17.04.11 The Virgin London Marathon

A record number of Hyde Park Harriers ran and supported at this year’s London Marathon.  Amongst the usual excitement of the London Marathon we all travelled to the various starts and all managed to travel with or meet up with a fellow HPH.

What felt like a perfect running day soon turned out to be hot and I think it is fair to say we all felt it was hard going and left some of us muttering the words “Never Again”.  Despite this Chris and Nicky set themselves new PB’s, Harp and Vikki unknowingly battled it out for third and fourth whilst David and Liz completed their first marathons. Me well I went for a VLM record of spotting the record number of people you know, stopping to chat and hug many of the 20+ people I knew and saw along the way!


3618      Chris Jones 03:27:42
16260    David Womersley 04:29:36
20374    Harp Bhambra  04:46:20
20389    Vikki King  04:46:24
25206    Nicola Woodward 05:08:54
26933    Kay Fawcett  05:19:01
28433    Liz Jones 05:28:35

Congratulations also to Nicola Forwood (4.38.01), Anna Hollingworth (4:55:36) and Miriam Walden (5.54.50) who all ran their first marathon and have joined us regularly on a Tuesday night as part of their training!  Hope you all keep coming along.

A big thank you to all HPH who were supporting and cheering on the course,  Russell & Zoe, Tom & Helen, Paul, Tess & Jaz and Dave & Jan as well as many other family friends and club runners from EER and Kirkstall Harriers. I personally needed every shout, cheer and hug going!

A big thank you to everyone at HPH who have encouraged, listened, given advice, taken and interest, sponsored and given that unwavering HPH support to us all in the last 4 months.  You can read more about some of our trails, triumphs and tears in the following blogs . . .

http://thediaryofalondonmarathonvirgin.blogspot.com

http://vikkiruns.blogspot.com/2011/04/positive-effects-of-running-marathon.html

http://lizjones4ageuk.blogspot.com

http://oncemoreintothelondonbreach.blogspot.com

http://www.kayruns.blogspot.com/

and I especially recommend the following chapter from Liz . . . http://lizjones4ageuk.blogspot.com/2011/04/chapter-37-get-up-stand-upfat-bottomed.html?spref=fb

Finally, if your thinking you would like to have a go at the London Marathon 2012 the on line ballot opens (and will probably close) on the 26^th April!  By entering this you also get a second chance for a place as the club also gets a couple of complimentary places for the marathon. Those who aren't successful in the ballot can then be put forward into the HPH VLM ballot which is usually selected shortly after the official ballot.

Good luck!

Thanks to Kay for the report and results.