Virgin Money London Marathon – Sunday 22nd April 2018
40,000 runners lined up at Greenwich Park for the hottest London Marathon on record. Temperatures soared to 23c and as expected, took its toll on many competitors.As at Brighton the week previously, Ashford & District were well represented with Robert Latala 1st home for the club in an impressive 2hrs:35m:52s. Andrew Noble was next up in a great time of 3hrs:08m:43s. Trevor Kay completed his 2nd marathon in the past two months finishing in 3hrs:15m:08s and Scott Lynch crossed the line in 3hrs:32m:50s. Daniel Green followed in 3hrs:35m:44s with Christine Costiff and Gill O’Connor, who ran with a broken collarbone, finished in 4hrs:05m:07s and 4hrs:12m:11s respectively.
Robert Carpenter fought the heat to finish in 4hrs:41m:24s, Filiz Salih and Ingvild Drake, competing in their 1st marathons, finished in 4hrs:48m:57s and 4hrs:50m:49s respectively. Rhian Shrimplin bravely battled her way to the finish line despite picking up an injury early on in proceedings to finish in 5hrs:21m:07s with Terry Sellen just behind in 5hrs:21m:49s.
Those not so lucky to get a place in the London Marathon were not short of race options on Sunday as Rik Holden completed the aptly titled Rejects Marathon. Holden finished the hilly, off-road marathon at Samphire Hoe near Dover in 3hrs:54m:17s.
ABP Southampton Half Marathon – Sunday 22nd April 2018
Elodie Paviot travelled to the south-coast for the ABP Southampton Half Marathon and came home with a new personal best for the distance of 1hr:45m:12s.
Bridge 5k – Sunday 22nd April 2018Rob Barton came home 1st for the club in the Bridge 5k. Barton completed the multi-terrain course near Canterbury in 21m:59s (14th). Stuart Nunn followed in 24m:05s (29th) with Aaron Homewood just over a minute behind in 25m:06s (46th). Helen Weeden finished in 29m:32s (88th), Sarah Homewood in 31m:14s (112th) and Lesley Moody in 33m:45s (146th).
Ashford Parkrun – Saturday 21st April 2018
On a warm Saturday morning at Victoria Park, Paul Moses lead A&D home finishing 9th overall in 19m:30s with Chris Boyce following in 20m:06s (13th) and Richard Baker 20m:15s (14th). Mark Attenborough was next in 20m:46s (17th) and Becky Macey in 21m:36s (24th) with Stuart Nunn and Carl Ireland in 22m:40s (32nd) and 22m:43s (33rd) respectively.
James Chapman and Philip Bridges were next up in 23m:18s (38th) and 23m:21s (39th) respectively, Mark Carlton in 23m:41s (44th), Mark Boorer 25m:34s (72nd), John Fidge 26m:23s (86th), Keith Lynn 26m:56s (95th), Chloe Green 27m:52s (114th), Claire Green 27m:57s (116th), Lisa Jones in a PB of 28m:43s (135th), Ann Fidge 29m:26s (146th), Shelly Blake 35m:42s (231st), Emma Jenkins on 100th parkrun, 36m:49s (243rd), Julie Foster on her return from injury, 44m:12s (265th) and Becky Hodgson in 47m:58s (273rd).
Meanwhile Jon Pearce came 2nd in the Folkestone Parkrun in 17m:59s.
By Mark Carlton