Abingdon Marathon

An ‘ecstatic’ Phil Devine joined a very exclusive club when he became just the third runner to break the magic three hour barrier for the marathon while a first claim member of Grantham Running Club. Phil managed this at the 37^th Abingdon Marathon, held on Sunday 20^th October.

Proudly wearing the vest of 7 Regiment RLC, the British Army runner went off inside sub-3 pace from the start and was on target to clock around 2:55 at halfway. The going began to get tough for Phil at around nineteen miles when his hips and quads began to really suffer. Focusing on keeping mentally strong all the way to the finish Phil minimised the time lost in the final miles of the race to cross the finish line 105^th in 2:58:11. This represented an eleven and a half minute improvement on his previous marathon PB, set at the same race in 2017.

The Abingdon Marathon was won by Jonathan Poole of Serpentine RC in 2:29:52 with Emma Navesy of Haywards Heath Harriers the winning woman in 2:57:03. There were 784 finishers.