2014
Harriers have a successful day at London Marathon. Here's Ruth Jones' report.
London Marathon
13/04/2014
Nene Valley Harriers’ Paul Lunn had the race of his life on Sunday (Apr 13) when he finished first for the club in the London Marathon in a huge personal best (PB) time of 2:37.57, placing him in the top 20 in his M40-44 age category. More than 40,000 athletes from all over the world flocked to the capital to test their mettle on the winding streets of London. Many of them were charity ‘fun runners’ battling through the pain of the 26.2m distance to raise money for good causes, but thousands of club runners had their own personal battles to win against the clock.
Considering running isn’t even Lunn’s main sport, his near-6 minute PB represents a huge achievement for the GB age group triathlete. Fellow triathlete and Harrier Tracy McCartney also had a superb debut marathon, finishing just outside the top 100 women in 110th place, and 88th in the 18-39 category, in 3:05.06. She will now turn her attention towards training for the GB European Triathlon Championships in Kitzbuhel in just two months’ time.
Experienced M45 runner and postman, Sean Beard, was also running the distance for the first time, and didn’t disappoint his supporting club mates lining the course when he crossed the line in 2:56.38, a time which placed him 120th in his age category.
Michael Moore ran the race as a long training run, but still managed to also place 120th in his age category of M40-44 with a time of 2:50.56. Lance Hemmings and Olly Slater finished just over the three hour mark with times of 3:01.33 and 3:03.06 respectively, Hemmings’ time representing a huge 9 minute PB for the Peterborough window cleaner.
M50 Barry Warne battled through illness to valiantly finish his 14th marathon in 3:17.37. Warne has a PB of 3:07.56 from the Blackpool marathon two years ago, a time which placed him 153rd in his age category in the country in 2012.
STAMFORD Striders also had a strong contingency of athletes competing in London, with M45 veteran Jim Morris heading his club mates with a time of 2:49.47. Alan Hayes was next in for the Striders in 3:04.15, closely followed by Simon Fell in 3:04.47. The other Striders results were; Steve Parker, 3:16.19, Nick Greenwood, 3:23.26, Brian Kearsey, 3:30.45, Viv Middlebrook, 3:33.04, Vicky Old, 3:35.44, Richard Skidmore, 3:38.25, David Spooner, 4:20.13, Simon Needham, 4:30.06, Mike Freeman, 5:16.29.
Ruth Jones
Considering running isn’t even Lunn’s main sport, his near-6 minute PB represents a huge achievement for the GB age group triathlete. Fellow triathlete and Harrier Tracy McCartney also had a superb debut marathon, finishing just outside the top 100 women in 110th place, and 88th in the 18-39 category, in 3:05.06. She will now turn her attention towards training for the GB European Triathlon Championships in Kitzbuhel in just two months’ time.
Experienced M45 runner and postman, Sean Beard, was also running the distance for the first time, and didn’t disappoint his supporting club mates lining the course when he crossed the line in 2:56.38, a time which placed him 120th in his age category.
Michael Moore ran the race as a long training run, but still managed to also place 120th in his age category of M40-44 with a time of 2:50.56. Lance Hemmings and Olly Slater finished just over the three hour mark with times of 3:01.33 and 3:03.06 respectively, Hemmings’ time representing a huge 9 minute PB for the Peterborough window cleaner.
M50 Barry Warne battled through illness to valiantly finish his 14th marathon in 3:17.37. Warne has a PB of 3:07.56 from the Blackpool marathon two years ago, a time which placed him 153rd in his age category in the country in 2012.
STAMFORD Striders also had a strong contingency of athletes competing in London, with M45 veteran Jim Morris heading his club mates with a time of 2:49.47. Alan Hayes was next in for the Striders in 3:04.15, closely followed by Simon Fell in 3:04.47. The other Striders results were; Steve Parker, 3:16.19, Nick Greenwood, 3:23.26, Brian Kearsey, 3:30.45, Viv Middlebrook, 3:33.04, Vicky Old, 3:35.44, Richard Skidmore, 3:38.25, David Spooner, 4:20.13, Simon Needham, 4:30.06, Mike Freeman, 5:16.29.
Ruth Jones