Created by : Tom Shaw On : Mon, 04/22/2024 - 11:27
Posted in : Road Running
On Sunday saw a ten Harriers take on Englands premier running event as the London Marathon took place in the nations capital! Nearly 55,000 runners took on the famous route starting out from Greenwich park before looping around to the Cutty Sark, memorable moments as cross the tower bridge before a loop out and back to the Isle of Dogs before down the embankment to finish. A cool breeze made a nervous start but runners soon settled in their stride as the sun shone in some superb conditions for tackling the course and with Harriers taking on their first, their fastest or just their favourite marathon it was a great day for the green and black!
Out of championship start Tom Shaw collected his 6th London Marathon Medal having faced a late rush for fitness to get to the start line to run 2:40:59 whilst also joining Tom in the sub-3 camp and an excellently paced run saw Adrian Hopkinson bag a marathon PB in 2:55:21 and club Silver Standard. Sticking with the men and PB’s, a fantastic winter of training and races was rounded off for Chris Johnson as he rocked out a huge PB to run 3:17:47 followed shortly by another big PB of 13 minutes and a gutsy last couple miles saw Paul Parry run 3:24:43. Biggest Men’s PB of the day however belongs to Peter Spencer knocking a simply massive 40 minutes off previous times to 3:51:08
It wasn’t just the men having a great day out either as our ladies went from both the GFA pens and the many first timers. Cathy Mhembere ran a super strong pace to take on the recently revised GFA requirements with a fantastic effort to be our First Lady home in 3:56:32, whilst two of our first time ladies nearly crossed the finish line together on the mall having started a few minutes apart. Jo Campbell took on her first marathon to make a superb account of herself in 4:31:54 with Sally Bulmer this year securing the club place and doing the club honours following a dedicated winters training to run 4:34:45. Next in Julie Wragg took on the marathon on her return to fitness as she 5:21:14. Last but no means least saw Sarah Cherry swap roles with Bryan having stood the spectator side last year, it was her turn to make her Marathon debut this year as Sarah made a fantastic run from months of dedicated training to run 5:37:33
