What another fantastic effort by all at the London Marathon? Whether running for charity, running for fitness or running for a time, everyone who took part at London has experienced the buzz, the tired legs and the amazing support. The Harriers had ten runners in total, including two running under numbers from our partner Club, Yeovil Olympiads. Berni Mundy, one of our founder members ran the very first London some 34 years ago and was back to give it a go and got round. There was a mixture of those making their debut at the 26.2 mile distance and those achieving personal bests on the day. Some may be disappointed with their time but they all made it.Well done all. Also marathon results from Boston, Brighton, Paris, Manchester & Rotterdam - what an international lot we are!
Tara Lintern, Rex Whitcombe, Hywel Thomas, and Michelle Blackmore used the Club’s four allocated London Marathon places, including one provided by Yeovil Olympiads (*). For Tara it was her debut at the distance, and also for Mike Rusca who has been training well with the Sunday group.
First home amongst the Harriers and achieving a pb was Neil Biss with his 2.59. almost an exact even split for the two halves. Next in was F55 from our sister Club, Yeovil, Jill Harrison in 3.20, and then the first of the debutants Tara Lintern with 3.28, who looks to have achieved an excllent 'negative split'; Mike Rusca was close behind with 3.30 in his first marathon; and then Steph Moss in 3.45, also at the first time of asking; with Steve Dickinson in 3.50 on his debut; Rex Whitcombe finished in 3.53 and Hywel Thomas in 3.54 (pb). Michelle Blackmore was an excellent 4.00 exactly; and then Berni managed to finish despite a very tough struggle over the closing stages in 5.38. Berni had been suffering from a bug and whilst running well for the first half, really struggled over the closing stages, but has raised good money for his chosen charity.
There are some very tired legs out there and we raise a glass to them and to all the other runners for their efforts!
In the first of the spring marathons we had five Harriers out competing earlier in April. Sam Baker came close to her 2013 pb when she clocked an impressive 3.34.05 for 2,704th position (173rd woman) at the Rotterdam Marathon on April 12th which we guess would have been pancake flat apart from the bridges over the canals. There would have been in excess of 10,000 at that race and Sam’s time means she will now get an automatic place in next years’ London.
Meanwhile Sharon Bowles, who has been helping to run the Harrier’s beginners group on a Wednesday eve, ran a great race at the Brighton Marathon on the same day – the second time she has been to race that event – finishing in 4.53.31 to be around mid-field in the 10,000 strong race.
Then on April 19th, Simon Carr achieved a great personal best when competing at the Manchester Marathon in a time of 3 hours 41 minutes. He felt the conditions were perfect:
“Manchester is a great city! Great running conditions as slightly overcast and not too much wind. Pretty flat and reasonably well supported.
I ran to get to 8:30 average pace and stuck to that or even 8:24 for quite a while.Tired a bit and had an enforced Paula Radcliffe type break at 22 miles which cost me a minute and a half. Other than that all went reasonably well and pleased with the time - a PB by about 16 mins.”
On the same day, but on another continent, and returning to Marathon mode. was Jon Gilling at the Boston Marathon where he ran a useful looking 2.57 on the net downhill course which is the "Daddy" of all marathons. And not to be outdone, flying the tricolour at the Paris Marathon was Damien Pick, achieving a huge pb of 3.01 (16 minutes quicker than before - all that Tuesday training pays off!).
LONDON MARATHON ENTRIES 2016
Open to all on Monday May 4th, and will close by Friday 8th - don't miss that window if you want to be in the main ballot. The Club will receive an allocation of three guaranteed places, possibly four, if Yeovil Olympiads our sister Club have a place and re-allocate it to us. To be included in the Club ballot which will take place in November 2015, you have to: a) be a fully paid up member of the Club by May 1st 2015 (the membership secretary has the list); b) have entered the main ballot between May 4th -8th, and to c) have been rejected in that main ballot and be able to prove it in November 2015. Good luck if you apply for this prestigious marathon.
If you are new to the Club, then look out for specific long distance training sessions to help you build up to a Marathon, and also make use of the knowledge of many of the coaches and fellow Harriers who have run a few marathons between them. We will be making our Marathon award - The Kevin Sheppard' Trophy at the Club Annual Awards after the AGM on May 20th.