There were some fantastic performances at both the Mini-Marathon for juniors and the full 26.2 mile event. Emily Smith was best placed in the mini-marathon over 3 miles, with her 14th place in the u15 girls race, whilst Clare Prosser seemed to have coped best with the heat in the main event with her amazing 2.56.29.
Whilst the national headlines were being made by the new course record of 2.04.40 by Kenya's Emmanuel Mutai, the other 30,000 plus athletes coped as best as they could with the heat. Amongst this number were several Harriers.
First home was Clare Prosser with a great 2.56.29 which is pretty much her personal best ever. She looked relaxed and cool at the half way point, reached in 1.27.50 and proceeded to run the 2nd half within a whisker of the first half - that's some good pace judgement given the conditions. Clare won the Club's Best marathon performance award in 2010.
Just ahead of Clare at the half-way mark, going through in 1.27.04, was the Club's most experienced woman marathon runner, Jenny Moore, but a lack of consistent training and the heat saw her fade a little in the 2nd half to finish in 3.09.50: still an excellent time, and that places her in the top ten F45 at London. Jenny won the Club's best Veteran Woman award for 2010.
Running in her first ever Marathon, and taking a more cautious approach was junior kit manager Alice Knight. The excitement at the start line didn't get to her and in fact she managed to run the race within her limits as indicated by her achieving the coveted 'negative split' of running the 2nd half quicker than the 1st. Her split at half-way was 2.22.25 and her total time at finish was 4.43.49, meaning that she would have had the satisfaction of passing a number of athletes towards the end as folk start to 'blow up', tire and walk. At the 25 mile mark she was definitley still smiling. Alice has raised a good deal of money for the National Blind Childrens Charity.
The Harriers had two runners toeing the start line with the Club's allocated numbers and they both performed really well. Martin Bailey was first man in of the two with his excellent 3.23.39 disguising the fact that the heat certainly affected his pace in the 2nd half, after coming through half-way bang on his pace target with a 90 minute clocking. Martin undoubtedly can go closer to the 3 hour mark next time out.
Also affected by the heat was senior kit manager Jason Tuck with his 3.50.29, although he should be pleased to have 'toughed' it out to the finish given the conditions. Jason knows if he takes the long view that he can go faster next time in cooler conditions. Jason has raised some good money for Cancer Research.
From the Tuesday training group, running his first marathon, was new Harrier member Mike Brown who ran an excellent 4.25.31, having come through half-way in 2.13.35. Mike was running for two charities including the Alzheimer Society. Well done!
In the Mini-marathon races that started earlier in the day, before the sun reached his height, but still pretty hot, the 5 Harriers in the South-west region team took on the best road runners from across the UK on the final 3 miles of the full marathon course. The Club's junior girl athlete of 2010, Emily Smith, was the most experienced Harrier on this course and looked good as she raced up the Embankment before turning into Birdcage Walk. She finished in 14th place overall with a time of 17.53, with the winner back in 16.54. In the same u15 girls race was Isobel Glaisher who finished in 30th place, 18.37.
In the u15 boys race, the Club's top junior boy for 2010, Matthew Dickinson was 28th in 16.10, behind the winner in 15.09. Not far behind was Oliver Fox, 42nd in 16.23 who looked his usual composed self as he turned the corner by Big Ben.
Finally, in the u13 Boys race was Sam Sommerville who came home in 23rd place, 17.17, behind the winner in 16.09. This was great experience for Sam
All 5 juniors and 6 seniors should be really pleased with their efforts at London - that was some good running!
Official Report and results