Marathon effort from Ryston members

It was Mega Marathon weekend last weekend, with both the London and Manchester events taking place on the same day.Unsurprisingly, there were several Ryston Runners involved in both events, with one, the irrepressible Jane Ashby, topping her category (F75) in the capital.Ashby, the club’s oldest competitor in the race, ran 4:44:58 (80%).Jane met this impressive achievement with her usual humility and modesty, but should not be underestimated.Three sub-three-hour runs were recorded by the club’s representatives, both in London, with Matthew Thrower posting the fastest, finishing in a PB of 2:55:39, followed by Dan Yallop with a PB time of 2:56:38, before Dan Guppy finished his race in 2:59:03.Next home was Amy Southam, posting a new club SF record of 3:02:33, the same time as recorded by her brother, Will Chapman, taking another minute and a half off her own mark.Of the next club finishers, six were female: Dawn Robinson 3:19:38, Lesley Robins 3:26:45, Julie Williamson 3:33:27, Kirsty Butters 3:39:45, Molly Sands 3:49:33, and Hayley Hawes 4:02:29. Gatecrashing this “Hen Party” were Nic Bensley, 3:36:01, and James Ord, 3:49:33. Nic and Molly were the recipients of the club’s two “discretionary” places in this year’s race, adding extra motivation to their running.Bensley, a long-serving member who has made a quietly significant contribution to many of the club’s activities over several years, said it had provided him with extra motivation to up his training and focus after moving up an age group at the end of last year.Sands wrote movingly of her being chosen to receive this opportunity, saying she became a Ryston member for the first time 10 years ago because of her father, who, sadly died a few months later. She said: “I signed up to my first GEAR that same year (after me telling him I would never be able to run 10k) and since then I haven’t really stopped running.”Running has helped me so much with my grief, which I think a lot of people will understand. “Being part of Ryston really makes me so happy. Since rejoining after uni, whether it be at track, on a race start line or in the supermarket, it’s been so nice to have a community of people that are so friendly and supportive.”I think my Dad will be smiling down and happy to know that taking me along to Shouldham with him 10 years ago led to this.” Dani Sparkes, running under the banner of her university team, ran 4:10:08.Kevin Howlett had been trying to get a place in the London Marathon for 15 years and was about to call it a day, when he was finally successful in the ballot and made his debut at 67 years old, finishing in 4:38:45.At the other extreme of marathon experience, having well over 100 under his belt, several of them in London, Eamonn McCusker (M70) finished in 5:16:41.Matthew Hitchcock didn’t have his best experience at this event, being on the verge of collapse at one point, but battled on to finish in 4:56:07.Results and Ryston information from the Manchester Marathon were somewhat trickier to come by, but have revealed at least three PBs and some very satisfying debut marathon runs. The fastest time reported from there was that recorded by Chris Chaplin who, improved on his last year’s time by 15 minutes, and clocked 3:05:33.Steve Bennington ran a PB of 3:23:26, Chris Cann bagged a PB of 3:39:47, but the ‘Queen of PBs’ on the day was probably Lucy McDowie with almost a half hour improvement to 4:07:53.Those breaking four hours also included George Pettit 3:52:00, and Ellen Ferrie 3:54:25.James Trim posted 4:17:40 for his debut over 26.2 miles. Anna Smith recorded 4:33:20. Matty Parker ran a PB of 4:32:47, and Kathryn Parker, another first timer, 5:29:16.Christopher Brockbank, hampered by the recurrence of a knee injury, pushed through to cross the finish line in 5:53:41, before debutante marathoners Mia Howard and Maisie Cupit notched up their first finishes of 6:03:33 at Manchester.