This weekend saw one of the highlights of the running season for Ivanhoe Runners with 22 members making the trip down to the capital to participate in the London Marathon. With many team mates also travelling to offer support along the route the day was hugely successful for the club. Performance of the day came from the outstanding veteran Andy Jeyes who emulated Mo Farah by finishing an incredible 8th place in his age category, crossing in 3 hours 28 minutes, an outstanding time for the 66 year old in his 16th running of the event. First home for the club continuing his excellent season was Ramzi Sidani, just nipping under 3 hours in 2:59:41 ahead of Steve Baggott who was just outside his predicted time finishing in 3:07:42. Alistair Chambers had seen his training curtailed by injury yet still managed to finish in 3:17:27 ahead of Kev Wright who had a great run to come home just outside his personal best in 3:25:41. First Ivanhoe lady home with a storming run was Clare Fowell who finished just seconds outside the club record in 3:26:34, a huge new personal fastest time for her just ahead of Andy Jeyes. Bec Hallam was next posting another personal best time of 3:32:41 just in front of Ian Kirk enjoying his run and crossing in 3:34:41. Richard Bebbington ran the race painted from head to toe in purple as he raised money for the charity Wishes for Kids and had a great run to complete in 3:40:52. Next saw a brilliant marathon debut from Nick Lee-Smith who had also been injured in the run up to the race yet still managed the excellent time of 3:45:33. Ladies’ captain Laura Graves was next with yet another superb personal best performance finishing in 3:45:44, a time which saw her impressive 81st fastest in her age group. Laura was seconds ahead of Lynda Revill who had a fantastic run to finish 27th in her age group, setting a new personal fastest time of 3:45:51. Karen Bell was next and the last Ivanhoe Runner under 4 hours, crossing in 3:49:47. Unfortunately Karen was injured by a drunk driver as she made her way home from the event but is now recovering well at home. The day had much happier memories for Heather Swan - running on her birthday she smashed her previous personal best to finish in 4:06:42 just seconds ahead of Victoria Smith (4:06:44) who had a fantastic run in her first ever marathon. Carolyn Osborne and Emma Kirtland had both come back from recent injuries and despite finding the final stages hard going still managed to finish in great times, of 4:18:31 and 4:29:13 respectively. Esther Barsby and Kelly Finney were both running their first marathons and having trained together ran part way side by side before Esther edged in front to finish in 5:21:33 with Kelly not far behind in 5:37:24. Between them saw another runner setting a new personal fastest time, Ellen Charles finishing very strongly in 5:23:29. This was Brian Gough’s 18th London Marathon and, he says, possibly his last, but with an excellent run bringing him home in 5:50:06 despite being hit by a wheelchair competitor, it would be no surprise if he returned again next year. Completing the Ivanhoe team was Laura Harvey, finishing her first ever marathon in 6:17:08 to round off an excellent day for the club. Elsewhere this weekend Tim Sturla was the only Ivanhoe representative at the Caythorpe Canter, a challenging off-road marathon and he had a great race to finish in 7th place in 3 hours 48 minutes.