BARRY Shackleton of Darwen Dashers has won the 23rd Bahrain International Marathon.

Barry broke the tape in a time of 2:57:30 with Rossendale Harrier Tony Spicer not too far behind, coming home in second space in 3:06.

With the experience of nine previous outings in the event, Barry realised the importance of conserving energy for the latter stages, and that tactic proved crucial.

A 6am start protected the athletes from the worst of the heat, but the temperatures soon climbed to 28C on what turned out to be the hottest day of the year so far.

Shackleton and Spicer ran the first 18K together, until Tony lost 20 metres at a water station.

Barry pushed on to reach halfway in 1:30:25, but aware that the race had always been won in under three hours he didn't want to break the sequence.

He stepped up the pace in the second half and his last 10K was his fastest logging 4 mins / km between 34-40 km before coasting home in the last 2K.

Barry has been working in Bahrain since early 1992 as an electrical engineer for Texaco, but he ran his first Bahrain Marathon in 1986 during a one year contract with ICI.

That year Ron Hill set a record 2:24 which still stands.

The running season out there really starts in November, as the temperatures reach 20F earlier in the year.

Even their winter is like a hot summer here and for long training runs water bottles have to be put out along the course.

This season, at the age of 43, Barry has had his best ever year.

He has lost weight, and introduced early morning runs into his training regime.

Before Christmas he won the Cross Island Race, a 16 mile long coast to coast event over mixed terrain including sand, rock, desert, mountain and tarmac.

After that experience it seems ironic that he should stray off course in last Sunday's half marathon at Oldham!

Tony, from Accrington, left for Bahrain in August 1999 to take up a lecturing post, initially for a year. The men regularly train together with a group of ex-pats.