All marathons were on Sunday, 27th April:
TCS London Marathon 2025: Nine Joggers represented the club in the official London event, while four more did a ‘virtual’ London Marathon their own way, on local routes in or near Newmarket.
First of the Joggers home in London, with an electrifying run, was Neil Pollard (2:32:24, 260th of 56,518 overall, 13th of 4,084 in M45-49, age grade 87.00%), just short of his all-time PB (2:31:56) at Chester in 2022. He kept up a notably high cadence of 194 strides per minute, for an average pace of 5:49/mi (3:37/km) and an average stride length of 1.43m; this combination appears to get the most out of his strong but light and nimble body frame. Not far behind and in impressive form was Mark Hayward (2:43:29, 881st, 137th of 4,710 in M40-44, 79.11%), with his marathon PB remaining 2:32:33 in London last year.
Above left: Wendy Ancill, Mark Geddie, Paul Holley & Ellie Bithell in start area after coach arrived.
For our female Joggers, Carol Cienna Carter (3:29:45, 1,708th of 24,768F, 77th of 2,440 in F50-54, 77.27%) was in excellent form and did very well in her age group. Her best time in London was 3:17:33 last year, when she also clocked her 3:15:25 marathon PB in Valencia. Second female Jogger home was Ellie Bithell (3:48:44, 3,684th F, 465th of 3,032 in F45-49) who did a great job, but found it tougher than the Malta Marathon earlier this year, where she set a marathon PB of 3:43:55.
Above left: Approaching Tower Bridge in the London Marathon; middle: Approaching the finish line; right: Ellie Bithell at the finish area. Thanks to Matty Wisbey (ex-Jogger running in the Marathon) and to Ellie for the great photos on Strava.
Rounding up the other Joggers in order of finishing, they were: Paul Holley (3:26:55, 262nd of 2,145 in M55-59), Ross Birkett (3:27:18, 3,320th of 15,075 in M18-39), Mark Geddie (4:24:04, 930th of 2,145 in M55-59), Wendy Ancill (5:00:13, 1,285th of 2,440 in F50-54) and Caroline Mcintosh (5:56:11, 58th of 108 in F70-74). All performed well in their age groups. Caroline put in a courageous effort but was just outside a London Marathon qualifying time (~5h:50m) for F70-74 in 2026; she hopes to have another crack in the Nova Scotia Marathon in Canada later this year.
Above: Mark & Wendy with medals; right: The medal. Thanks for photos.
In the virtual London Marathon, the finishers were: James Thomson (4:20:08, 100/440 in M18-39), Gillian Green (7:03:52, 64/124 in F60-64), Sarah Last (7:13:08, 213/332 in F50-54) and Chris Aylmer (7:32:37, 11/21 in M70-74). All seemed to enjoy the challenge. In the Mini Marathon for juniors on the Saturday, Jeremy Reader was there with his son Jude. No results are currently at hand but we have some pictures below.
Above: Sarah Last & Gillie Green by the Welly in virtual London Marathon; right: Jeremy Reader and his son Jude at the Mini London Marathon. Thanks for photos.
Manchester Marathon: Three Joggers took this race on. First home in his first ever marathon, and in great form, was Shane Mcandrew (3:46:21, 5,734th of 23,848 overall, 868th of 2,497 in M18-39), though he did hit a bit of a wall at about 20 miles, like so many others. Then came John Bramhill (4:09:37, 9,543rd, 449th of 1,020 in M50-54) and Meera Mahadevan (4:47:35, 3,902th of 7,876 F, 212th of 529 in F50-54), with excellent efforts. There seems no doubt that all will improve significantly with experience, after these promising results.
Above: Meera Mahadevan in Manchester Marathon. Thanks for photos.
Shakespeare Marathon, Stratford-upon-Avon: Rob Hawkins (4:34:06, 739th of 1,153 overall, 13th of 21 in M60-64) took on this picturesque route for his first ever marathon attempt, having trained hard over the last few months, with plenty of long runs thrown in. It was a good result, despite losing significant pace in the closing stages. He will surely improve on this solid foundation, with the experience he has gained.
Above left: Rob Hawkins finishing Shakespeare Marathon; right: with medal after race. Thanks for photos.
ROUND UP OF OTHER RACES
Four Joggers tried out the Little Lifts 10K/20K/30K trail event in North Norfolk on Saturday 26th April. It was quite a tough, hilly course, with some difficult, shingle paths. In the 10K, Angela Drury (57:22, 35/192 overall, 11/130F, 2nd of 39 in F40-49) enjoyed a good run, followed by Anna Mayhew (1:07:38, 55th F, 10/27 in F50-59). In the 20K, Steve Oglesby (1:56:22, 25/86 overall) and Hanneli Stevenson (1:56:23, 7/50F, 4/22 in F40-49) ran together for mutual support.
Above left: The start of the 10K Little Lifts race; right: Angela Drury (131 in left photo) and Anna Mayhew (48) with medals, with some very nice architecture behind.
TRACK EVENTS
There were East Anglian League organised track events at Bury St Edmunds and Cambridge on Sunday April 27th. Official results are still not easily searchable on the Power of 10 site, but Phil Blundell fortunately found a magic link to the results at Bury St Edmunds, where the Steeplechase, Walks & Endurance Festival took place.
At the Festival, three Newmarket Joggers entered the 3km Race Walk out of a total of 10 competitors. Sophie Blundell (18:46.60 PB, 1st of 3 in U15W, 68.08%) and Lily-Ann Cooper (21:23.78 PB, 3rd in U15W, 58.58%) both did very well to set new PB times in this event. Suzanne Bailey (22:35.85, 2nd in W60, 64.31%) also did well, though her PB time remains at 22:14.48, at the Race Walk Conference in Cambridge last year. All these Joggers have been improving their race walking technique steadily over the past year.
In the 1500m Steeplechase event, Cerys Bithell (5:23.11 PB, 3rd of 11 overall, 2nd U20W), had an excellent run in only her second attempt at this event. Her time in the BSE Festival last year was 5:50.61, so a vast improvement on an already good time.
Above: Suzanne Bailey after her 3km race walk. Thanks for photo.
The results for the East Anglian League track & field event at Cambridge, in which around 13 Newmarket Joggers took part, are not yet available. Andrew Sandeman did report that he unfortunately suffered a hamstring injury in the 4 x 100m relay and could not pass the baton on to the next runner, except by throwing it, which resulted in disqualification. Hopefully Andrew will recover soon and the Joggers had more luck in the other events.