Chiltern Harriers had 25 runners in this years 24th London Marathon, joining more than 33,000 others at the start in Greenwich Park, London last Sunday. A coach load of runners left Chesham at 6:00am on Sunday morning to be ready for the 9:30am start.
All had a good run, all enjoyed it and all agreed it was absolutely freezing. It was a cold, wet, windy day and the London Marathon, with its huge crowds, necessarily requires a lot of waiting around. Some people had to put their gear on the lorry well before the start time, leaving them shivering in their running clothes for almost half an hour. 'We froze' said Tony Sheldon who was at the 'Green Start' with a group of 'good for age' Chiltern running mates and also the 'celebrities' who were up the front. 'I had to get past Graham Gooch, Jeffrey Archer and Nell McAndrew before I could get going,' Tony Sheldon said. He finished in an excellent 3h:5m. 'Good for age' means the runner has finished in under 3h:15m for the men and 3h:45m for the women. This gives them a guaranteed entry into next years race.
The cold weather may also have been responsible for some cramp and a few strained muscles, including Heidi Folkard, who finished in 3h:52m and Dave Walker, who finished in 4hr:30m. Both were on target for faster times until cramp seized them and forced them to walk for a little way until it eased, then jog for as long as they could. This may have been due to the cold weather, especially at the start.
First of the Chiltern Harriers was Kingsley Nanton having an excellent race, finishing 710th and breaking the 3-hour barrier at 2h:54m, followed closely by Derek Brown, 868th in 2h:56m. Anna Lankester was first Chiltern woman, finishing in 3h:14m, finishing in 2506 place over-all and 197th woman. Cath Holloway was second woman in 3h:18m and Barbara Ralph was third in 3h:22m, which must have placed her well up in her women's over 50 category.
Some of the 25 were running the marathon for the first time, some, such as Derek Brown, had run it a number of times, and Dave Walker, as is well known in Chesham, has run every one of them since the first. Some were running for charity, some for the best time they could do on the day, and some just for fun. But all agreed it was a fantastic experience and a fine thing to be part of.
For those who didn't catch the results on the news. Both men's and women's winners were from Kenya. Evans Rutto won the men's race in 2h:06m:14s and Maria Okayo won the women's race in 2h:22m:33s. First Briton home was John Brown 2h:13m:56s and first British woman was Tracey Morris in 2h:33m:52s. Both will be going to Athens for the Olympic Games marathon.