Paris Marathon
SPRINGTIME in Paris can mean only one thing – running a marathon.
Fourteen Stubbies headed for the French capital for the 32nd edition of the Marathon de Paris, getting there by train and plane; and all returned back to the south coast with a collection of personal bests.
Glen Street, who has run the Paris Marathon before, described conditions for running as perfect. And he should know with a superb time of 3hrs 40min 16sec for a personal best over 26 miles.
Margie Pritchard was next home with a time of 4:11.50, followed by Verity Wright and Sarah White who were delighted to finish their first marathon in 4:22.44.
Just a couple of minutes behind were Annie Tomlinson, Drew Briggs and Gill Rose, who were making their marathon debuts, joined by Richard Snell. They all finished together with Drew and Richard breaking the line in 4:24.17, Gill clocked 4:24.18 and Annie finished in 4:24.19.
Tracie Jarvis, who ran in London a year ago, turned her attentions to the festive atmosphere in the Champs-Elysees with a pb of 4:44.32, followed by marathon debutants Kay and Holly Bayliss who came home in 5:08.07 and 5:08.09 respectively.
And also completing their first ever 26-miler were the trio of Sue Robinson, Sarah Boddy and Julie Ashman who finished together in 5:30.15.
They were among 29,706 competitors who started the race.The last runners were crossing the start line while the leaders had already reached the Place de la Nation.
All along the course, from Bastille to the Seine embankment and going through the Bois de Boulogne, close to 200,000 spectators cheered on the runners enjoying the 75 musical and festive events on the streets of the capital.
The elite race produced two new winners. In the men’s race, young and talented Ethiopian Tsegaye Kebede only just missed out on the event record as he triumphantly crossed the finish line in a time of 2:06.40. In the women’s event, Kenya’s Martha Komu managed a fantastic sprint finish on her way to victory in a time of 2:25.33.