North Herts Road Runners’ marathon marvels!

​12 squirrels were thrilled to be pounding the streets of London as the iconic London Marathon returned after a 2 ½ year absence due to Covid.  Off the championship start Matt Sayers set a new V45 club record of 2.39.24 finishing just 4 seconds ahead of V50 clubmate Mark Vaughan.  Sayers said, “It’s fantastic to be back at London, the atmosphere was electric and the support from clubmates around the course amazing.  Running a PB and automatic qualifying time for next year was the icing on the cake.” 
Vaughan’s debut marathon was simply sensational and resulted in a 9th place finish in the World Masters V50 competition with yet another club record.  Completing the hat trick of club records was V55 Nick Mapeli who stormed across the line in 2.55.33 closely followed by Stewart Overton, 2.57.21.  A cracking run from Natalie Lawrence saw her record an amazing 3.01.59 with Sophie Thrussell delighted with her 3.17.27 PB.  Anna Gibson was thrilled to finish in 4.06.46 and Steve Brenton bravely battled with cramps in the last 10 miles  to run 4.24 and raise an incredible £1362 for Headway Herts, NHRR’s charity of the year in 2020. 
Despite the temperature rising during the morning members starting off from later waves also ran superbly and recorded impressive tines: Sue Foot 4.39.30, Julie Toland 4.43.45, Lindsay Cook 4.59.43 and Andrew Porter, 5.20.06.  No less impressive were their fund arising efforts with driving instructor Julie raising over a thousand pounds for BRAKE, the road safety charity, and Lindsay Cook and Andrew Porter both supporting the Garden House Hospice Care, NHRR’s current club charity.  Lindsay was ecstatic to finish in under 5 hours and record her fastest marathon since 2008. Arnie Parmar finished in 5.07.04 raising money for Leonard Cheshire. 
At another iconic venue, Dorney Lake, the setting for the 2012 Olympic rowing, 3 squirrels also undertook the marathon distance. Despite the side winds making conditions challenging strong running saw Dave Braybrook finish in 3.51.49 followed by Cara Sutton, 4.26.52, and Saab Bharaj 5.14.25.
Vanessa Rolfe also mastered the 26.2 miles of the marathon with a 5.47.06 clocking in Belfast whilst Ali Mottram showed incredible determination to complete London virtually in 6.35.28.
On Saturday Dan Mallett took part in the Para10 at the Colchester Garrison.  With all entrants having to carry a 15kg rucksack Dan ran strongly to finish in 1.28.38.
Also on Saturday, North Herts Road Runners’ First Saturday of the Month 5km took place on Norton Common.  Matthew Ronayne scored a spectacular win in 19.06 whilst Katie Harbon was 1st lady across the line with her dog, Daisy.  Road Runners also organised a children’s fun run with all participants receiving a lovely wooden medal from the super squirrel at the finish.

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