The London Marathon

Exmouth Harrier Hugh Marsden delayed his return from the Falkland Islands Marathon last month so that, together with the winner, Simon Almond, he could be among the athletes who accompanied “Blind Dave” Heeley and his sighted guide, Malcolm Carr, on the first of his record-breaking “Seven Magnificent Marathons” in seven days on seven continents.

As many people are aware from the national media, only two internationally renowned British adventurers, Sir Ranulph Fiennes and Dr Mike Stroud have achieved the feat before. “Blind Dave” has undertaken this extraordinary Challenge to increase awareness of visual impairment around the globe, to celebrate the independence, freedom and confidence that a guide dog provides and to raise as much funds as possible for the Guide Dogs for the Blind Association.

The marathons, which were all successfully accomplished, were the Falkland Islands (Antarctica), Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (South America), Los Angeles (North America), Sydney (Australasia), Dubai (Asia), Tunis (Africa) and finally, the Flora London Marathon (Europe).

Congratulations to “Blind Dave” and sighted guide Malcolm on a wonderful achievement!

The Kenyan Martin Lel won his third London Marathon title (his second in consecutive years), breaking the six-year old course record in 2:05:15 and leading three men under 2:06 for the greatest in-depth men’s marathon in history.

The first Exmouth Harrier to finish, after a great performance, was Dave Stone, 162nd in 2:38:49 and Adrian Kearns was 787th in 2:56:32. Peter McKeown was 3,918th in 3:28:06 and Trevor Cope was 13,907th in 4:22:53. Nigel Dupain finished 15,832nd in 4:33:35, having suffered with cramp in the last few miles. Colin Rowland was 20,355th in 5:09:55.

In the women’s event, Jo Darwood ran superbly to come 67th in 3:12:58. Hannah Dupain was very proud to be part of the elite ladies start, which she qualified for two years ago, but had to defer until after baby Aidan was born. Unfortunately, she started too quickly and paid the price in the last few miles, finishing 194th in 3:37:08. But as she only gave birth six months ago, all her family are very proud of her. She was very grateful to Dave Stone for being a great club member and taking the time to encourage her when she was beginning to flag.

Sister Emma Dupain was on target for 4 hours until she had to have pain killers at 23 miles for the inflamed hip which had prevented her from training for the last few weeks. She came 2,770th in 4:13:15, but managed to finish well.

Last but by no means least, that stalwart of Exmouth Harriers for a great many years, Jan Moulton, produced an excellent performance to break 5 hours by coming 67,25th in 4:58:08. Well done Jan, and all the other runners!!

Altogether 34,420 runners completed the 2008 London Marathon, making it the third largest in the 28-year history of the event.

(LT)