ATHLETICS: It's a hot run for Dursley athletes at the London Marathon

For some, illness and injury made the preparation a mountain in its own right. The race saw temperatures at around 20 degrees at the start of the race.

The attempt by Mary Keitany to break to woman’s record held by Paula Radcliffe ended unsuccessfully. Keitany and Dibaba both were working hard and initial split times suggested a world record.

Dibaba was first to pull up with Keitany then slowing, initially dropped by the pacemakers and then passed dramatically by Vivian Cheruiyot who judged her race perfectly, finishing very strongly.

The same could be said of Eliud Kipchoge of Kenya who just kept exerting pressure on his competitors gradually pulling away leaving Shura Kitata Tola and Mo Farah trailing in his wake, both having to work hard to finish.

Farah broke Welshman Steve Jones’ 1983 British Record in the process. It was an education into how to run a marathon, and the dangers of pushing beyond one’s limits.

For the first three Dursley finishers – Mike Crompton, Neil Hodgson and Pete Chaffer – the pacing suggested a similar story of fast starts and then hard work at the end.

Hodson felt that he had started “sensibly” whilst he said: “Adjusted halfway and from 20, it was about getting a t-shirt and medal. It was hot. Massive respect to anyone running.”

Crompton was first home for Dursley RC in a time of two hours 58:48mins and, whilst a slower time than last year, he moved forward a massive 202 places overall and 105 in category and felt it was one of his best ever marathons.

Margaret Johnson ran DRC’s race of the day, and in terms of age category, was only bettered by Tony Wooldridge in recent years.

The run was exquisitely timed, after the fast downhill start, Margaret settled down to bang out 5K splits in just under 25:30mins, to record a fabulous time of three hours 35:20mins and placed 31st in category.

Following Margaret, Mark Sprigings and Andy Hara could not replicate the form of their recent marathon and Brighton marathons and did well to get around.

Kate Browning another multiple marathoner clocked up number 71.

Just in front of Kate, North Easterner Steve Watson likened conditions to the Sahara. He worked hard to get in under four hours as did Trish Mansell, first of the debut marathoners to finish.

After Andy Hara, Damian Lai finished again with another top effort for someone whose training had gone nowhere near as planned with stress fracture and a chest infection getting in the way.

Adrian Whitwell was next to finish in just under five hours.

Training partners Nicki Squire and Lucy Fairall finished four minutes apart on chip time. It was then a short wait for Kevin Fowkes, Emma Owen and Kelly Gabb, who should all be so proud of themselves, not just for the effort on the day but for the training that go them to the finish line.

Kelly Gabb described its as “the hardest and most painful thing I have ever done.”

Results: Mike Crompton , 02:58:48, 970, (631stSenM); Neil , Hodgson , 03:18:32, 2779, (367th M45); Pete Chaffer , 03:24:50, 3581, (87th M55); Margaret Johnson , 03:35:20, 5120, (31st F50); Mark Sprigings , 03:48:18, 7257, (2739th SenM); Steve Watson , 03:53:08, 8168, (1061st M45); Kate Browning , 03:55:50, 8749, (275th F45); Trish Mansell , 03:59:13, 9530, (451st F40); Andy Hara, 04:10:43, 11635, (4062nd SenM); Damian Lai , 04:24:57, 14720, (2066th M40); Adrian Whitwell , 04:55:25, 21877, (7202nd SenM); Nicky Squire, 05:09:19, 25056, (4319th SenW); Lucy Fairall, 05:13:08, 25818, (1587th F40); Kevin Fowkes, 05:32:11, 29791, (3419th M40); Emma Owen, 05:45:34, 32140, (6280th SenW); Kelly Gabb, 06:20:20, 36558, (7685th SenW) Meanwhile down in Southampton, Dave Saunders and Sam Hill tackled the marathon distance with Saunders in a post box outfit.

Hill completed the distance with a great effort completed in just over six hours.

Saunders finished an amazing 20th in his V60 age category.

Results: Dave Saunders , 05:17:06, 912th , 20th V60; Sam Hill , 06:07:45, 1057th , 268th SenW A number of Dursley RC runners chose to run nearer to home at Cattle Country at one of Aspire events which were held over the 5K, 10K and fun runs distances.

In the 5K, James Price, recovering from injury had sensibly opted to drop down to the shorter distance powering to victory in 21:38mins.

Also completing 5K were Katrina Fletcher and Soos Moss.

In the 10K, Nigel Sankey, Richard Hogg and Francois Low lined up at the front of the field, Sankey pulled out a 15 second gap on his DRC compatriots on the first lap, managing to increase the time back to Low and Hogg eventually crossing the line in eighth place (46:15mins) with Hogg tenth (46:51mins) and Low 11th (46:56mins).

Jim Moss, Catherine Fay, Deb McFarland and Rach Goatman Thomas also completing the course.

This week saw 32 Dursley Running Club athletes at Parkrun events.

The warm conditions precluding many PBs, but Annie Harris, with 17:22mins at Wotton and Emily Harding, 39:11mins, at Thornbury bucked the trend with bests.

There were a number of quick runs around the twenty minute mark with Joe Bill running 20:46mins at Cheltenham.

Andy Truswell did 20:23mins at Chipping Sodbury and Nigel Sankey ran 20:20mins at Seaton. But all were eclipsed by Matt Rogers’ 19:45mins at Wotton topping age grading with 71.81 per cent. Shona Darley was quickest female DRC Parkrunner in 23:15mins (AG 67.17 per cent)