PRESS RELEASE
27th April 2016
RUGBY & NORTHAMPTON SHINE IN LONDON MARATHON
Athletics club runners finish high in an elite London Marathon field
The London Marathon took over the country’s capital on Sunday 24th April and 14 Rugby & Northampton athletes were among the almost 40,000 runners, half of whom broke the three-hour barrier.
Leading the athletics club home was Stephen Marks with a superb time of two hours, 42 minutes and 42 seconds, to finish in 420th place overall. The 38-year-old crossed the line 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 (1,584th).
The first R&N female representative to finish was Amy Sarkies, who claimed 58th place (2:57.25), and she was followed by Sally Baker, who also dipped inside three hours (86th, 2:59.49) to clinch seventh in the W45 age group.
The youngest runner representing the club on Sunday was Conor Hills and he completed his debut marathon in 3:01.30 (2,206th).
Tamara Hardman, the club’s ladies cross country champion, finished the race in 121st position with 3:04.02, which was enough for 13th in the over-45 section, and not far behind was Jonathan Sarkies in 3:04.53 (2,584th).
Adrian White recorded 3:11.33 (3,426th) 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 R&N stalwart Pete Thomas, earning 3,620th place overall, and Vicky Nealson was less than two minutes behind to claim 347th (3:14.49) in the ladies category. Meanwhile, Tim Coffey crossed the finish line in 3:51:15 (11,406th).
