Road & XC

Martin Sanders had a superb run in last Sunday’s Flora London Marathon. Sanders became only the 2nd athlete from the Ackworth club to dip under 2½ hours for the classic distance as he crossed the line in 51st position out of the mass field of 35,000 runners. His time of 2 hours 29 minutes 33 seconds added 4 minutes to his personal best and was just over 4 minutes down on the Ackworth club record. Sanders recorded a personal best of 71-26 for the half marathon distance at Bath last month, but his performance in London was his best achievement so far and was just reward for the 100 miles per week, which he has been clocking up in training in the weeks prior to the event.

Simon Newton was also in top form. He finished 178th, knocking 3 minutes off his previous best as he went through in 2-39-45.

Michael Walsh was the 3rd finisher from the Ackworth club in 237th position. He also recorded a huge personal best of 2-42-38.

Andrew Jackson had his training curtailed by work commitments this year, but he still managed to get round in 2-51-57.

In the women’s race, Faye Banks was slightly disappointed with her time of 3 hours and 33 seconds, which was about 4 minutes down on the Ackworth club record, which she set in this race last year. In spite of this, Ackworth’s top female athlete still managed to finish 61st in the women’s race.

Christine McCarthy had another outstanding London Marathon, finishing 12th in the women’s Over 45 category and 137th overall in the women’s race with a time of 3-13-10.

The 6 athletes mentioned above, plus Angela Hannon and Linda Harris, will all qualify for the UK Athletics and England Athletics championship start line in next year’s London Marathon.

In the veteran age categories, Vic Taylor (Over 70) and Ken Bingley (Over 75) both qualified for next year’s race as “Good for your age” with times of 4-35-09 and 4-38-50 respectively. Martyn Stearn (Over 55) knocked 10 minutes off his personal best with 3-48-15.

All those, who manage to complete the marathon distance of 26 miles and 385 yards, are worthy of a mention. Other finishers from the Ackworth club were:- Tim Wilsher (3-44-11), Dave Shaw (4-14-05), Cath Berry (4-14-52), Teresa Williams (4-59-55), Karen Youel (5-04-07) and Emma Smith (6-05-42).