A COMBINATION of pupils from Southend’s two High Schools ran Europe’s fastest ever continuous marathon.

Fifteen boys from High School for Boys and 15 pupils from the Girls school took part in the World Marathon Challenge – and wrote their name into the record books.

Their time of 1h 48m 43s, set at the Lee Valley Indoor Centre, was the fastest time ever recorded by a British and European School.

And it was within a minute of the world record of 1h 47m 55s set by the Kenyan school Meru Tharaka in 2012.

The challenge saw the mixture of Year 8 and 9 pupils running 200m legs in rotation to see how fast they could run the marathon distance.

Pupils from across the world take on the challenge over the same week with results being tracked on the internet.

More than 160 schools from across the globe took part with the combined Southend High squad finishing on top, more than five minutes ahead of their nearest challenger.