London Calling.

Club’s marathon record broken in London
 

More than 48,000 runners took part in this year’s TCS London Marathon, returning to its traditional April date for the first time since 2019.

Before the full marathon it was the Junior’s Mini Marathon on Saturday.

Unlike the full marathon, competitors have to qualify to take part in this event, unless they live in any of the London Boroughs.

This race has a wonderful pedigree, with the likes of Mo Farrah and Jake Wightman having competed in it as juniors and 25-year-old Emile Cairess, who finished 6th in the full marathon this year, competing in it as recently as 2015. 

All finishers experience the thrill of crossing the finish line on The Mall before receiving their medals.

The course is over 2.6k for school years 5-12 and we had 3 of our talented junior members competing for the West Midlands Team.

U17 Maisie-Joy Spriggs had taken part in this event previously and she should be well pleased to be the 5th finisher for the West Midlands team, a mere second behind the 4th placed finisher. Her time of 9.41 placed her 155th out of 410. 

For U13’s Arthur Williamson and Joel Ledgard this was their first experience of the event with both of them finishing in the top half of the field and 5th and 6th respectively for the West Midlands. Arthur was 190th out of 424 with a time of 9.14 and Joel was 200th in 9.30.

18 senior members of the club competed in the full marathon, half of who were attempting the distance for the first time.

Three members were able to compete having won their places in the club’s own draw. All  registered UK Athletic clubs are awarded places based on their size. To qualify for this draw, members have to show that they have tried to enter the marathon but been unsuccessful in the ballot.

First home for the club was new member Andy Lawrence in a superb new club record time of 2:37.00,  almost 2 minutes quicker than the previous record and 19 minutes quicker than his Manchester marathon time of jut 12 months ago.

Three other members were under the magical 3 hour mark. Dan Southam finished in 2:43.22, some 44 seconds quicker than his previous best marathon time in Boston last year. He also recorded a negative split.

Next to finish for the club was Seth Turner (2:57.52) just 4 seconds ahead of the club’s 4th placed runner Andy Cox (2:57.56) who was running his 8th London Marathon in 9 years. 

Next it was Ade Mason in (3:28.25)  followed by the club’s first lady finisher Kelly Milner (3:29.41) also running her first marathon. 

It was then the turn of another 3 first timers. Peter Sugden (3:29.46)  followed by our 2nd lady finisher Vicky Sharpe (3:39.23) who in turn was followed by Robin Langhorn (3:47.00). 

John Devine (3:54) has run the full marathon distance before but only as part of a triathlon. This was his first stand alone marathon. John was running to raise money for Cyclists Fighting Cancer. 

Another of the many first time marathon runners was Hannah Percy, running to raise money for The Schools Consent Project charity.  She followed her recent 1:50 in the Warwick half with a time of 4:03.08. Hannah was followed by another 7 of our lady members, starting with Sarah Odell (4:06.09) in her first marathon since 2018. She was running to raise money for the Rigby Cancer Unit who treated her father last year.

Sarah was followed by first timers Emily Carr (4:09.58), Emily Halderthay (4:15.12), Bev Brigden (4:39.37) and Rachel Swain (4:50.37). Bev was one of the 3 who were successful in the club’s draw.

Kate Sergent, competing in her 17th marathon, finished in a time of 5:02.55. She was 24th in her age category.

Kate and Sarah had a pleasant surprise after the race, when on their way back to their hotel they bumped in to Maureen Lipman who gave them £20 to donate to Sarah’s chosen charity.

Finally, just a few weeks after her Brighton Marathon run, Miranda Maloney, who was also successful in our club draw, finished in 5:55.07.

Joel Ledgard

‘I journeyed down to London on Friday afternoon with the rest of the West Midland team. We were staying in the ‘Mini Marathon’ Hotel with the other young athletes from all over the UK.

That evening, we were lucky enough to be treated to an interesting Q and A with Jake Wightman who gave lots of good racing and training tips along with some interesting facts.

On Saturday morning, I had a great time on a great course – the ground even felt quite bouncy at the start.

Overall it was a brilliant experience and I will definitely be attempting to qualify again.’

London was truly amazing.  Living up to its hype, with awesome crowd support and family support like no other and with so many SAC vests entered, it certainly added to the occasion seeing clubmates racing.  

My race was tough.  Hampered with injury throughout training, the race unravelled into a tale of two halves.  The injuries were thankfully kept at bay due to recent physio and rest but I faded in the second half, having had no real training in the last 5 weeks. 

I was on for another sub 3hrs at the halfway point and felt really fast and fresh for the first 12 miles but I knew deep down I’d never hold it. 

I dialled the pace back sensibly for the second half as my legs fatigued to ensure I finished and collected the awesome medal.  

Painful cramping kicked in during the last 6 miles but happy that the injuries didn’t flare up and it was just down to stamina. 

I ‘ran out of puff’ and the legs didn’t have the training strength they needed.  

I was very happy with my finish time of 03:28:25, considering I could well have not finished or even started.  

I made the very best of the situation and really enjoyed the whole weekend. 

Incredible London with an incredible atmosphere.

Nerves, doubt, worry… despite following my 16 week training plan fairly well and achieving my longest runs to date, plus a better than expected time at Ashby 20 a month ago, I arrived in London on Saturday with crippling self-doubt and a general lack of confidence for my first ever marathon. 

I took the trip to the ExCel to collect my number on Saturday afternoon.  It was there.  I really was running a marathon the next day. 

I then took the tube back to central London and carried out a recce of Horse Guards Parade to check where to meet friends and family afterwards. 

I bumped into Robin Langhorn and his wife there.  It was great to see a familiar face to help settle some nerves.  Then, back to my hotel and more pasta.

I was relieved to wake Sunday morning to find it wasn’t raining.  I forced down some porridge, then made my way to London Bridge station to catch the train to Blackheath.  I began to get a sense of the scale of the event seeing the masses of runners piling on to the train and then spilling back out once at Blackheath.

Once in the starting area with about an hour to wait for my start time I decided to join one of the many lengthy queues for the toilet.  I didn’t really need to go but decided it would kill some time and by the time I reached the front of the long snaking queue I probably would need to go. 

It was then it started to rain. I was very glad of the plastic poncho I had.

With 10 mins to go, we were called to our wave gate, number 4 for me, where I waited nervously, glad of the warmth radiating from several hundred people crowded closely together.  Then the gate was opened and we were making our way to the start line, first at a walk, then at a jog, and by the time we crossed the start line at marathon pace, or slightly quicker.

A ginger bread man ran passed me. I caught up with and passed a man dressed as a star. I felt great.  I’d decided I was going to target 3:15-3:20, rather than the 3.5 hours I forced myself to believe was possible before I began my training in the first week of 2023. 

Shortly after the convergence of all the different starting points just before 3 miles I felt a tap on my back.  It was Vicky Sharpe, beaming as usual.  We realised our paces weren’t going to be matched today, so we wished each other luck and I carried on at my marathon pace, or slightly quicker.

It was chucking it down as we ran from Woolwich to Greenwich.  It didn’t matter.  It was cooling without being chilling.  The weather certainly hadn’t deterred the crowds lining the route. 

Thank you Hannah Osborne and MJ for being there and shouting support.  Thank you Cindy Brittain and Annie Threadgill.  Thank you whoever knew me and shouted my name at about the halfway mark.  Thank you anyone else who shouted out but I missed you in the cacophony of the roaring support. 

I passed numerous amazing runners in costumes; a man carrying a surfboard; one of the famous Rhino suits; a lady in wellington boots; a man running barefoot; a man wearing crocs!!!  There were bands and choirs and drummers.  It was everything I’d hoped London Marathon would be.

I completed 10 miles in 75 mins.  I eased off slightly.  I didn’t need to go this pace.  3 hours 20 mins would be fantastic.  I was feeling good for the next hour, ticking off the miles at 7:40 pace.  Then, it all started to feel quite hard.  I reached 20 miles in 2 hours 34 mins, two minutes outside of my Ashby 20 time.  I now needed to run a steady 10k.

At 22 miles I developed a debilitating stitch.  One that stops you in your tracks.  I walked for a bit, letting out some huge breaths to try to expunge some of the lactic acid build up.  It worked.  I was going again but the stitch was symptomatic of the fact that my early pace had truly caught up with me.  There was little left in my legs. 

Time was no longer the priority, finishing now was.  It was all I could do to jog for the last four miles.  Mr Star went passed me. The Minion I’d been catching was pulling away.  3.5 hours was beginning to look a tall order.  I plodded on.  The embankment went on forever.

Eventually, we turned right up Birdcage Walk, then right again into The Mall.  I was going to finish.  Not only did I finish, but within 3.5 hours, in a time of 3:29:46. 

Ignore the detail – a perfectly executed 3.5 hour marathon, at marathon pace, or a bit quicker.

A truly amazing day!  Thank you everyone who was there supporting.  Well done to all Stratford runners who ran London Marathon 2023.