19 April 2010

Springfield Striders got into marathon mood this week with their final preparations for the London on Sunday.

Sue Clarke broke her own club over 45 record with a sparkling 44.20 at the Newham 10km just beating her club mate Lynn Tanner. They were first and second in their category. Rob Mills prepared for next week with a personal best 37.58. John Clarke, Tom and Helen Thompson and Pippa Shellard also featured.

Six Striders who were unable to gain entry for London ran the increasingly popular Brighton Marathon in very warm conditions. There were several PBs though none better than Nicole Callaghan slicing 45 minutes from her previous best with a time of 4.30.12. Greg Potts and Phil Watts also ran lifetime bests with 4.48.02 and 3.36.00 respectively. Richard Fall (3.45.42), Bob Gear (4.29.51) and Nigel Probert (4.31.44) also featured in what was described as a very well organised alternative to the London.

The Striders will again be manning the official drink station at the 13 mile mark on Sunday and cheering on the many club members who will be running.

Among the runners will be Chris Beazeley whose PB of 3.10 was run at Amsterdam. This is his sixth marathon with four being in the capital. His charity is Whizz Kids.

Dave Littleson will be running in his first marathon and raising money for Help the Hospices.

Kate Mills is running her first ever London and is hoping to get near to her PB of 3.12 set at Luton last year. Kate is running for Macmillan Nurses.

Another Strider lady on form is Nikki Brockbank who should easily surpass last year’s London time of 3.41.

Liz Irvine is running her second London and is hopeful of beating 4.58 and raising lots of money for MSRC.

Also running for the multiple sclerosis charity is Amelie Mollinghoff who only started running last year.

This will be Alan Chapman’s first marathon and he will be hoping for a time inside 3.15.

Farleigh Hospice will benefit from Siddy Bowring’s marathon run. He is hoping to knock 15 minutes from last year’s 3.43 clocking where he struggled in the warm conditions.

Fiona Cross is running her second London six years after her first and is hoping to improve on her previous time of 4.21.

Another marathon virgin is Jo Tucker who will be sporting the bright orange vest of her charity SENSE.

At the other end of the scale the London Marathon will be Janet Hill’s 75th marathon. Janet’s PB was many years ago at the Hong Kong Marathon where she ran 3.23 and she is running for the Alzheimers Society.

Darran Hull has a PB of 3.48 (Blackpool 09) and is running for ASPIRE (supporting people with Spinal Injuries). This will be his 6th marathon but first London.

Sarah Wenman is running her second London and should beat last year’s 4.07 clocking.

 Hoping to break the three hour barrier is Rob Mills who is running the London for the fifth time.

Graeme Romain has not attempted a marathon for ten years. This will be his 17th and, most certainly, final one. A PB of 2.53, achieved many years ago, is not under threat. He is running for purely personal reasons, having lost both his parents during the last year. They encouraged and supported him every single step of his previous 16 marathons, so this one's for them.

Noel Patrick’s PB is 4.51 and his training has gone well so he hopes to improve in this his fifth marathon and third London.

Allan Collins is running for the British Heart Foundation and hopes to go close to his PB of 3.48.

Chris Pearce will be running his first marathon and is supporting CLIC Sargent.

Two Striders will be running their sixth London. Sue Clarke is running her 15th marathon and Dave Turk is hoping to beat 4 hours after just missing by seconds last time.

Ian Bilboe is running his second London for Farleigh and hopes to break four hours.