Manchester Marathon

11 April 2016 - By Tony Wallen

After heavy downpours and thunder on Saturday evening, runners were greeted with sunshine and blue skies on Sunday morning for the 40th Manchester marathon. Perfect conditions for some but for others, maybe a bit too warm having trained through the winter for a spring marathon.

Our club had four runners on the start line; sadly Rachel Crisp had to withdraw due an injury however it was great to see her (and hear her) in the crowd.

Due to issues over road closures, parking and baggage drop, many runners missed the 9am start including Dave Hunt. Not to be put off by this small hiccup, he had a fabulous run, bobbing and weaving through the runners and was the first Witham runner home in 3:24.41 He overtook 3,749 runners between 10k and the finish – talk about running a marathon the hard way!

Brigid was next in 3:40.01 – having briefly stopped at around 23 miles to assist another runner in a bit of bother. Hopefully the chap was ok to complete his run.

Clare Morrison managed to smash her pb even though her legs cramped up with just one mile to go. She was on all fours trying to release the cramp while someone was shouting at her to keep going. She literally couldn’t walk at that point yet recovered enough to cross the line in 4:08.38

Emma enjoyed the run – I saw her at one point and she was smiling and waving. Her marathon training paid off with an excellent 5:06.22

Apart from pre and post organisation issues – some runners had to wait for almost two hours to collect their baggage – the Mancunian support was fantastic.

Special thanks though must go to our own band of supporters: Tony, Mark, Vicky, Rachel and Scott. It was a real boost to be cheered on by you at different points on the course – you really helped us round.

Congratulations everyone – enjoy your R&R

 

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