ATHLETICS: 14 R&N athletes run London Marathon

LONDON MARATHON

APRIL 24TH 2016

Rugby & Northampton AC had 14 athletes completing the London Marathon with half of them breaking the three-hour barrier.

Leading them home was Stephen Marks with a superb time of 2 hours 42 mins 42 secs to finish in 420th place overall. The 38-year-old finished almost seven minutes ahead of Dave Rayfield whose time of 2-49:34 in 814th position put the 50-year-old 23rd in his age category.

Chris Lamb was the next man over the line for R&N in 947th spot with a time of 2-51:31 and Dean Oldfield recorded 2:56:58 for 1519th, while Daniel Mould was fifth home for the club in 2-57:24 (1584th).

The first lady for R&N was Amy Sarkies who claimed 58th place when she was timed at 2-57:25 and she was followed by Sally Baker who also dipped inside three hours in 86th spot with 2-59:49, which clinched seventh in the W45 age group.

The youngest athlete from the club taking part was Conor Hills. Making his marathon debut, the 22-year-old recorded 3-01:30 (2206th).

Ladies club cross country champion Tamara Hardman completed the race in 121st position with 3:04:02 to also finish 13th in the over 45 section and not far behind was Jonathan Sarkies in 3-04:53 (2584th).

Adrian White recorded 3-11:33 (3426th) and held off Dame Kelly Holmes until the final 2k before the double Olympic Champion went past to finish just six seconds ahead.

Finishing in a time of 3-12:54 was long serving Rugby stalwart Pete Thomas in 3620th place overall and almost two minutes adrift was Vicky Nealon claiming 347th position in the ladies race with 3-14:49, while Tim Coffey crossed the finish in 3-51:15 (11406th).