Come rain or shine, the London marathon never disappoints. As well as 20 runners grafting hard to make the start line, many more went down to line the streets in support.

Mark Parker displayed a much stronger finish compared to his Chicago run, giving him a new personal best in 2:43:26, grateful for the opportunity thanks to the club ballot. Paul Woods set a sensational 6 minute PB, his first sub 3 in 2:57:35, accompanied by Ramzi Sidani, shaking out the legs following his super Manchester run.

Lots were running their first 26.2 for the club, or debuting at the distance. A round of applause please for; Richard Hampson in an amazing 3:19:23, Frankie Boote in a Boston qualifying time of 3:26:55, Tom Ball breaking the tricky 4 hours in 3:55:20, Natalie Rowe returned to Ivanhoe and did great in 4:12:38, Sophie Lee running for the Rainbows charity in 4:58:28, & Katherine Kemp fundraising for the Alzheimer’s Society in 6:22:07

Louis Barnes found out he was successful in the ballot in the midst of an injury, but put all his incredible knowledge to use, and was awarded with an 11 minute PB. Mindy Ashton secured a sensational PB, raising money for Children with Cancer, completing the run in 3:52:15. And the biggest PB of them all came from Nancy Bennion who has raised money for Dementia UK improved on her previous time running 4:02:47.

Emily Wideman & Clare Wood added more miles to their beaten legs with impressive times of 3:43 and 3:46 respectively after their successes at Manchester & Boston. Andy Jeyes continues to inspire with an amazing run of 3:49:30, as does Richard Bebbington, our first back in fancy dress running as Mrs Brown raising money for Wishes for Kids.

Victoria Smith was our second winner of the club places and worked tirelessy through her training, rewarded with 4:09:15 at the finish. Chris Osborne (4:22:59) worked on both raising vital funds and running strong, his charity of choice being Children with Cancer, & finally to a very special lady, one that has rebranded herself as the Fizcopter; Congratulations Fiona Betts on your superb world record as the fastest female 3D aircraft in 4:33:32 whilst raising money for Air Ambulances.

Written by Emily Partridge - last updated on 29/04/2023