ATHLETICS: Fantastic performances in hottest London Marathon

On Sunday a record 30 athletes from Rugby & Northampton Athletic Club completed the 26.2 miles of the London marathon in hot and sunny conditions.

Leading Rugby-based athlete was Rugby School teacher Andrew Siggers, running for Kenilworth Harriers, who started off at an incredible pace. Despite slowing in the latter stages Andrew finished an outstanding 47th place overall out of the 40,000 runners in an unbelievable time of 2hrs 29.45.

First for R&N AC was Stephen Marks in 155th position (14th in the Masters category) in 2-39. Stephen started steadily and used his endurance base from Ultra running to wade through the field, overtaking dozens of tiring elite athletes in the final few miles.

Next Rugby-based athlete was endurance expert Hywel Davies. Hywel started at a really fast pace but the hot conditions took their toll - despite this, he still recorded an excellent time of 2-41.

Alistair McDonnell was next over the line for R&N. Alistair has been in impressive form this winter, breaking all personal bests and despite an injury-hit final few weeks of training, managed a PB time of 2-44.

Next across the line came Dean Oldfield, who seemed to cope best of all with the conditions as he sped to an outstanding time of 2-47, finishing alongside Alistair Smith (representing Coventry) who was making his debut over the longer distance.

Jon Taylor finished in 2-56, three minutes ahead of first R&N AC female finisher Tori Green. Tori ran 2-59 and was 39th female finisher overall - an outstanding performance.

Matt Carrol and Paul Furness both recorded times just outside 3hrs and were followed closely by the next two female Rugby athletes, Amy Sarkies and Victoria Nealon in 3-08 and 3-13 respectively.

Zoe Shepherd finished in 3-44 whilst Alison Cobb and Helen Jones both ran really well to finish just over the 4hrs mark.

Richard Mason completed the 26.2 miles in just over 5hrs whilst Robin Brotherwood finished in a time just over 7hrs - an excellent personal achievement in his first ever longer race.

Guide Runner Simon Elliott ran the first 18 miles with blind runner Agata Cienciala, before being forced to hand over to another Guide Runner due to injury, despite which still completing the course in 5 hrs 43.

The club is justifiably proud of the achievements and continued success of the Ladies Running Group, which grows from strength to strength.

Seven of the group trained long and hard over the winter to compete in their first ever marathon - an ambitious task, as most are relatively new to running, some having previously not run further than 10K.

The London team, which was made up of Annie Hegarty, Jean Langham, Christine Jerams, Louise Hughes and Robina Wilson, set out to soak up the atmosphere and enjoy the event.

All ran brilliantly and were thrilled to complete the course in very respectable times and take home their first ever marathon medal. Superb personal achievements for them all.

Huge congratulations to all those who took part in the hottest London marathon ever.

# Rugby’s Ready Steady 5k Fun Run celebrates its 10th anniversary this year. It is being organised by Rugby Round Table in conjunction with the Ladies Running Group at Rugby & Northampton AC on Sunday, May 20.

Raising funds for the athletics club and worthy local causes, it is open to male and female runners of all abilities aged 8 upwards.

Registration details can be found via the Facebook event page or at www.randnac.org.

The early bird entry fee of £10 for adults, £5 for U16s ends at midnight on Sunday (April 29), rising to £12 and £6 after that. On the day entries cost £15 for adults and £6 U16s.