The six LBAC runners who had entries in to the London Marathon all successfully negotiated the london transport network to make it down to Excel to register for the race which took place last Sunday. All 35,000 runners are expected to go down to the exhibition to collect their numbers and chips (electronic not potato) during the four days prior. All six were in pretty good spirits, although Simon Lathwell had been suffering with a bad cold a few days prior.

The day of the race saw everyone wake up to a clear warm day in London with a forecast that indicated a nice temperature at the start gradually getting warmer through the day. Pete, Craig and Amy all met up at the blue start, while Joe, Ian and Simon were all on red in Greenwich Park. As the race started the sun also began creeping through the clouds, but a great start by all the club members saw them through 10K looking really positive and all on course for their target times.

An hour into the race, the sun appeared properly and the water stations were swamped as everyone aimed to keep themselves cool and hydrated in the increasing heat. All six went past Ann Hirst at the 11 mile point in good spirits but then a few issues started! Amy was the only female representative on the day and felt great at 11 as she was on course for about 3.35 which was well under her expected time. However, one misplaced foot at 12 miles saw her crash to the ground with a painful ankle. A quick cold spray from a random in the crowd enabled her to get up and carry on at the same pace but unbelievably she managed to repeat the same trick at 14! This time however, there was no getting up and a very upset Amy and Andy spent the rest of the afternoon in hospital.

Meanwhile, the boys were all progressing nicely and Ian and Pete were having a private battle in their aim to get under 3 hours, but through 18 all looked okay……. if not great. At 19 Ian hit the first wall of his marathon running experience and Pete overtook him for the final time, despite not feeling as good as he had hoped. Craig, had got to 18 in good time, but felt tight chested all the way and suddenly he was unable to run anymore and 30-40K took 1:20. He eventually crossed the finish line in just under four hours after jogging and walking the last 8.

Marathon running is mostly down to experience and never was this emphasised than by Leighton two "old boys". Joe Hurley had done practically no training and Simon Lathwell had been ill all week, but both V50's ran perfectly paced races. Simon's second half of the race was 2 minutes slower than the first, despite the increasing temperature and Joe was the traditional ten minutes slower as they crossed the line just over a minute apart with Joe being slightly ahead with 3:22:38 and 3:23:52 respectively.

However, up in front of Joe and Simon Pete had already finished. For much of the race he was shaking his head at those supporting in indication of a bad run! This is all relative of course and whilst Pete's time was ten minutes outside his best the vast majority of people would be absolutely delighted with the 3:05:07 that he acheived, which is not only the club's leading time so far this year, but also qualifies him for next year's race, should he choose to do it.

The final running mention however, has to go to Ian Grimshaw. Ian was running for charity and has only taken up running with the club since September and had never done a road race before so he thought he'd start with a little one!! He was hoping for sub 3:15 and despite hitting the wall at 19, picked himself up and managed to run in the last few miles to complete the course in an excellent 3:09:08 which is a great debut performance and also qualifies him for next year, although it might be Lynn's turn!

Lastly, all the runners were extremely grateful for the very large squad of LBAC members and friends who made the trip to London to support the race. Whilst it was a bit warm for runners it was perfect spectating weather and everyone would agree that it is a great day out so if you haven't done it before, put the date in your diary now! There was one club record that was broken yesterday although Joe's 10 pints is unofficial as there are no rules set up as to strength of alcohol.