London Marathon April 13th 2008

Tad Zaranko

The infamous London Marathon took place on Sunday 13th April and several Richmond and Zetland Harriers were on the start line, all with target times in their minds, as they covered the 26.2 miles across central London, from Greenwich Park to The Mall. Three ladies were on the elite start at 9.00am, 45 minutes prior to the mass start and second-claim member Andrea Woodvine had a fantastic first ever marathon, running a breath-taking race to finish in 2.45.49 and 20th woman overall, which clearly shows she is a certain talent to be watched in future over the distance and must be justly thrilled with her incredible performance. Also well under the 3 hour mark were Tamsin Clark and Kelley Haniver, who also had outstanding races on the day, with Tamsin clearly seen running down The Mall in the finishing straight on television to register 2.54.02, while Kelley was elated to run comfortably under her target time and finish incredibly strongly in 2.58.51, so congratulations to all.

Shaun Purkiss and Tad Zaranko (who was also running his first ever marathon) managed to meet up after the first couple of miles, despite being at separate starts and ran the remainder of the course together, feeling comfortable all the way around and finishing in 2.49.20 and 2.49.24 respectively. This put them in 450th and 454th places overall and guarantees both “Good For Age” starts in the 2009 race, should they wish to take part, with Tad sealing a triumphant first over the 26.2 mile distance. Further down the field, Sarah Gregory was working hard and managed to run a negative split, completing the second half of the race faster than the first, confirming that the long runs during training were paying off this time around. She crossed the line in a new Personal Best of 3.36.14 and within the top 605 women, which was pleasing, but felt that a better first 11 miles would have seen her run closer to 3.30. This time ensures that she will have a qualifying time for next year and in the mean time has decided to have another go at the marathon distance in Edinburgh in six weeks time on 25th May.

Next home was Jack Baldwin, another making his debut over the marathon distance, who had a great race day experience, despite being a little disappointed to have slowed in the later miles and finish slightly down on his target time, he ran a solid and respectable time of 4.05.01. This places him firmly inside the top 11,000 competitors; a real achievement and a good base to build from.

Ian Hepworth chose not to run as the popular Fred Flintstone this year, but don the red and white club vest instead and fly the club colours. A true veteran of many marathons, he completed the 26.2 miles in 4.11.55, giving him a great position as 191st finisher in his M60 age group. He managed to do this on a curtailed training schedule due to previous knee injuries and shows his experience over the distance well and truly paid off.