Port Runners produce fast times at London Marathon

The London Marathon, the biggest event in the running calendar was staged last Sunday with thousands of runners and spectators making their way to the capital.

Whilst gloomy cloud and rain was covering the North West, London was bathed in glorious sunshine.

The first race to get under way at 9am was the Woman's Elite race which saw Ellesmere Port's own Nicky Bird lining up against Paula Radcliffe and co.

Nicky, making her Marathon debut started in a very professional manner going through 10K in under 40 minutes and reaching the half marathon stage in exactly 1 hour 25 minutes. With the woman's race spreading out and the men's race not starting until 9.45, Nicky had the course to herself and a magnificent crowd cheering her all the way and as the last few miles approached the first elite man and eventual winner Martin Lel of Kenya brushed passed Nicky with the BBC camera crew feeding live to the world. A few minutes later Nicky crossed the line in a fantastic 2 hours 54 minutes and 10 seconds finishing in 40 th position and the 30 th British lady to cross the line.

With the mass start now well under way another 11 EPRC runners were making their way around the 26.22 course.

The first EPRC runner to finish was the Reverend Dave Sargent who showed what a class act and talented athlete he is by producing a superb 2 hours 42 minutes 45 secs to finish 257 th overall, not bad considering there was 34,000 runners present.

Tony “ The Highlander” Hyland produced a kind of magic of his own by knocking over half a minute of his PB to finish in 2hr 59min 08 secs that qualifies him for next years race.

Matt Whitfield, who just gets quicker with age was the next runner home after reducing his PB by a massive 9 minutes to finish in 3.02.04 and will be back next yr to try and dip under 3 hours.

Next runner home for the club was Birthday boy Paul Robertson who finished in 3.04.21 but will try again later in the year in the Toronto marathon.

Just a few seconds behind Paul, came Dave Winder who produced an excellent 3.04.52 considering Dave has only been running not even a year.

Simon Jeffs who only came down to spectate but managed to get a number on the Saturday made the most of his opportunity by posting a great time of 3.09.55 considering Simon hadn't specifically trained for a marathon.

Keith Musson running for the Heart Foundation was the next runner home for the club after carefully planning his estimated times mile by mile and sticking to them like clockwork for a great time of 3.23.46.

Steve Blaylock, who was easily visible to the Ellesmere Port supporters with his Orange EPRC vest and St George's cross hair do was the next runner home for the club with a satisfactory time of 3.26.00.

John Jennings, who was raising Money for the Wish upon a Star charity, gave an excellent time of 3.37.19 considering John was dressed as a Caveman with a bat in his hand.

Paul Pinkham was the next runner home for the club and truly had to battle through the pain barrier and limp for a few miles with Knee problems but still managed a respectable time of 4.11.16

The final runner home for the club was Tracy Lewis-Jones who gave a brave run and produced a good time of 4.46.11.