London Landmarks Half Marathon

2 April 2023 saw London close its roads in the city and Westminster area, so eager runners could take part in the Landmarks Half Marathon.  Over 17,000 Participants started on the iconic Pall Mall, then were able to take in the sights and sounds of London’s awe-inspiring landmarks, eventually finishing outside Downing Street.

It was an all-female squad of 8 from Grantham Running Club that arrived in London for a chilly start but the love of London and the support from the amazing charities and some GRC shout outs were very welcome to keep them inspired round this fantastic course.

First over the line was Rachel Hamilton who powered her way to her fastest time at this distance in an amazing 1:39:37. She was also thrilled to be running for the Lincs & Notts Air Ambulance, raising a fantastic £300, her first charity run of the year.

Next was Nicci Whittaker in her debut at the distance.  Having never experienced anything quite like it before, the atmosphere helped her around the course, especially when the race started to feel hard at 18k and she had to dig deep.  In fact, she was so pre-occupied, she didn’t notice running past Big Ben.  It was worth all the hard training as she achieved fastest times for 10k, 10 mile and the half marathon. Her overall time was 1:51:34.

Paula Ebbins had also been training hard and raising money for Alzheimer’s Research and crossed the line in 1:54:54, knocking an incredible 50 minutes off her previous best at the distance.

Holly Wragg continues her immense improvement and enjoyed the support and atmosphere and was pleased to finish in 2:04:52 which was over 14 minutes quicker than her last half marathon.  She was running to raise money for the Lincolnshire NHS Charity.

Emma Duncan echoed that the atmosphere was amazing with entertainment and spectators all around the course.  She was pleased with her finish time of 2:05:20 which was 5 minutes faster than her Great North Run time and she also raised more than £700 for Marie Curie.

Running in a pack of 3 were Vicky Platts who crossed the line in 2:26:55 and raised a staggering amount of money for Macmillan Cancer Support. 

Kathleen Gray was just pleased to the don the mighty GRC vest and to achieve a half marathon distance after too long a break away. To run and finish with a time of 2:26:56 fellow friends made it even more special.  She ran closely with Tracey Gell who finished in a time that was nearly 2 minutes faster than her previous best, crossing the line with Kathleen in 2:26:56.