Boston Marathon (UK) Report

Kate Raised more than £1200 for John Van Geest Cancer Research Centre

 There was a good representation from Grantham Running Club both at the rearranged full marathon and also at the accompanying half. There was a mix of experience and first timers in the trio going for the 26.2 mile event. First home was Dean Riggall who was very pleased to have his start time pulled forward to 08:00 especially after dong the “Hot London” in 2018, coming back from a broken foot in 2019 and still suffering from plantar fasciitis he was delighted to finish in 3:26:57 saying afterwards "It felt incredible to be back running a marathon. A realisation to take nothing for granted. All the runners seemed to enjoy the occasion and well done to the organisers for getting a large event back on public roads." Next home was the very experienced Warren Stark in his second Marathon in as many months and looking like challenging his PB until the toe pain and heat took their toll in a painful final 5k finishing in 4:05:54. The final marathoner was Kate Marshall making her debut at the distance after a delay of some 12 months during which she was able to keep training hard. Her final warmup race was in March 2020 when she did a 20 miler.  Kate was at a disadvantage compared to the runners with faster previous times who got the favoured early starting slots meaning Kate had to run through the midday sun but battled on to finish just outside her target in 4:42:00 and raising well over twelve hundred pounds for a cancer charity in the process.

In the half there were nine runners led home by Matt Williamson who set a PB of 81:16 to complete a month in which he also achieved his first ever race win. Next in was Joe Diggins in a great time considering his recent injuries, in a struggle to get ready he took a full week off training to gamble he could find something on the day and was delighted to get within 30 seconds of his best ever. Third home for the club was Catherine Payne in 99:30 to win her age category and position herself at number five in the UKA rankings. An impressive debut by Robin Atter saw him clock 99:47. Battling with the rising temperatures and a strong headwind the first half Gav Meadows was happy that his time of 1:41:17 was about where he judged himself to be. Exactly a minute behind Robert McArdle crossed the line in 1:42:17 to give himself a top 50 MV60 National Ranking. There was another PB for Martin Rodell finishing fast to reduce his best time to 1:46:10. The final two finishers for GRC both suffered from the delayed start made necessary for covid security reasons to reduce on course overtaking with Neil Emerson coming home in 2:01:56 and Tracy Webb having to contend with an injured foot as well as the heat to clock 2:27:09