Dave Neilands reports . . . .

Most runners when competing in their first ever race start with something readily manageable like a 10k.  Graham Lund of Garstang Running Club however went to the other extreme, may be  being the son of Geoff Lund explains a lot, but the 31mile Manx Mountain Marathon with its 8000 feet of climbing is bordering on the suicidal.  In a field of 119 Graham finished 64th in 7 hours 18 minutes with Daniel Clark showing Graham the way finishing 45th in 6 hours 48 minutes.  Just to put it all in perspective the last competitor finished in 10 hours and 8 minutes.

The Blackpool Sixth Form College 10k was quite hilly enough for Pete Gelderd as he finished 70th out of 110 in 53.10. The Arant Haw Fell Race at Sedbergh was not Geoff Lyon’s finest hour or 55.15 minutes or so says Geoff Lyons. Analysing his finishing position of 41st out of 71 he found  he was beaten by 18 runners of the same age, 7 who were up to 10 years older, including one lady (but that is not what he called her) and one runner at least 15 years older – lies, damn lies and statistics – does retirement beckon?

Last but not least and after a hard weeks marathon training Richard Jones entered the Wilmslow Half Marathon at short notice. Acquiring a lady’s number, but obviously not running much like one, he finished in the top 10% - there were 3449 finishers and he finished 315th in 1 hour 32 minutes. 

 

31/03/08

 

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