The spring marathons began with Brighton on the 13th April. Three Romsey Road Runners took on the 26.2miles and each was delighted to achieve a new personal best. With near perfect weather conditions, first home was Dave Gardner in a time of 3hrs 33mins taking a big chunk off his previous pb time, hot on his heels was Becky Tovey finishing in 3hrs 34mins with Joanne McKenzie close behind in 4hrs 13mins.
The weather wasn’t so kind the following weekend on the 22nd April when 30 Romsey Road Runners turned out to give their all in the scorching temperatures in both the London Marathon and the Southampton marathon, half marathon and 10km. The heat took its toll but everyone fought bravely on to the finish line. It was the 38th London marathon and Matt Hammerton started behind the elite men having earnt a place on the championship start. Matt crossed the line in an amazing time of 2hrs 48mins with Mark Stileman following closely in a fantastic 3hrs 4mins. Alice Lane did a great job representing Romsey with the club place and finished in 4hrs 44mins and Brenda Topliss achieved 5hrs 23mins. Sadly, it wasn’t to be for Nigel Hemsted who was carrying a calf injury, he flew round the first 15km only to have to make the brave decision to pull out just before the 20km mark when his calf got worse.
Meanwhile, in Southampton there were a few personal bests in the marathon, Neil Jennings was the 11th runner overall to cross the finish line in a fantastic time of 2hrs 56mins with Remi Francois completing his 2nd marathon in a time of 4hrs 2mins. In the half marathon Alex Prinsep finished in 1hr 30mins, Jonny Williams 1.39, Penny Jennings 1.55, Keith Morris 1.56, Liz Prinsep 1.58, Cliff Reeves 2.01, Mark Winkworth 2.01, Annie Tomlinson 2.03, Liz Slade 2.06, Ian and Katy Winkworth 2.16, Anna Duignan 2.17, Dylan Needham 2.17 and Sarah Savage in 2.30. In the 10km race, Ray Webb won his age category finishing in 48.17, other runners included Franky Tripp 52.40, Trevor Bond 56.45, Colin Williams 56.54, Hannah Hunt 57.52, Lin Webb 1.04, Heidi Godfrey 1.06 and Wendy Couper also winning her age category in 1hr 21mins. Well done to all!
