Three club members took on the challenge to run five marathons in five days last week around Kent. Starting off at the Oyster Bay marathon last Wednesday and finishing at the Dymchurch marathon on Sunday, Steve Hickman, Helen Weeden and Neil Buckley battled against strong winds and aching bodies in their attempt to achieve an outstanding feat of endurance.
Steve Hickman, running for the Motor Neurone Disease Association, completed his five marathons, starting with the Oyster Bay marathon in a time of 4:39:40, the Thanksgiving Marathon in 4:53:33, the Agincourt marathon in 5:12:30, the Martello Marathon in 5:13:42 and lastly in very windy conditions, the Dymchurch marathon in 5:18:42. Helen Weeden running for the Alzheimer’s Society, completed the Oyster Bay in 4:45:36, the Thanksgiving in 4:54:45, the Agincourt in 5:18:27, the Martello in 5:32:00, and the Dymchurch in 5:48:40. Neil Buckley running for the Sapper support charity, unfortunately was unable to complete all five marathons due to a nasty foot injury. He finished the Oyster Bay in 4:39:00, Thanksgiving in 4:53:00, the foot injury forced him to pull out around half way of the Agincourt marathon, before he made a very brave effort to run through the pain and he completed the Martello marathon the next day in 4:28:00. The worsening foot injury meant he was unable to start the last marathon.
Amanda Bashford joined the marathon trio in two of the marathons. She completed the Martello marathon in 5:32:22 and then the next day ran the Dymchurch marathon in 4:39:59. Jeremy Chambers completed his debut marathon at the Martello Marathon in a time of 5:52:00.
Meanwhile closer to home we had club members running the Brett Ashford half marathon on Sunday. In windy conditions around the Conningbrook Lake and the quiet lanes of Hinxhill on a tough two lap course that included a very muddy off road section, Matt Morgan was the first home for the club as he finished in an excellent 10th place in a time of 1:33:36. Next in was Rik Holden as he finished an impressive 22nd in a time of 1:37:38. Stu Nunn, making his half marathon debut, produced a strong finish to come home in 2:00:13.
In the Brett Ashford 10k, Paul Moses battled through the muddy and windy conditions to finish an excellent 3rd place and first in his age category in a time of 50:01. Christine Costiff finished as the first lady in the race as she came home in 58:30, with Sue Reader finishing as the 9th lady as she finished in 72:41.
Impressive running by all over a host of distances!
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