ASICS Greater Manchester Marathon

Martin (centre) completes his first marathon in 4:42:05

Since the resurrection of the Greater Manchester Marathon in 2012, the event has vied with London as the most popular destination for Grantham Running Club members looking to take on perhaps the most famous challenge in running. 2019 was no exception with fourteen members of GRC taking part in a race that has grown year on year to become the second largest marathon in Britain and reportedly the fifth largest in Europe.

MKL masters the marathon

The 26.2 mile course, which is based at Old Trafford Cricket Ground, takes runners on a sometimes convoluted but very flat route (currently the second flattest marathon in the UK after Boston) through Stretford, Sale, Timperley, Altrincham and Urmston. The race which has, until now, avoided heading into central Manchester will, from 2020, feature a three mile loop in Manchester City Centre, which is sure to attract even greater crowd support.

Conditions for racing could hardly have been better on Sunday 7^th April  and the opening weekend of the northern hemisphere’s spring marathon season. The race began at 9am under heavy cloud cover and with the temperature around 8C. The sun slowly struggled to make its presence known over the course of the morning and into the afternoon but temperatures remained pleasant, maxing out in the low teens and tempered by a very gentle, but cool, easterly breeze.

Matthew Kingston-Lee was the first GRC runner to cross the finish line. Making his usual circumspect start, Matthew passed through 10K in 166^th place but had climbed to 110^{th th} by 30km and confident that his leg would hold out, he pushed on when the marathon ‘begins’ at 20 miles to maintain his pace to the very end of the race. He crossed the finish line in a new personal best and club record of 2:40:47, bettering his 2017 time of 2:41:42 set at London. Averaging 6:08 min/mile, Matthew finished 77^th overall out of 13,652 finishers and was 9th out of 1482 MV40 finishers.

Holly hobbles quickly

by the time he passed halfway in 1:20:33. It was at this stage where some sciatica in the left leg threatened to derail his ambitions but having climbed to 86

“Aside from the issues with the left leg that hampered me a little I was delighted that I executed the race exactly as planned. My only disappointment was that I was less than two seconds a mile off breaking 2:40 which was my dream outcome would have been a distinct possibility had I not the sharp pains in my leg!” commented Matthew after the race.

Behind Matthew finished Daniel Ancliffe. In his debut marathon, his first race in GRC colours since joining in December 2018, and quite possibly his first ever road race, Daniel put in a mature performance far in excess of his experience and years. The 23-year-old runner went through halfway in 1:31:58 and minimised the near inevitable fade in the final stages of the race to clock a superb 3:09:00.

The far more experienced Holly Durham called upon all her years of racing nous to pull off another fine marathon performance. Her time of 3:23:00 was less than five minutes outside her best and one she was pleased with considering the far from ideal preparation due to ongoing issues with an Achilles injury. Holly finished 133^rd woman out of 4310 female finishers and was 22^nd in the VW35 age category.

PB for Caroline

Caroline Davis fully utilised her excellent preparation for the Manchester Marathon where she set personal bests over 30K and 20 miles to take just under six minutes off her marathon personal best, clocking an excellent 3:44:21 - a time that is under the 3:45 Good for Age barrier set for senior women at the London Marathon and should be plenty quick enough to see Caroline at the London Marathon start line next year, should she choose, after finishing 52^nd in the FV45 category.

Like many who have gone before him, Ian McBain proclaimed after the race that it would ‘definitely’ be his fourth and final stab at the marathon. Ian suffered quite badly in the second half of the race but was pleased to break four hours with 3:53:45. Making his marathon debut was Jack Dodwell who stated afterwards that ‘lessons were learned’ en route to a 3:57:40 clocking. Although there was nothing left in Jack’s legs in the latter stages, he felt otherwise quite comfortable during the race and the young novice runner will surely return to significantly improve upon his opening marathon performance.

Former cyclist turned runner Simon Smith was another to make his marathon debut at Manchester. After clocking 4:11:45 Simon was glad it was all over but already looking forward to the next one! Ben Mason, who finished in 4:13:07, was some way outside his best

Grand Master Ben

but it was good to see one of the club’s longest serving members racing again after a fallow 2018. Just behind Ben in 4:13:12 Warren Stark admitted to going into his first marathon in five years ‘completely unprepared,’ but declared himself ‘over the moon’ with his ‘most satisfying marathon to date’ and two days later committed himself to doing it all over again in Manchester in 2020!

Starky's hard work rewarded

Nicola Cottam returned to the venue of her debut marathon in 2018 and should be delighted with the manner of her fine 4:29:24, the seven-minute PB the result of some excellent pacing and a significant negative split. Running the opening half with Nicola, Martin Carter couldn’t quite maintain the pace of Nicola in the second half of the race but, cheered on by wife Kirsty and family, he finished his debut marathon in 4:42:05. He was four minutes ahead of Julie Gilbert, who had run the opening stages of the race with Nicola and Martin and was really happy to improve upon her 2018 debut time at Manchester by nearly six minutes, clocking 4:46:24.

Ros Sadler and Nicola Fahy were the final two finishers for GRC. Running the opening 10K together Ros finished ahead of Nicola in 5:07:56, some way off her best but very pleased to have completed the race despite some injury niggles, feeling unwell, and being sleep deprived. Nicola successfully completed the race on her marathon debut in 5:10:55. They and the other GRC runners were spurred on by the crowd support along the course which included club members Dean Riggall – who is convalescing following a serious foot injury, Paul Davis, Rachel Pattison, and Manchester based GRC member Lizzie Potter.

The race was won by Aaron Richmond of Bideford AAC in 2:21:34 with Jenny Spink of Bristol and West AC the winning woman in 2:35:19. There were 13,652 finishers.