The contingent of five Belper Harriers took to the streets of London last Sunday morning to join the thousands of runners in the London Marathon. The five of Steph Ilsley, Mark Riches, Ben O’Connell, Rob Pearce and Phil Shaw all broke the four hour mark, to register some excellent times.
Ben O’Connell was our first finisher, running a road marathon for the first time in 3hrs 2mins 5secs. The next finisher was regular marathon runner Mark Riches in 3hrs 15mins 37secs, followed by Steph Ilsley in 3hrs 18mins 35secs, beating her previous best marathon time by three minutes. Rob Pearce and Phil Shaw finished within two minutes of each other with Rob finishing in 3hrs 57mins 43secs, bettering his London Marathon time in 2010 by 18 minutes. Phil who finished in 3hrs 59 was running his first marathon, suffered a few problems but still recorded a highly creditable time.
A very well done to all five runners, after all the hard work over the winter doing the regular training sessions and preparing for a race of duration.