Joining the sub three club

Jim MacGregor (centre) was one of three Manx based runners who improved their marathon times to run under three hours for the first time. Read about them below. Also in the photo are Nigel Armstrong (left) and Gianni Epifani (right) who ran sub 3 hours on his marathon debut.

Jim MacGregor  was pleased with his personal best time of 2:55:31 in his 10th London Marathon – he ran for Shropshire Shufflers before he moved to the Isle of Man.  

The 38 year old’s main aim was run under 3 hours having run 3:05:22 in 2004.  "I knew I had a reasonably fast half but also knew I was going to slow down" he said.  "Although I did I was pleased just to keep some sort of pace.  Putting the distance in during training paid off and in the last 3 miles I sped up again."

His training consisted of between 70-90 miles a week from Christmas culminating in three 100 mile weeks over Easter.  "I think this marathon felt like my best race yet on the roads although I have had some good runs on the hills previously."  He is definitely returning to London as he loves the atmosphere and thinks he can improve further although he is also considering running the Salclear Isle of Man Marathon in July.  Jim completed the whole Parish Walk last year but is not tempted to do it all again although he is going to Peel this year.

Tim Knott made his London Marathon debut in 2009 and you could not have twisted his arm to return – he broke it when he fell in the early stages!  He did return in 2010, however, and ran 3:02:04 and so a sub three hour performance was on his agenda at the third attempt. "So I’m very happy" he said. "At one point I was thinking I might get 2.50,  but I burnt out a little so 2.55 is fine."  You can read all about Tim’s sub 3 preparation on his blog (above).

Adam Russell is known to radio listeners as the presenter of 3FM’s weekend breakfast show and there were some fears that he would over cook it at the start.  Nothing could be further from the truth as his decision to run at a conservative pace was rewarded with a time of 2:56:29. After running 1:29:35 for the first half he was the only one of the seven Manx men to break 3 hours who ran a negative split.  Adam has four Parish Walk finishes to his credit and has appeared in several fell races.  He ran 3:14:23 in his London Marathon debut in 2010 and with several good road race performances under his belt in recent weeks the 33 year old looked a good candidate for a sub 3 hour run. "Training wise I’ve been running 70 to 80 miles a week with two speed sessions and one long run of 20 miles+" he told me. "I need to work on my speed before the next one because my endurance is much better than my speed" he acknowledged.

I had a good position to report on these sub three hour runs as Jim, Tim & Adam all overtook me in the final mile – as did Gianni & Nigel!  Murray Lambden 25 April 2012

Jess selected for Olympics

Virgin London Marathon website

The Manx in London today

I have 47 names of people who are running today in the Virgin London Marathon.I’ve been compiling this list since 3 January but if you know of anyone running please let me know. [email protected] (including club and charity if appropriate). Thanks to all the contributors.

I’m hoping to start publishing results and split times this afernoon but it will depend on the results website and my physical state. In the meantime use the link to the offial site and see if the live results and split times are working. Some years you have been able to follow the race live. Don’t forget to check the club websites for news of their runners too. Murray

Athletes are linked to Kevin Deakes’ database (showing race history) to club and charity page (if applicable).

LONDON’S OTHER MARATHON

Fastest Manx runners since 2002

The photograph above is of a group of people who are running for Hospice and Rebecca House.in the Virgin 2012 London Marathon is on Sunday 22nd April.

Left to right: Carole Whitfield from the Hospice fundraising team, Gianni Epifani, Julian Thomas, Louise Thomas, the Honourable Tim Crookall MHK and Terri Cook, Community Fundraiser and Events Coordinator from Hospice. Crouching in front is Neil Cushing who is running for Hospice/Rebecca House and Asthma UK.

Also running for Hospice but not available for the photograph are Kevin Quirk, Daniels Roberts and Dominic Winrow.

The team are busy training and organising lots of fundraising events such as Free Circuits at the Onchan Community Centre on Saturday 3rd March. The classes are at 1.45pm-245pm and 3.15pm-4.15pm. Contact Louise on 451114.

To sponsor any of the runners please contact [email protected] or ring 647431. You can also donate through the Hospice website on www.hospice.org.im and follow the links.

Carole thanked all the runners for their efforts for Hospice and wished them all good luck on the day.

Louise Thomas has teamed up with, Caroline Cain, Teri Waddington and Irene George for the Manx Telecom Parish as WAGs.  Whilst they maybe the wives of men with 29 Parish Walk finishes behind them they are a far cry from the footballing wags who are good for shopping and not much else! Louise already has four Parish Walk finishes of her own, Caroline has also completed the course, Irene was clasified as reaching Maughold in 2011 (but actually walked several miles further) and Teri has competed three times and has reached Peel.