Swaledale Road Runners

There were some great performances from Swaledale runners at the weekend. In the Loch Ness marathon Andy Gaines was first home for the club in 3.24.40. He was followed by James Taylor, who completed  his first ever marathon in 3.46.12. Karen Saward ran her first sub-4 hour marathon to finish in 3.50.15, 25 minutes faster than her time at the London marathon in April. Anyone who saw Karen's amazing performance at the off-road Swaledale marathon in June wouldn't be too surprised, but well done Karen. Sally Rutherford also improved dramatically on an earlier marathon, knocking 25 minutes off the time she set in Edinburgh to finish in 5.12.29. Meanwhile Tony Lambert chose the Jersey marathon for his marathon debut, planning just to go and enjoy it as part of a family holiday. He completed the course in an impressive 2.58.55.

Some runners may not have found the weather conditions to their liking, with steady drizzle followed by a cloudburst about an hour into the race. Others will have found the steady uphill for the first 6 miles draining. True to form Tony took it all in his stride and thoroughly enjoyed the race. Despite feeling a little tired around the 20 mile mark he picked up again in the closing miles as the rain finally cleared up and a tail-wind helped the runnners home. Not only did he achieve his target of a sub-3 hour marathon at his first attempt, he was also 10th man to finish and was awarded a prize for being 3rd in his age-group.