Graham Welsh reports
Lots of exciting things to report this weekend and we start with international news. On Saturday afternoon Jan Bailey and Dan Arkwell were in Sweden for the 40th anniversary running of the Stockholm Half Marathon. Jan covered the course in 1:25:29 and Dan ran the 13.1 miles in 2:14:44.
On to Sunday and Stephen Tomlinson was in Cleethorpes for the Humber Coastal Half Marathon. This was his second Half in two weekends, his time was 2:08:22. Staying with the Half Marathon, three Striders took part in the Rutland Half Marathon, Jean-Louis Balestra 1:39:40, Emma Gilbert 1:50:36 PB and Colin Boyd 1:53:38. Dave Dews and Peter Davis ran the 17 mile Ponton Plod, finishing together in 2:52, whilst in the 12 mile version Noel Henderson, who is in great form right now, placed 3rd in a time of 1:42.
Moving to the 10K distance, Simon Drury ran the Mansfield 10K, crossing the finish line in 49:35. Meanwhile in the North Muskham 10K, Mark Jackson clocked 54:50 pacing daughter Hannah to 54:51 and first female in her first 10K event. Next was Graham Welsh in 1:00:18 whilst Bev Hancock was marshalling.
We end where we began with news from abroad. Whilst Eluid Kipchoge was setting his stunning new world record, Newark Striders' Chris Draper was in the same race, the Berlin Marathon, competing at the distance for the very first time. Chris has trained hard, following a disciplined plan through the summer and it all came together on the day, a great time of 4:33:31 PB comprised of very even mile splits.
