intended to take a few weeks off from running after that superhuman effort, but said: "I feel so energised by the Hong Kong result that I think I need to run it out of my legs so I might go jogging for a couple of weeks.

"Then I will get back to serious training. I'm going to do an open marathon next and I've had invitations from Berlin and Toronto, who have their events in September. I haven't decided yet which one to accept."

"I am so proud that I helped the UK win the European title," he added. "The four marathons in the series were so tough that no other European team completed all four. It shows how strong we are in this country."

Bilton was chosen by UK Athletics to make his international debut in the Hong Kong final leg of the four races, the others being in different countries.

Updated: 10:06 Friday, March 04, 2005