Racing

From the pen of Henry, comes his tale of a first ever Marathon… Having moaned, moped, grumbled and complained my way through the training for my first marathon, I was surprised to find myself looking forward to the race on Sunday. I’ve made no secret of my goal of sub 3hrs, and although this was always going to be a stretch, nothing in training had left me feeling it was impossible. The early morning rain had stopped by the time we got to Blackheath, but it was still a chilly 4-5C, cloudy, and with an occasional gust of an icy northerly wind. Great for running but not ideal for spectators or standing around waiting for the start. There are loads of toilets so queues weren’t bad at all. Just as well, because I made no less than 4 toilet visits before the start. I was rather bemused by the notices for female urinals. Obviously, I have no idea about such things, but I shall say this: I didn’t see anyone look desperate enough to use them. Joining me in pen 2 of the Blue start was Craig Taylor from Portobello, who I’d met on the Jog Leaders course last year, and Bella David Lockhart. We made a procession round to join up behind the championship and elite starts and I spotted fellow London Marathon Golden Ticket winner Hamish. Friendly faces really helped settle the nerves, and after handshakes with these guys and a countdown from astronaut Tim Peake, we were off. I’d expected streams of runners to go past me in the first mile or two, but the speed was dictated by the crowd who were only pushing each other, not the pace. I enjoyed a comfortable mile settling in, waving to Fiona and Danielle on the sidelines, and chatting to Hamish before he urged me to go on and I remembered I had a race to run. There was a bit of space on the pavement and I picked up the pace and caught up with Louise. Ever the coach, she checked I hadn’t done my usual and gone off too quickly. We then merged with the Green start runners alongside the 3hr pacer. I was high-fiving the kids, and enjoying the local shouts of “Well done ‘Enry” thinking that I’d better enjoy this all now as I’ll not be feeling like it 15 to 20 miles down the road. London’s an extrovert’s paradise, and the crowd support is worth several minutes to someone like me who energises on people. Down the hill we went, steel bands playing and a public address blaring out “Welcome to Woolwich”. Time for the first gel and I’m running comfortably and feeling confident. The next few miles, I’m trading places with the pace group and scrambling for water at the water stations. I see Al Maclachlan just up ahead at one point and am looking forward to one of his pearls of running wisdom, but when I look again he’s disappeared. Only later do I […]

With perfect running conditions, today’s London Marathon saw Kenyan Eliud Kipchoge run one of the fastest marathon runs of all time, setting a new course record of 2:03:04. In the ladies race an amazing recovery after a heavy fall saw fellow Kenyan Jemima Sumgon win in 02:22:58. It was also a quite remarkable day for Glasgow area marathon runners, with Kilbarchan AAC’s Callum and Derek Hawkins finishing 1st and 3rd of the British runners in the men’s race, and Shettleston Harrier’s Tsegai Tewelde finishing 2nd. Rio now beckons for Callum and Tsegai, and hopefully Derek too. Our own club had 25 club members taking on the course, and some fantastic performances ensued. Particular mention to our first gent home Russell Whittington (02:43:54), Henry Merriweather (03:03:33) and Louise Ross (03:15:31, also our first lady home), with fantastic debut marathon performances, and Shona Donnelly running a great PB of 03:23:41. Tomoyo Fujiwara – as she builds up to her Comrades race next month – ran a superb 03:30:20. Great to see Bryan Burnett getting a chance to take part this year, and trust you got a huge shout out on the finish line! Full results below. A huge thanks to all the family and friends who’ve supported our runners through the last few months of training, as well as out on the course today, or later this week when they need a hand getting up or down some stairs, and a huge congratulations to everybody who took part! Look forward to seeing you back at training soon: Enjoy the celebrations and recovery! photo from Virgin Money London Marathon media library.