Pair Brave Scottish Weather and Edinburgh Marathon 27th May

THOUSANDS of runners braved rain and hail as they pounded the region's streets for this year's Edinburgh Marathon.
Around 7500 athletes descended on the Capital for the event, which started in the city centre before heading out along the East Lothian coastline. Despite the wildly changing weather conditions, the crowds cheered every runner along the 26 mile route, which wound up amid a festival atmosphere at Musselburgh racecourse.
Eventual winner was Ian Grime in 2:32 who was originally aiming for a time around the 2:25 mark. However with the weather conditions, was made up with his time especially since he’d undergone a heart operation only 18 months earlier. Having taken a joint lead after 18 miles, Mr. Grime was neck and neck with his Norwich-based rival Wayne Lincoln before pulling off a powerful sprint finish to win the race.
Ellesmere Port Runners, Mark Dodd and Steve Laker had made the trip to compete in the marathon with huge PB intentions with both succeeding. As the gun went, the swirling wind made for slightly tough conditions for the first 8-9 mile but it was from mile 10 that the hard work was to start with a direct headwind forcing the two Ellesmere Port runners to work harder than ever for the next 6 miles. As they could see their target times slipping away, both runners needed true determination to turn things around.

At the 16 mile turn around point, both Mark and Steve were well down on their target times by over 5 and 3 minutes respectively and were feeling the worse for wear but both runners dug in and made the charge for home with neither runner being passed by any other athlete in the last 6 mile.

Coming home first for the club was Mark in a new personal best of 2:51:51 for 28th position quickly followed by the ever closing Steve Laker in 2:57:47 for 57th position.

Mark now has his eye on the Berlin Marathon in late September with Steve now determined to run the notoriously tough, Snowdonia Marathon in October. Let’s hope the duo stay injury free for the upcoming months of training.