Marathons have occupied the minds of most St Albans Striders this week but it wasn’t just those tackling the 26 miles in London.
Both Boston and Southampton held their own big run and both featured runners from the St Albans club.
The Virgin Money London Marathon was obviously the big one though and despite the record temperatures, described by some Striders as anywhere between “challenging” and “brutal”, there were still some astonishing results among the 50 Striders finishers.
That was especially the case for Paul Adams who was the first from the club to cross the line in an incredible 95th position, clocking two hours 37 minutes 14 seconds.
Rob Spencer followed in 2:41:58 for 186th place while Phil Evans was 450th in a time of 2:50:24.
The first lady Strider home was Rachel Brown who finished in 3:19:00 followed by Stacey Harris (3:33:52) and Anna Buckingham (3:36:19).
Other runners included Chris Barr (3:38:30), Blake Vivian (2:56:35), Sue Edwards (6:00:15), Helen Cartlidge (3:42:31), Nicky Laitner (3:50:10), Claire Hobson (4:22:25), Fleur Harvey (4:02:27), Karen Sheard (4:20:20), Richard Harry (3:10:08), Matt Childs (4:02:06), Jenna Pickering (5:11:40), Ed Bailey (3:31:15), Max Campbell (3:38:14), Richard Hayes (4:09:53) and Rose McGinness (4:20:39).
Magdalena Petrus finished her first marathon in 4:40:00 while Ruth Kent completed her third marathon in three weeks with a time of 4:07:11.
Ian Hirth doubled up, finishing London in 3:31 which followed a 3:27 in horrible conditions at Boston six days earlier.
That run means he joins the big six club having finished the races in Tokyo, Boston, London, Berlin, Chicago and New York.
Four Striders took on the marathon at Southampton.
Caroline Bailes (3:52), Stephen Elkan (3:54) and Mark Travers (4:30) were joined by Jack Brooks who was running his 450th marathon and finished in 4:39.
A club spokesman said: “Striders would like to thank all the organisers, marshals, medics and all the volunteers.
“Certainly a number of runners were in need of medical attention during the run and at the finish.
“Without all their contributions these events could not be run.”
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