Asics Greater Manchester Marathon

Grantham Running Club was well represented at last weekend's Greater Manchester Marathon despite three athletes having to withdraw due to injuries sustained in the gruelling training block leading up to it. On a revised course designed to cope with the 15,000 field and with the weather perfect, first home for the club was a fit again Dean Riggall in is personal best of 3:09:22 knocking almost five minutes of previous time. Next in for GRC was the experienced Catherine Payne whose metronomic pacing saw her overtaken by 505 runners on the way to the half way mark but then went on to pass more than that number as she secured not only a PB of 3:19:25 but the club's first ever 80% marathon age grading and a UKA ranking of 5th. Despite a poor position on the staring grid Holly Durham was able to force her way through the field with powerful final sector that saw her cruise past over 450 runners on the way to her first PB since the birth of her second child in a time of 3:20:07. Capitalising on lessons learned last year Nick Rossington managed to clip almost six minutes of his previous mark to finish in 3:21:12, finishing strongly, overtaking many in the run-in. Making his debut at the distance Rob Howbrook had to dig deep as this race was twice as long as any he had ever ran before and despite the challenge of the final six miles he was still able to come home in 3:21:42. Next in was Robert McArdle, also securing a PB in a time of 3:22:38 followed by first timer Andrew Macallister in 3:54:26. Another debutant Yvonne Buckley was delighted to finish well inside her target time with 5:03:28 setting a challenge for her husband Brendon who is also making his marathon debut in two weeks' time in London. Marc Tremain was going well until 14 miles when a thigh problem caused him to stop running, unable to give up he decided to hobble for 12 miles crossing the line in 5:43:46. Injuries to her toes meant Wendy Tremain has little chance of matching last year's fantastic time on this route but also unable to allow herself to pull out Wendy finished in pain in a time 5:57:26

(Picture: Catherine Payne at Greater Manchester Marathon)