Members of Beverley Athletic Club are celebrating after achieving a record number of personal bests in a marathon in the inaugural Hull Marathon which took place last Sunday.
Although it was Matt Chadwick’s first marathon he was the first Beverley runner to cross the finishing line. He finished in 25th place overall in an excellent time of 3:00:22.
He said:
“Overall I enjoyed the event and am pleased for the other runners in the club who all performed well.”
The first Beverley lady to finish was Zoe Dale. She crossed the line in an impressive 3:24:26 and was eighth lady overall and fourth in the F40–49 category.
Julie Donald had a good run in Hull but finished 9 minutes after Dale. She was 14th lady and 6th F40-49. She was followed in 15th place by Lucy Stamford who ran well despite suffering from a heavy cold.
Those recording new personal bests did so in style beating their previous best times by a significant margin: Andrew Brant – 24 minutes, Debs Brant – 6 minutes, Chris Dunn – 30 minutes, Steve Hadley – 22 minutes, Jody Horth – 15 minutes and Helen Storr – 23 minutes.
Mark Walsh’s target was to finish in less than 3:15 and he beat this by seven minutes. He felt that he could have finished earlier if he had paced himself better and not set off too fast.
It was Brian Lazenby’s first marathon and he beat his target time of 3:30 by 4 minutes – an impressive time for a first attempt at this distance.
Frank Harrison chose to run for his first claim club, City of Hull, but his friends at his second claim club, Beverley AC, will be delighted that he completed the course in a very respectable time of 4:59:52 as the only M70+ in the race. Beverley’s John Boardley will be joining the 70+ age group later this year. He finished just in front of Harrison in a commendable 4:55:13.
With many Beverley AC members watching or acting as marshals there was lots of encouragement on the route. Lucas Meagor paid tribute to club mates and said:
“Fantastic support from Beverley AC across the course as numerous club members were out and travelled the course to cheer us on.”
James Pearson and Rob Snaith volunteered as pacemakers and ran at what was for them a more leisurely pace to help others achieve their goals. “I really enjoyed myself,” said Rob Snaith “and got quite a lot to the time they wanted.”
There were 876 finishers and the race was won by Phill Taylor of Bridlington Road Runners in 2:31:29. The first lady was Dawn Broom of Barnsley Harriers in 3:08:51.
Reported by Kay Farrow
Beverley AC finishing times:Matt Chadwick 3:00:22; Mark Walsh 3:08:37; Lucas Meagor 3:21:25; Zoe Dale 3:24:26; Brian Lazenby 3:26:46; Andrew Brant 3:29:10; Julie Donald 3:33:51; Jody Horth 3:34:29; Lucy Stamford 3:34:27; Philip Buckley 3:49:20; Neal Madden 3:51:51; Helen Storr 3:52:55; Steve Hadley 3:57:18; Debs Brant 3:59:48; Amanda Ritchie 4:04:42; Chris Dunn 4:09:08; Graham Wright 4:28:24; John Boardley 4:55:13; Frank Harrison 4:59:52.
Beverley AC PacemakersJames Pearson 3:26:45 (Pace 3:30); Rob Snaith 3:55:44 (Pace 4:00).
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