2005 London Marathon and Paris Marathon

London Marathon

Twenty Farnham Runners completed the 25th London Marathon and between them they raised over £10,000 for charity.

Cheered by a good weather forecast, they set off from Farnham looking forward to a memorable race in a carnival atmosphere. They were certainly not disappointed by crowd support, which was particularly strong this year, along the entire 26.2 mile route.

Goals varied: to achieve a personal best time, to enjoy the day, to complete the course, to raise money for charity.

In his third marathon, Mike Anderson almost achieved his dream of a sub 3 hour result, perhaps denied by the warm conditions that slowed his pace slightly during the last seven miles. His time of 3 hours 1 minute 28 seconds placed him 1203rd of around 33,000 finishers.

Next, among the top 2000 finishers, came a jubilant Dan Smith (1963rd, 3.10.36) whose rigorous training regime helped him to deduct 24 minutes from his previous best.

Charles Ashby had included more long runs in his training and paced himself well for a personal best of 3.18.48 (2773rd).

Not far behind him was Jane Georghiou in 3.19.29, a time that earned her 189th ladies’ position of over 8000 and 8th place in her age group. She was sponsored for Bell’s Piece, the Cheshire Home in Farnham.

Vince Crowley clocked up number eleven in his tally of consecutive London Marathons but lack of time for preparation meant he could not hope for his usual sub 3 hour target so he decided to soak up the atmosphere. What for him was jogging pace still got him round in a respectable 3.28.14 and he raised funds for Bell’s Piece too.

Terry Steadman only narrowly missed his 3.30 target (3.31.11) but he was pleased with this creditable time. Jo Edson overcame injury worries to speed round to a new pb of 3.42.50, raising funds for charity with her run. Richard Baldock suffered cramp at 19 miles but was still comfortably inside 4 hours (3.53).

The remarkable John Applebee completed the distance for the second time in a month in under four hours (3.58.44). This was for him just a training race for the forthcoming 56 mile Comrades Marathon in South Africa in June, for which he is collecting sponsor money on behalf of Leukaemia Research.

Gemma Mitchell has included speed work in her training schedule to good effect, and finished only three minutes away from her 4 hour target (4.03.44).

Melanie Hill and Claire Cantwell spurred on each other in training and raising money for Bell’s Piece, collecting almost £2000 between them. In their first marathon they secured creditable times of 4.21.34 and 4.22.18 respectively.

A delighted Sally Lawrence took four minutes away from her previous best to reach the finish in 4.25.17 and raise £3,000 for Disability Challengers.

David Ballard took things steadily for a sedate 4.28.36. Tim Cummins achieved a new PB of 4.49.39 in his second marathon, with Angela Ballard following in 4.52.49.

New member Jamie Ferguson raised £2,200 for Great Ormond Street in his debut marathon of 5.05.13. Christian Vaughan was forced to slow from his usual pace and settle for 5.05.25 in a determined effort to complete the course for £1,200 for the CHASE Hospice Service. He was followed by Steve Pound (5.08.50) whose run will benefit his chosen charity to the tune of £1,500.

Margot Creswell enjoyed her first marathon and raised over £1,000 for Leukaemia Research as she did so (6.27.19).

Paris Marathon

Five Farnham Runners took part in the Paris Marathon on April 10th. On a cold day Michael Rix proved his fitness with a superb time of 2.54.21 for 787th place out of 29,700 finishers.

New member Peter Fane put in a detemined effort for an excellent 3.31.29 and 6,970th position. David Lloyd suffered from injury problems but managed a very respectable 4.01.11. Sara Fitzgerald (4.05.06) had a very successful run to deduct two minutes from her debut London marathon time last year, while Sarah Buckle (4.12.55) took an incredible 47 minutes from her London Marathon time of 2003.