LONDON MARATHON APRIL 24TH 2016

Rugby & Northampton AC had 15 athletes completing the London Marathon with half of them breaking the 3 hour barrier.

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

Chris Lamb was the next man over the line for R&N in 947^th spot with a time of 2:51:31 and Dean Oldfield recorded 2:56:58 for 1519^th, while Daniel Mould was 5^th home for the club in 2:57:24 ( 1584^th ).

The first lady for R&N was Amy Sarkies who claimed 58^th place when she was timed at 2:57:25 and she was followed by Sally Baker who also dipped inside 3 hours in 86^th spot with 2:59:49, which clinched 7^th 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 (2206^th ).

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

Adrian White recorded 3:11:33 (3426^th ) and held off Dame Kelly Holmes until the final 2k before the double Olympic Champion went past to finish just 6 seconds ahead.

Finishing in a time of 3:12:54 was long serving Rugby stalwart Pete Thomas in 3620^th place overall and almost two minutes adrift was Vicky Nealon claiming 347^th position in the ladies race with 3:14:49, while Judith Rose made it 5 ladies for the club in 3:33:45 (1203^rd) and Tim Coffey crossed the finish in 3:51:15 (11406^th ).