Hope first home in "the London"

Ben Hope was our first man home in the London Marathon today, in a time of 2:31.45. He went through halfway in 1:15.14 and was 65th in the race. Other results: Bertie Powell 2:44.12 (1:14.27 halfway), M40 Matt Molloy 2:44.35 (1:20.06), M50 Iain Cumming 3:06.18 (1:25.39), M50 Steve Murray 3:12.17 (1:30.26), Maggie Powell 3:34.23 (1:37.21), Jon Long 3:49.01 (1:27.02) and Richard Hogg 3:52.14 (1:41.47). Rob Cox (1:27.14) and Harold Wyber (1:22.25) did not finish. A description of Dave Wardle's Brighton Marathon attempt the previous weekend is also included.

The athletes' own mini-reports will be added below as they come in.

"So it was a case of third time (3:34) not so fortunate for me (I have completed my last two marathons in 3:23 (Dublin 2009) and 3:13 (London 2010))! I started a little fast - was aiming for 7:15-7:30 pace but was doing 7 minutes per mile until mile four when I got a nasty stitch, which meant that I had to slow down; when that eventually eased up my legs were cramping and it was very much a case of fighting to keep on running and finish!! It was easily the most painful marathon I’ve done so far and was quite saddening after all the training I’ve put in but I am planning on doing some 10k’s and half marathons over the summer to boost morale and then maybe try again later this year or next year! Massive thanks to everyone who was there cheering- you really helped me round- especially to Mum and Dad and also Jonny- who made it to miles 9, 11, 15, 18 and 26, despite not being a Londoner!! Thanks to Bertie for the sponsorship, and thanks to Richard for his comment on the morning of the race of “I will finish, even if I have to crawl to the line” which stuck with me!!

Ben Hope

"Several minutes slower than my target which was disappointing. Having missed some training through illness, I ran my final long hard 24 mile training run just two weeks before the race. This was a mistake; I was not fully recovered on the start line and suffered tight calves and hammies throughout. Also a lot of people suffered in the heat which seemed to prevent good groups forming.

Despite all that, I was at least pleased to run a sensible race and my conservative start made the last 10 miles much more fun. I was also delighted just to be back in the action after the injury nightmares of last year.

Thank you for all the support on the course; it makes an enormous difference."

Matt Molloy

"At the upper end of my target, so happy, and a great test of the mind. Had some issues with cramping calf for 1st 13 miles and stitch at 24 miles, but battled through with no injury - halfway in 80, so a 4 min drop off, but that was me protecting myself rather than a death march!"

Steve Murray

"Pleased with my time of 3:12.17, which was under the "Good for Age" qualifier, i.e. sub 3 hrs 15 mins, which was my main aim. Did try for the 3 hour barrier, went through half way in 90 mins but suffered with heat but managed to avoid the wall. Excellent support from the club."

Bertie Powell

"I woke up not feeling 100% and I was lucky to finish. During mile 1 I had a tummy ache and tried to go with my plan [2hrs 30mins pace]. Then at mile 9 I had a gel, and that made my tummy ache worse, and I vomited 4 times, and then I changed my plan and went for sub 2hrs 45mins, and I got 2:44.12. I'll have another go next year."

Rob Cox

"No idea what happened to be honest. Felt great for 8 miles @ 6:30 pace, was chatting with Harold and Iain and it felt like jogging. Then I got a stomach pain just after mile 8 and suddenly started feeling bad. Vomited at mile 12, and all across Tower Bridge, struggled on regardless but felt worse and worse until I collapsed and blacked out at mile 18 and taken to a medical tent for an hour. Wanted to jog round the rest but dad wisely convinced me otherwise.

I'll definitely be back in future years but to be honest I haven't really enjoyed the training which has dominated my winter, and am looking forward to getting back to speedier stuff on the roads and track."

Harold Wyber

"Well, I can't exactly say that my marathon attempt today went swimmingly, or runningly, for that matter. I did manage to make it to the finish, although this was in the sweeper coach, rather than running; essentially, I blacked out at around mile 19 (Canary Wharf) due to hyperthermia, with a temperature of around 40 or 41, which I understand is quite high.

In retrospect, this was my own silly fault; I arguably hadn't trained enough, hadn't taken on enough water, and had gone off too fast. Admittedly, by shortly after halfway I suspected I wouldn't be on for my target time of 2:45. If you re-read my event details chat about not thinking that finishing alone would be a challenge, you'll probably note a fair dollop of hubris.

If anyone who's already donated does feel that I've let them down, I can only apologise; as mentioned above, my preparation and approach could have been much better. For those who haven't donated and wish to make a sympathy offering, my Virgin Money Giving page is still open for donations at http://www.facebook.com/l/0e8d5ODKrSZzpcKtC6khuw2uzhA/uk.virginmoneygiving.com/HaroldWyber.

Looking ahead, I fully intend to make a hopefully more successful attempt at the race next year (after first getting a medical check up to ensure the incident wasn't due to underlying factors; hey, I don't want to recklessly waste the time and efforts of medical staff and volunteers). When I do, I hope to run in aid of the St John's Ambulance, to whom, along with the London Marathon medical and NHS staff, I owe a huge debt of gratitude.

Once again, many thanks to everyone who had already donated in aid of my 2011 charity, CLIMB."

Dave Wardle  (Brighton Marathon sub 2.20 attempt)

"It was all a bit disappointing to be honest. Was only made aware at the pre-race meeting that only Dan Robinson's group would have help with the pace, so we were pretty much on our own. Toby Lambert wanted to go out in 68 flat which I decided was too quick for me so I set off with Mike Aspinall. By 3 miles we were off the pace and I decided to press on. It was very warm even by 9.30 and Richard Nerurkar had told us to look at running to halfway in around 90-120 secs slower than we had wanted to because of the heat. To be honest i didn't want to do that, I didn't want to run 2.24/25 again, so just decided to stick with my plan.

The first half of the course was much tougher than expected, if you look at the splits Dan R couldn't even hold a 67, I ran about 69.40 I think but I had been on my own from 5 miles and felt like I was 'racing' rather than 'running' far too early. I caught Toby at 13 and he dropped out at 13.5 so I was on my own from about 4 right through to 21, the gap in front was about 80 seconds and behind about 60 at 16 miles. I ran as fast a mid race as anybody else in the race, from 6 through to 16/17 I was going well and felt ok but it was pretty hot. At 18 I had a drink and threw it straight back up and was sick again at 19 without drinking, I still didn't feel awful but I felt a bit weak. At 20-21 I was sick again and started to feel pretty rough and was aware that I wasn't sweating anymore and my face was crusted in salt. I stopped at 22 at an ambulance and they gave me some dextro and I sat in the back for about 20 minutes.

Frustratingly i feel almost completely recovered, I had none of the issues i've had in the past with my quads and my blood sugar but think it was just a number of circumstances that contributed to having a rough day. I was aware very early that i was working harder than I should be. At 2 miles (10.42) I felt the way I would in a half, in other words 'racing', I put it down to feeling heavy after a taper and I did get better as the race went on but I don't think you should even be thinking about running aggressively in the first half and I was aware already at 5 miles that it was a tough day and I was going to have to gut it out. If I feel ok running later in the week I'll probably do Edinburgh. We'll see."