The Long Game

Showtime on London's streets, and a posse of 28 Club athletes were amongst over 53,000 finishers at this year's TCS London Marathon on 21 April.

The weekend kicked off with the Mini-Marathon on Saturday, in which junior athletes cover a 2.6km course, finishing on the Mall in a competition which doubles as the British Athletics Road Championships. Front-runners for the Club included Theo Creed who underlined his current exceptional form as he finished third the U13B race in 8:24, a hair's breadth from second, while his team-mate James Fraser finished in 16th, and last year's U13 Girls winner, Isabella Harrison, was seventh in the U15G race.

On to the main event on Sunday and first home for the Club, a mere fortnight after leading off the Senior Men's 12-Stage team, was Fred Slemeck, in only his third marathon – the first was in London last year when he clocked 2:25:53. This year with the words of clubmate and marathon/ultra marathon runner Richard McDowell, ringing in his ears – ‘the marathon is 30K tempo, 12K race’ – he pushed on through every emotion, buoyed up by support from family and clubmates around the course to gain 33 places over the second half of the race. At 20.25 miles, he says, I was thinking,'‘Oh hell, this is too far for a race. What a stupid idea a marathon is!’, before he found a surge of adrenaline with ‘a park run to go’ and even enough energy for a final sprint, to finish in 2:23:31, ‘ buzzing and delighted at a 2 min 20s pb’,

Next home for the Club was current men's team captain, James Stockings, another key member of the 12-Stage Road racing and cross country team, who had clubmate Rhys Boorman for company for most of the distance as he aimed to go sub 2:30, having missed the mark last year after a stomach bug interrupted his build-up.' I owe a massive thanks to Rhys who kindly set the pace for about 18 miles, using his marathon experience to ensure we didn’t get carried away!' says James, who pushed on towards the end, finishing in 2:27:37, a whisker and two places ahead of Rhys whose time of 2:27.42, though outside his best, was impressive, given recent injuries. 'I was really pleased with the outcome this year', says James, 'and felt I delivered the best performance I could on the day! Running a negative split (74:20/73:17) and passing 118 people in the second half made for a much more pleasant run than the year before! The crowds were incredible the whole way and gave a massive lift throughout'.

Below: Rhys (below) with James tucked in behind.

Making his debut over 26.2 miles was Oli Carrington (left), who only returned to racing at the end of the cross country season following injury. 'After a fairly rollercoaster six months just getting to the start-line fit and healthy was an achievement', he admits. ‘My plan was to run 5:50 min/miles gun to tape. I settled in and the first mile in 5:51 felt easy. The pace continued to feel easy until my quads started cramping at about 16 miles. From then on it was definitely not easy!' 

At that point he admits, 'It was hard to imagine finishing if it wasn't for the crowds, family and the endless shouts of 'up the Herc!', drawing out what feels like that last bit of energy. Last mile: 5:51. Final time: 2:32:29. Easy!' he jokes. 'When does the entry for 2025 open?’

The youngest of the HW contingent was eighteen year old Caleb Monk, whose first experience of running 26.2 miles has left him hungry for more. 'I was more than delighted with the race', he says. 'I had been aiming for sub-3-hours, but beat that by a reasonable margin (2:57:25)

Of course the London Marathon wouldn't be the same without Claire and Dave Grima, who between them have now notched up thirty appearances!  In her 16th edition Claire Grima was rewarded with a second place in the W45 category in 2:48:33 while Dave, with whom she traded PBs for many a year, earned this year's bragging rights with 2:39:11.

'Marathon day is always a highlight of my year', says Claire, who set her best time of 2:40:38 in 2019. 'I was pleased with how it went. Since a hip stress fracture two years ago, I have to be a bit more careful with my training, but apart from a little injury in December, which meant a couple of weeks off things have gone OK.

'My main aim was sub 2.50. In the first half I was hoping I might be closer to 2.46-ish, but slowed in the second half, so to be second in my age category was a bonus. It was pretty blustery but the crowds were amazing as always. There were so many faces I knew out there cheering us on and it was amazing to have so many Club mates running, with some incredible times too!'

Also running her first marathon was Poppy Robson (right). 'I didn’t really know what to expect, and with all the hype around the race it was a bit daunting' she admits. 'I didn’t have much of a plan, other than trying to enjoy it and not go out too fast. This was easier said than done! I knew starting in the Championship pen meant it was going to be hard not to get carried away, however I just about managed to hold my own and my splits ended up being pretty consistent throughout. 

'Everyone says the support at London is like no other race and they aren’t wrong. The crowd were unbelievable from start to finish and kept me going when things felt a bit tough. Around the Isle of Dogs was particularly bleak as I felt a long way from home, but once we hit Canary Wharf the atmosphere really picked up and carried me through. The home stretch felt never ending, but seeing some familiar Hercules faces along the way was the boost I needed to reach the finish. An amazing day, hopefully I will be back next year to give it another go'.

For seasoned marathon runner Cassie Wenjia Chen, who joined the Club along with boyfriend Richard Sun earlier this year, the London event was the icing on the cake-of-a week in which she completed her goal to become an Abbott World Marathon Majors six-star finisher, which involves competing in Tokyo, Boston, London, Berlin, Chicago and New York.

Below: Cassie encapsulating the festival atmosphere of the marathon

How they finished:

Fred Slemeck 2:23:31; James Stockings 2:27:37; Rhys Boorman 2:27:42; Adam Moriarty 2:29:08; Oliver Carrington 2:32:29; Richard McDowell 2:28:56; Simon Wade 2:39:08; Dave Grima  2:39:11; Joe Clark 2:42:54; George Longworth 2:45:03; Claire Grima  2:48:33; Ross Franks 2:50:56; Adam May 2:51:10; Stuart Byrne 2:53.05; Andrew Howson 2:55:47; Caleb Monk 2:57:25; Poppy Robson 3:03:01; Rebecca Schofield 3:08.51; Tom Cheetham 3:10.33; Nick Grogan 3:16:45; Charles Hampden-Smith 3:17:30; Patrick Dalton 3:18:35; Ben Revill 3:24:23; 3:27:19 Megan Crane; Wenjia Chen 3:31:30; Stacey Groom 3:40:03; Will Taylor 3:44:45; Freya Hotten 3:47:36.

Cometh the Hour

On a chilly evening in Battersea's Millennium Arena on 26 April, roared on by Clubmates, Andrew Penney (below) put in an exceptional performance amid a stellar field of 35 athletes in the Elite Men's race at the Comeback 5000m, crossing the line in sixth in 14:00.64. 'I was smiling to myself because I just felt so good, so relaxed', says Andrew, who was delighted with his race, despite finishing a whisker off that elusive 14.00,

This was the finale to a night of compelling racing which saw GB international Georgia Bell take the Women's Elite event in 15:35.24, and with the carrot of selection for the European Championships in Rome in June and the U20 World Championships in Lima, Peru in August, the  Elite Men's race quickly split into two groups.

Photographs once again by Mark Hookway

Unfazed, Andrew looked strong throughout. moving through to the head of the chasing pack and biding his time before the final burn-up, reeling in many of the leading pack as the race was won by European U23 10,000m champion Rory Leonard in 13:29.54, a PB and new meeting record.

Earlier, in the fastest of the opening races, paced impeccably by clubmate Charlie Wyllie and similarly spurred on by the HW contingent, Charlie Eastaugh (right) whose forte is 1500m/3000m on the track, drew on the strength and speed he has shown in the road relays to clock a 5-second  PB of 14:28.51 in seventh, with Henry Silverstein in 21st in 15:06.08.  Richard Jones ran 16:30.94 in a separate race. 

And finally…

Congratulations to Lisa Thomas on her 400th parkrun, celebrated with Club members on Wimbledon Common.