Farnham Runners travel far and wide for marathon fix
Farnham Runners have been active in spring marathons, not only the London marathon but also in Brighton, Manchester, Boston and Copenhagen.
Most followed arduous training plans to ensure success on the day. For some it was the first attempt at the distance while others tried to improve on their previous best time. Some raised sponsorship for their chosen charities and for all it was an unforgettable experience. Here are their stories, starting with the London marathon.
London Marathon
First back in London was Chris Matthews (photo below) who achieved the enviable time of 2:47:28.
Although his marathon personal best is one minute faster he recorded:
“This as was 30 seconds faster than last year in London, so a course record for me. It was my fourth London and almost exactly one hour faster than my first London in 2008 which was 3:47!”
Chris Raby (photo above) told us:
“This was my second marathon having run Brighton last year and gained a good for age entry for London. My aim was to beat my Brighton time of 3.17 and I followed the same advanced training plan I used for that race. I had a range of paces in mind on the day and ended up going out at the faster end of the range. By halfway I knew I wouldn’t be able to be able to maintain that pace and at 30k around Canary Wharf I began to slow but hung on for the best pace I could manage The faster earlier stages helped me cross the finish line in just over 3.12.10, beating my previous time by five minutes and giving me 10th place in my new age category, which I was really happy with.”
Chris also gained a new Farnham Runners M65 record by over 7 minutes!
“Having run Brighton I thought I knew what to expect from the event but I was completely blown away by the crowd, atmosphere and scale of the London Marathon. It’s really something special.”
The previous M65 club record holder was Matthew Wernham who recorded another fine time of 3:22:00 for 24th in this age group in London before recording a similar time in the Copenhagen marathon just two weeks later!
It was Sam Angell’s (photo above) second time at London and 12 years since his debut. He made very good use of the only place allocated to the club this year. He explained just after the race:
“Training had been OK, but managing niggles meant that I was only able to run three times a week and my biggest weekly mileage only circa 30 miles. I set off hoping for around 3:20, but soon found I was caught up in the moment and that I had started off a little quickly. I settled into a rhythm and held it together until around 20 miles before I “hit the wall”. The last 10km was the hardest and longest I’ve known, but the incredible crowds helped to drag me around in a personal best of 3:29.03. Yesterday I said never again…the next day I was rethinking that!”
Next came Kayleigh Copeland in her third marathon.
“My training went really well, but I got cramp at mile 20 and couldn’t shift it! I was aiming for under 3.15 and had to settle for 3:34:00. I got a good night’s sleep the night before but think I didn’t eat enough before the race or at the right time during it.”
Linda Tyler said,
“It was my 18th London. I’m not quite sure how many I’ve done altogether! My training was not great due to a knee condition so I was really pleased with result, 3:49:30, another sub 4 hour marathon and well within my good for age time!”
Cath Wernham was happy to finish in 5:38:45 and like her husband repeated the distance in Copenhagen two weeks later.
Pauline Hamilton wrote:
“Finally in my seventh year of being a member of Farnham Runners I ran the London Marathon and what an experience!
Having applied for the ballot every year and failed, I decided to approach the British Heart Foundation for a charity place. It was two years ago that I lost my Dad to heart failure and due to the expert doctors at St George’s Hospital he had had extra precious years to be with his grandchildren. I wanted to do something in memory of him for charity and the BHF accepted my application. Having never fundraised or trained for anything like this before, I have realised over the last few months how hard it is. I could not have done this without the support of Farnham Runners, family and friends, who lifted me when I struggled to keep one foot in front of the other!
The whole experience was worth all the training. I finished in 5:42:35. As they say “London is the reward”! I was very pleased to raise £1172 for the British Heart Foundation.”
It was Julia Tagg’s first attempt at the distance in London, her first marathon being the New Forest seventeen years ago. She reported:
“My training went well though I limited the volume due to a lingering injury, but I still did all my planned long training runs. On the day I went well until 20 miles but the last 6 were very difficult. My time was 5:42:48 and I raised £740 for the Phyllis Tuckwell Hospice.”
Brighton Marathon
Two weeks earlier six Farnham Runners completed the Brighton Marathon.
This was Andy Brown’s sixth marathon and third consecutive Brighton marathon. He said;
“My time of 3:39:18 was within a minute of 2022 but disappointingly eleven minutes slower than 2023. I managed the first ten miles at a solid pace and was on for beating 2023’s time but unfortunately the lack of training really started to show. It was a dry with a light wind and the sunshine helped encourage a lot of supporters out which helped all the runners”.
For Ivan Chunnett it was one of a number of marathons before he competes the 54 mile Comrades Marathon in South Africa in June. He clocked 3:55:39 in his fourth marathon this year.
Marina Greig (photo above) described her run:
“I had entered the Brighton Marathon this year after numerous unsuccessful attempts to get a ballot place in London. It was my first marathon and previously I had only run one half marathon in 2020 in just under two hours. I decided to join Farnham Runners to be able to speak to members with marathon experience and attend the regular club runs. I felt a 4:30 time should be achievable.
From January onwards I followed a structured training plan from Hal Higden and tried to incorporate the club running schedule into the plan which wasn’t easy. I found the Monday speed session and Tuesday hill training particularly useful. Nearer the marathon weekend I was confident that I would finish it with a time somewhere between 4:10 and 4:30. I took care of all elements I could plan for like nutrition, hydration, pace etc, the unpredictable element for me was the possible need for toilet stops having had radiotherapy treatment for cancer in 2022.
The day of the marathon was sunny but very windy, which was particularly felt along the waterfront. Heading out east along the coastal road I could begin to feel my left quad (about mile 9) and in my big toe of my right foot as it was pressing against the shoe and a blister developed. I realised it was because of the road‘s camber. Back in the centre of Brighton I saw some familiar faces amongst the crowds including three Farnham Runners cheering me on and four minutes away from the finish line spotted my husband taking a photo.
I was very happy with my finish time of 04:09:00 which put be 11th in my age category. I decided not to do any fundraising as I had already raised a lot of money for Cancer Research after my cancer diagnosis in 2022.”
Tom Lee ran Brighton Marathon and clocked a PB of 4:22:01. He said: I ran with my sister and raised over £800 for Parkinson’s UK. In the second half of the race I fell apart in the heat.
Mike Taylor has run all 16 Brighton marathons and his time this year was 4:23:33.
Craig Tate-Grimes was pleased to achieve a course record for him of 5:21:09.
Manchester Marathon
On the 15th April was the Manchester marathon which counted two first claim Farnham Runners members among the ranks.
Stuart Taylor took almost six minutes from his PB for an excellent time of 3:03:04 He reported:
“I was aiming for the sub 3 but blew up in the last 3 miles.”
Toby Loomis paced a friend round in 3:49:02 (before tackling the NDW 50 mile from Farnham in May).
Boston Marathon
Matt Saker chose to run the Boston Marathon, one of the six World Majors. He gained anew M55 club record by over half an hour and placed a splendid 20th M55 in the race! He reported:
“Having ticked off the London and Berlin marathons, in mid-April I found myself in Boston on the third leg of my quest to complete the 6 majors. My training had gone well and I felt I was in with a good chance of going sub-3 hours.
This was my first marathon in a different time-zone and, having decided to stay on UK time, on the day of the race I got up at 3am to start my preparations.
Boston is a point to point marathon in which you first drop your gear at the finish line only to be bused out of Boston to the start line. We were then sent off in multiple waves along the 26.2 mile route back into Boston.
The race itself was fantastic, probably my favourite marathon so far. There was great support along the entire course with each town that you went through trying to out-do the previous ones in terms of volume of support and noise.
At 22 degrees it was a hot day, but I stuck rigidly to my drinking and re-fuelling strategy and with the help of all the amazing support I slowly ticked off the miles back into Boston. After getting over “heart-break” hill, inconveniently positioned at the 20 mile point (!), the last six miles were tough, but I managed to keep going and crossed the line in 2:57:54.
Next up is Tokyo, followed by Chicago and then New York to finish the job.”
Copenhagen Marathon
Farnham Runners continued its marathon running over the May Day bank holiday weekend, with six club members appearing at the Copenhagen Marathon.
Richard Denby, Stephen and Victoria Dick, Charlie Walters, and Matthew and Catherine Wernham – all veteran runners – successfully completed the 26.2 miles around the pretty and varied streets of the Danish capital. Good running conditions – cool and largely dry weather – along with a flat-ish course supported the team’s intensive training programmes of the last four months to bring out some great results.
Richard Denby (55-59 age grade) (photo above) not only recorded a new personal best time of 3:14:12, but achieved the goal of all distance runners – a faster second half than the first. Charlie Walters (60-64 age grade), in his very first marathon, came home in a time of 3:19:57.
Both Richard and Charlie, along with Matthew Wernham (65-69 age grade) (photo above) were the first British runners home in their respective age groups, with Matthew at 3:22:17 securing fifth place out of 108. Charlie came in 14th out of 249; Richard 36th out of 525 – the top 5%, 6% and 7% in their age groups respectively.
Stephen and Victoria Dick (55-59 age grade) came in at 3:49:14 and 4:05:42 respectively, and Catherine Wernham (65-69 age grade) (photo above) finished in 5:30:35.
Commenting on the event, Richard Denby said:
“It’s an outstanding marathon with brilliant support from local people and visitors. Along the route itself there’s a tremendous amount going on, and you run in the beautiful surroundings of a very hospitable Copenhagen. A marathon to be recommended for all runners. Refuelling and rehydrating in Copenhagen is also highly recommended!”
Some ultras
Farnham Runners have also been out covering the miles in some off road ultras.
Nick Grist completed the Isle of Wight half island ultra-challenge. This was almost 55k, lots of hills and miles and miles of mud. He did it in an amazingly impressive time of 5h 52 and came 3rd! He raised £1510 for Parkinson’s UK.
Kate Townsend and Colette Grist were happy to encourage each other over the challenging Big Feat Big Way Round Ultramarathon which started at Winchester and covered 32 miles with 2579ft of elevation. They recorded times of under 7 hours and described it as “Lots of rain, hills, puddles, mud and beautiful trails.”
See the Photo Gallery 2024 for further photos from these events