GUTSY Penn Hill running ace Steven Way finished the London Marathon with a suspected broken leg.

Despite the pain, the Bournemouth Athletic Club star showed true grit to finish an impressive 28th from a field of 35,000.

He was the fastest man from the south west clubs and the 13th British male finisher.

His time, 2:25:00 dead, was just one second from his target for the day, but still skimmed 10 minutes off his personal best.

Steven, who is recovering at his Poole home, told the Daily Echo: “I cannot walk at the moment, but I’m sure it will be OK in a few days.”

He’s nursing a suspected stress fracture of his left leg, which collapsed under him shortly after finishing Sunday’s race.

Steven explained: “I had an injury scare a few weeks ago and was actually running with a minor hamstring strain which slowed me down a little in the second half of the marathon.

“It also caused me to have to spend two hours in the medical tent at the finish after my left leg collapsed on me as I came to a stop.”

The 34-year-old IT worker’s achievement is all the more significant as 18 months ago he was smoking 20 cigarettes a day and his weight tipped 15 stone.He only started training to get in shape and 12 months later crossed the finish line of the New York marathon as the fastest British male. Steven will concentrate on shorter races the rest of this year, but is aiming for a sub 2:20:00 at the 2010 marathon.