London Calling 2025

A record number of runners took to the streets for the 2025 London Marathon, as London officially became the biggest marathon in the world with 56,640 finishers crossing the line in this the 45th edition of the event – among them thirty HW athletes including a strong contingent of the usual suspects from the senior road and cross country teams, some experiencing either the distance, or London, for the first time. Despite this being one of the warmest London Marathons on record, eight HW runners  finished in under 2 hours 30 minutes, with four in the top thirty of the Championship wave which led off the mass start. 

Project Milne

Spearheading the charge ahead of them in the Elite start was ultra distance-specialist Alex Milne (above) who had a storming race, coming home in 19th – and fifth British runner – in 2:14:03, a PB by 2:27 minutes. The time takes him within striking distance of Chairman Dave Clarke's Club record  set in Stockholm back in 1989 – though comparing performances is tricky given the hot topic of shoes!

'My race couldn't have gone any better', says Alex (above) who set the third-fastest HW half marathon of all time in Bath as part of his build up. He was required to swap the gold and scarlet of Hercules for a luminous orange vest on this occasion as part of Puma's Project3, through which selected runners in the Marathon were given the latest super shoes along with incentives for the first Puma athlete home, or a 3-minute PB – 'I achieved neither!' jokes Alex.  'I stuck with the slowest elite pacer, advertised as 2:14/15, and ticked off the early miles feeling pretty comfortable in a pack of six of us. Fuelling was going to plan and I stayed cool in the warm conditions by tipping water over my head at every opportunity. The halfway split of 67:09 was quicker than my 67:50 split from two years ago but I was still feeling really strong as others were starting to falter.

'The pacer dropped out at 17 miles so I led the few remaining guys and then broke away with a boost from my caffeine gel at 19 miles. The last 5km split of 15:42 was my fastest one and being in the privileged position of knowing that a big PB was on, I gave it everything to the line.

'The race I always dreamt of'

What a marathon debut for Freddie Hessian, first HW athlete home in the Championship wave in 2:21.49 and 23rd overall in the mass start. It was, he enthuses, 'a day to remember, a race I always dreamt of doing and it didn't disappoint. I've never been a high mileage guy so it was always going to be a big step up doing my first marathon, but my prep was solid and I was confident attacking a sub 2:20.

'The crowds and the atmosphere were like nothing I've ever experienced – it was the best race I've been in. Cutty Sark was the beginning of the chaos and sharing that with team-mate Charlie Sandison (who eventually finished in 2:23:19) was special. From then it just got louder and louder throughout. I loved every minute. Getting to halfway in 69:19 feeling good and then maintaining the pace up until 32-ish km was amazing. 

'I obviously faded in the last 10km but going in with no experience I felt proud of the race I executed and most of all, I learned so much for the next (hopefully) faster one. A big shoutout to all the Herc support on course, which was truly  memorable, and to Alex for an incredibly inspiring race. in the Elite race. To attack it like that in those conditions was top quality!'
 

A new mindset

Rounding the Cutty Sark with Freddie (above) was Charlie Sandison, running in his fifth London Marathon – but his first in a Hercules vest. Despite finishing adrift of his PB of 2:19:22 set in 2023 when running for his former club, Fulham, he professed himself to be 'really happy with the way the race went.

'This year, I took a different approach, partly because of an injury late last year which forced me to rethink my usual build-up,' he says. ‘I saw it as a chance to test out new ideas and focus less on chasing a specific time, which helped take some of the pressure off. The aim was to be more relaxed, keep the build sustainable, and still see what I could achieve. 'In the six weeks before tapering, I averaged 78 miles per week, with my biggest week being 91 miles about three weeks out. I also incorporated a lot more cross training which increased my overall volume to around 14 hours a week, combining running, cycling, swimming, and strength & conditioning, versus previous years when I have only averaged 10 hours a week.

'On race day, I set out with the idea that I might be able to get close to sub-2:20. However, by around 8 miles in, it already felt like I was working harder than I should have been at that stage, so I adjusted my strategy and accepted that sub-2:20 wasn’t going to happen. I saw my fellow clubmate Freddie Hessian disappear off ahead – a phenomenal debut from him – and the Herc support was unmatched, spearheaded by Finn Johnson. All in all, I learned a huge amount from this race, both in the build-up and on the day itself, probably more than from any other marathon build I’ve done. It’s given me a lot to take forward into future races'.

'The support was absolutely incredible'

''When the starting horn sounded a jolt of electricity went through my body', says Jonny Cornish, another stalwart of the Club's distance squad making the step up to the marathon for the first time.

'I knew that the first 5km or so was net downhill, a free hit, so I may as well use gravity to my advantage – that downhill section probably accounted for the positive first half splits of almost all our Hercules runners. Thankfully my legs and body felt pretty good and I was moving well, but come 5 miles the pace was picking up and I felt uneasy about going with it as there was a long way to go and the race could be a long and painful one. So I decided to hang back and keep locked in at 3:17/km pace. It was a key decision, although I was more or less in no man's land with only one other runner doing the same, but as the miles passed the crowds grew and the support was absolutely incredible! High-fives and shouts of support encouraged and lifted me. I was determined to enjoy the moment and take in the famed sights to stop myself fixating on the miles left to run.

'At 30km I felt a little jaded but motivated to keep going, especially as some of the athletes I'd run with at the start  were coming back to me now. I had only a vague sense of time and distance and didn't dare check my watch too frequently. Then Big Ben came into view: only 2km to go. I persuaded myself I felt good and aimed to up the pace and see how many I could overtake, but the next km dragged and with one to go the finish line still seemed so far away. Finally reaching the end of Birdcage Walk and rounding the golden statue I managed to muster a quicker finish and overtake a few runners in the last few yards to the line. An absolutely wonderful feeling’.

A Happy Man

Singled out by his peers for running a textbook race in the heat, Oli Carrington, who made his marathon debut in London last year, ran a negative split of 73:05/72:43 to slice almost six minutes off his previous PB and come home in 2:25:48. 

'If that's the peak of my running career I could retire as a happy man!', says Oli. 'Inspired by Alex Milne I'd been doing quite a lot of "heat training" in the build-up so I wasn't too worried about the warm weather. I planned to go through half way in 73:00, and hit it spot on, then everything just clicked from there.

Left, Oli Carrington and George Mallett

'A blurry grind to the finish'

In his first attempt at the London event, George Mallett finished a whisker outside his PB, in 2: 26:29. 'I was dousing myself in water at every station and felt I paced it pretty well with Sean Renfer from Highgate and Jonathan Poole from Serpentine. We decided to drop off the 2:24 group and hope they would come back to us. That plan worked until Canary Wharf where I got a bit excited and sped up, realising a few kilometres later that was quite a dumb move! Not long after that Oli (Carrington), who judged his race to perfection, came past. From then on it was a bit of a blurry grind to the finish', says George. 'I didn't implode too badly but the scenes down the embankment were a touch apocalyptic, with great runners walking and others having pretty difficult days.

'I ran 90 seconds slower for the second half but still moved from around 150th to 81st and just about caught up with Danny Cliffe, wearing his customary Newcastle United shirt, which was quite funny really – months of very boring planning from me and Danny (who had hoped for a better time and admitted the race was a struggle) goes out and gets the same time (both ran 2:26:29) in a black and white footy shirt on a hot day! When I heard Alex (Milne) had run 2:14 I needed a lie-down even more!

'In the end I was pleased enough, though even happier it was over, and it was a privilege to be a part of such a strong contingent of Herc vests at the front of the Championship race!  

On to the next one!

Dan Cliffe's sentiment that ‘there is always a next time’, was echoed by Fred Slemeck (right), who had been hoping to continue lowering his marathon PB, having run his first London event in 2023 in 2:25:53 and whittled it down to 2:23:31 last year, but found the conditions too testing .'You could already feel it was hot at the start', he says. 'Everyone was talking about adjusting the pace down to reflect the conditions but stupidly I didn’t, and suffered massively in the second half as a result.
 
'I felt good for 9 or 10 miles but then it started to feel harder than it should do at that stage. I tried to slow the pace down a bit in the hope of holding a solid time to the finish, but the damage was done and my legs really gave out at Canary Wharf – so for the last few miles I just tried to enjoy the crowd and great Herc support.  That’s the fun of the marathon! On to the next one!'

Grima's tales

This year's edition of the race was an amazing 17th for Claire Grima, and the 15th for husband Dave. The couple have traded PBs over the years. For Claire just getting to the line this April was testament to her love of this event, 'Having had a couple of weeks off with an injury in March, I never quite got back to feeling fully fit so all in all it was a great day', she says after coming home in 2:51.29  'The heat made it pretty tough but the crowds were amazing and seeing various friends and of course loads of the Herc supporters really made a huge difference'. As for Dave, who finished in 2:44;14. she says, 'training went really well but his time was five minutes off what he was hoping for – heat affected!' 

Below l-r: Claire Grima, Poppy Robson, Adam May, Ryan McAlister and Dave Grima

'Turns out no two marathons are the same – who knew!'

It was a second time out on the London streets for Poppy Robson, and she laughs, 'I assumed this year I would have the edge over last year, given my new wealth of experience!. However, turns out no two marathons are the same – who knew! – and this year’s race threw up some new challenges.

‘The aim was to go sub-3, set off at that pace and hold it for as long as possible. The first 10km felt like a breeze, the sun was quite pleasant at this point. Going through halfway faster than planned I thought I would be able to hold on and finish closer to 2:57, however the heat (I'm blaming it all on the heat) had other ideas. The second half was a bit of a slog and I was very relieved to find fellow Hercules runner Adam May at around 27km. Hanging onto Adam’s laces got me through and eventually I could see the Embankment. Not quite the race I had planned but I was very pleased to cross the line with a new PB of 2:59:11'.

'The best Marathon in the world'

Serial marathon runner Cassie (Wenjia) Chen embodies the spirit of the London Marathon. This was her third year in a row running the event – and last year's photo of her crossing Tower Bridge arms outstretched in glee will live long in the memory.

'Once again, the only thing hotter than the weather was the support from the home crowd', she says. 'I woke up with a cold and felt absolutely rubbish— so I knew it wasn’t going to be a PB day, but somehow I pulled off perfectly even splits: 1:38:13 /1:38:13. That’s the magic of London for you: honestly the BEST marathon in the world!

How they finished:  Alex Milne 2:14:03; Freddie Hessian 2:21:49; Charlie Sandison 2:23:19; Jonny Cornish 2:23:25; Oli Carrington 2:25:48; Dan Cliffe 2:26:29; George Mallett 2:26:29; Fred Slemeck 2:28:25; Richard McDowell (M45) 2:33:06; Rhys Boorman 2:33:19; Adam Moriarty 2:34:29; Tom Jervis 2:39:11; Alexandros Tsagkas 2:39:42 Simon Wade 2:44:05; Dave Grima  (W45)  2:44:14; Ed Mallett 2:44:58; Joe Clark 2:51:10; Claire Grima (W45) 2:51:29; Ryan McAlister 2:51:59; Adam May 2:58:13; Poppy Robson 2:59:11; Tom Cheetham (M55) 3:09:05; Cassie (Wenjia) Chen (W35) 3:16:26; Jan Barraclough 3:20:44; Charles Hampden-Smith (M60) 3:21:09; Kyle Spelman 3:23:37; Stefan Shipp 3:23:48; Brian Lynch 3:30:50; Stewart Bond 3:41:33; Isobel Deeley 3:45:18; Ben Revill (M50) 3:52:51; Orlando Bolt 4:10:15.

Other Marathons are of course available. In Manchester on the same day James Broderick (M50) clocked 2:40.39 in 57th and Adam Collins 2:48.53 in 218th, while in Blackpool Richard Evans ran 3:31.35 and was second M60 home. The following day Finn Johnson finished 40th in 2:46:09 over the tough, hilly course of the Belfast City Marathon, with Freya Hotten clocking 3:53.21. In Boston on 21 April Andrew Davies clocked 3:02:32.

Swift Halves

Alex Milne leapt into third on the all-time Club ranking list with 64:51 in Bath on 16 March, with three more HW athletes also in action: Kyle Spelman (84:52); John Townsend (M55 87:46); and Eloise Davies (88:26). In the Surrey Half in Woking Jonny Cornish ran 65:43, with Andrew Penney clocking a PB of 66:51 to go eighth on the HW all time list. Donovan Jones ran 84:28 in Fleet.

James Stockings won the Orion 15 Mile Race on 22 March in a time of 1:32.28. The 71 year old event sees athletes take on an undulating cross-country route around Epping Forest. James moved into the lead with six miles to go and took the win by almost four minutes.

Charlie Sandison competed in the Hillingdon 20 Mile race on 23 March, finishing a brilliant third in 1:48:57 in this, the longest-running 20-mile race in the UK which takes in four hilly laps around Finchley and Hillingdon. Also competing over 20 miles in the MK Festival of Running on 16 March, Adam May was 28th in 2:08:14.

Right: Andrew Penney was third home in the Rock n Roll Half on 26 April in 69.07, with NYC-based Dom Kiralyfi 7th in 73.05 and Liam White taking it easy back in 93.48 and 147th out of 4593 runners.

Let's hear it for the girls

Despite many of the Club's middle distance runners being absent due to the clash with the London Mini Marathon, the team still finished an excellent second to Guildford & Godalming  in the first Lily B (girls) League match of the season on 26 April at Wimbledon Park. A huge thanks to the team managers, officials, helpers and refreshment team for helping this very busy meeting run so smoothly.