Colchester Harriers athletes made the most of almost perfect running conditions to enjoy a successful day at this year’s TCS London Marathon.

Altogether 15 green vests completed the 26.2 mile course with Ryan Day the first to finish, breaking the tape in 2:38:12 to finish in the top 500 overall after executing a perfectly paced race.  Rosie Wild was next home for Colchester, the 31 year old running 2:43:40 in only her second marathon to take 6 minutes off her Personal Best (PB) and finish a remarkable 16^th out of over 20,000 women competitors. 

Nate Filer (2:48:30) and Andrew Jobling (2:57:24) were the other Colchester runners to break the three-hour barrier, whilst Jerry Walder ran a perfectly judged 3:01:14 (PB) and Chris Pugh posted 3:01:21 on debut to finish just outside.  Mark Howard faded slightly in the latter stages to finish with 3:06:08, with Jay Waite, hampered by cramp recording 3:09:00, the same time as Mark McKeown (on pacing duties). 

Chris Stevenson, another to pace his run perfectly, took 10 minutes off his PB to clock 3:18:06, whist Kat Rigby (3:28:44), Dom Briggs (3:37:37) and Ellie Cumner (3:58:12) and Sue Waller (4:08:43) all enjoyed their marathon debuts with Lily Gilby, despite not feeling very well, coming home in 4:26:32.

Meanwhile in the 2.6 Kilometre Mini-London Marathon held the previous day, Lyla Belshaw continued her remarkable run of form to improve on her sixth place last year and win the U15 girls’ race in a time of 8:26.  Inspired by having her Grandad there to cheer her on Lyla held off her 2 main rivals, Isla McGowan and Holly Cross to take the prestigious title.