14 Harriers at the London Marathon 2008

 

There were some excellent runs by 14 members of Wells City Harriers at the recent 2008 edition of the London Marathon. Top billing this year goes to Clare Martin who was still full of running as she came down the finishing straight of Birdcage Walk to record an impressive 2.51.08 for 31st position amongst the women. Clare could be seen on the live TV coverage as the elite men’s race leaders passed her with less than half a mile to go. Clare is also the reigning Welsh national XC Champion and was sporting her Welsh vest rather than her Wells vest at London.

 

Also on the elite women’s start again this year and running incredibly quick was Jenny Moore who clocked just 13 seconds over the 3 hour mark. This follows up last year’s run where Jenny was only 10 seconds faster – fantastic consistency. Jenny was 57th woman overall and a brilliant 6th in her age category. Jenny was last year’s recipient of the Club’s annual Marathon award.

 

First Harrier man home was Al Jones in 2.38.09 for 153rd place out of the total field of 30,000 runners. Al was 9 minutes quicker than last year. Next in for the men was Jon Gilling, a few minutes slower than last year with his 2.43.53 and slightly disappointed not to have broken the 2.40 barrier. Martin Bailey and Les Lock were next home in 3.24 and 3.25 respectively, with Martin the more pleased given that he had lost some training over the past 6 months due to injury. Karl Watts came home happy in 3.44, with Rod Appleby just four minutes behind, and a similar gap then back to Neil Jones (3.55) who continues in his quest to run 100 marathons.

 

Lucy Chard had a great run to finish well inside the 4 hour mark, in 3.54.25, taking almost 6 minutes off her time of last year and threatens to retire on the back of this time (no way Lucy…”one more year!”). Then came John Turley in 5.02, just ahead of Kay Franklin, 5.04, and 19th overall in her age category. Kim Sadd ran well at her Marathon debut with a 5.15 finish time, and stalwart Haydn Davis ran a good 5.22.

 

Well done to all for their great inspirational efforts and to those who raised lots of money for the various good causes. Come and join our marathon training group (otherwise known as the Sunday long run) in time for next year.