Tone Zoners test themselves in iconic race
The iconic London Marathon – as usual – featured 50,000 runners pounding the streets of the capital, and among them were 16 Bognor Tone Zone Runners.
The weather was slightly blustery but the temperature was just right for marathon running.
Christo Oosthuizen was the first Tone Zone member to finish down The Mall in 2:52:34 and finished 21st in his age category, another fantastic achievement for Christo.
Liam O’connor was next up finishing in 3:09:01 just sneaking under the 3hr 10 mark.
Jessica Thomson was the third club runner to finish in 3:30:28, closely followed by
Sarah Zacal, who had a strong final 10k to set a new personal best of 3:32:20.
Hampshire-baed member
Sam Grover was running his first London Marathon and finished in 4:06:49 ahead of David Lowen in 4:32:13 and
Susi Briggs just 29 seconds behind.
Husband and wife duo Allen and Kirstee Porter had trained together over the past 16 months and despite starting in different areas they joined together at mile four after a six-minute wait.
The pair crossed the line hand in hand in 4:44 and 4:51.
Marathons are tough enough, with only one per cent of the world’s population having run one. However running 100 is even tougher.
But that’s exactly what Jade Fish achieved in London.
Jade finished in 5:25:24, just 11 seconds ahead of fellow club mate Debbie Patching.
Keith Hardwell, Head Coach of the club, was running with his son Kerry on the day, who was running his first marathon.
The duo ran a strong race finishing in 5:27:47, just two weeks after Keith had run the Brighton Marathon.
Jacqui Salt was back on the marathon scene after some years away and finished the 26.2 miles in 6:15:30. Jack Penfold and Beth Suter were another couple running together on the day, they ran down The Mall hand in hand to finish in 6:16.
Nic Baglee was another aiming to complete her first marathon and did just that in a time of 11 hours.