London Marathon: updated
2013 London Marathon results.
Women: Sara Bird 2:46.42
Men: Harold Wyber 2:35.36; Simon James 2:37.20; U20 Lorcan Murphy 2:46.14; Tim Prendergast (Paralympic World Cup, visually impaired - New Zealand news item) 2:48.34; M40 Matt Molloy 2:55.16; George Lloyd 3:10.29; Jon Long 3:17.31; M50 Iain Cumming 3:18.59; M50 Alun Evans 3:19.17; M45 Martin Mack 3:40.46; M50 Grant Corton 3:44.42; M55 Stuart Phillips 4:38.27.
This page will be updated as and when athletes submit reports.
Harold Wyber: Link to report
Sara Bird was a superb 9th in the women's race. She writes, "Happy with the performance. First half of the race I felt really good so was running some good mile splits but then the second half was slower, hit the wall at about mile 18. But it was personal best by some 17-18 minutes!!"
Matt Molloy: "Pleased with my run and always felt on the right side of the red line. Pace faded, but bang on my plan in terms of feel/heart rate so happy."
Iain Cumming: Late decision to run London as preparation for the Edinburgh Marathon in 5 weeks' time. Was inside his 3.15 target for a long time but it slipped away when he started cramping on the Embankment. Relatively pleased nonetheless.
Martin Mack: "It was too hot for a ginger! Came in at a very disappointing 3:42. Training went well and I was injury free and slightly fitter than last year when I did 3:15:50. So 3:15 I felt was a realistic target and I managed to stay on this pace until ½ way but I then started to occasionally feel light headed and was sweating profusely. At 16 I started walking as I felt a little dizzy. From then I was walking a little every mile. Not much fun for me but the crowds were amazing on the course, the biggest and the loudest I’ve known. I think I’ll watch next year and cheer on Mo Farah."
Grant Corton: Overtraining/miscalculated taper made pre marathon week more nerve racking than necessary and had me booking sports massages, having ice baths, foam rolling like a lunatic and finally browsing the deferral pages on Thursday. Things had improved marginally by Saturday and, although lead legged, thought I’d at least make it round, although not in targeted time of 3.30. Making it round was especially important as I had pledged my ballot place to raise funds for the HOPE for Children charity . Plan B was to stick to a 3.45 pace and see what happened . This worked well and aided by a new underreading Garmin footpod saw me finish in 3.44.42 despite a big fade over the last few miles.
Stuart Phillips: My time was 4:38:27; slower than I had hoped (4hrs). The race was much tougher than I had expected. My training had gone well, I thought. I had followed my schedule very closely, and had done my long run at 20 miles, rather than the 18 suggested. I felt in good shape and was quite convinced that I would make my target time of 4 hours. I had a race plan, which worked brilliantly - for the first 15 miles.
The first part of the race was more difficult than I'd realised - inexperience here - because of the sheer numbers. At various points the course bottlenecked, and I had to slow down or chop my stride on a number of occasions. Nevertheless, I ran at a steady pace of around 9 minute miling. 10 miles in 89 minutes, half in 1:58, 15 miles in 2:15; each of my first five K splits was around 28 minutes.
As I got onto the Isle of Dogs I got the first tell tale signs that all was not well, and once I got to Canary Wharf just past the 18 mile mark, the wheels came off. I began to get cramps in calves, hamstrings, and in muscles that I hadn't previously known existed! I was forced into a pattern of stopping to stretch, walking, jogging slowly for very short distances, before having to repeat the process. At one point I really thought I was going to have to drop out. The thought of missing my medal after all the hard training, the amount of support, including financial, that I had received from so many people, and the thought of what Ben would say kept me going. From 18 - 21 miles it was really hard. From then I managed to keep up a jog - albeit very slow - to the end. It was still a great feeling to cross that finishing line.
I got great support around the course. Many people recognised the Woodford vest and called encouragement. Tony Pamphillon screamed support at me on the Highway between miles 21 and 22 which really picked me up. Tom and Ben followed me around the course, and encouraged me form on top of bus shelters, up lampposts and, at one point on the Isle of Dogs, when the going was beginning to get tough, jogging along with me.
I thought I had trained enough, but clearly not. I need to start banging out more miles, if I'm going to do it again. I can't have more than four and a half hours as my pb.