A tale of Marathon’s marathon times and the training that goes into it. Paul Bradshaw recently ran in the Manchester Marathon after posting a time of 77.33 in the Barcelona Half-Marathon in February. Paul posted a new PB time of 2hr 55.49 and we asked him how it had gone and his training programme worked out to which he commented “‘Great to have finally run a well paced and managed marathon. Really hot weather forced me to drink more water, stay hydrated and pay more attention to fuelling than before. While other struggled in the heat I found it helped me to respect the process more. Felt good and settled in to a pace after the first 5mile and just sat there for as long as possible. Training had been reasonable leading in but there was a shortage of 18+ mile runs. Next attempt is Amsterdam in October so hopefully build from the weekend and get some good runs in before then.”

Paul Bradshaw

Also running the London Marathon recently was Tom Blaney who knocked off over three minutes from his previous best to post a new PB time of 2hr 37.56 and he too told us about his race and the training saying ” Training went really well for London; injury free and some really good long sessions. I also had confidence in my taper plan, which I mimicked from last year. I have always found easing off the miles difficult as it feels very negative but totally necessary to recover and re-fuel for the marathon. Unfortunately, I picked up a cold in the final taper week, which was frustrating, but I remained positive and tried to get as much rest as possible to minimise symptoms. On the day I felt good, it was warm but I felt fresh and I had done 2 weeks of training in Tunisia which mentally I used to build confidence around the run and the heat. From my training I knew I was In better shape than Manchester last year, so I set off at a similar pace managing my fueling and water intake well, it felt comfortable, I ran through every shower on the course to cool off and maintained a consistent pace. Unfortunately, I hit mile 18, and I knew I was going to struggle, it hit me all at once, I had to slow off rather than fight it to ensure I got through it. The crowds where incredible. They could see i was hurting but supported me all the way, I lost about 7 minutes, but I finished. I really enjoyed running the London marathon the atmosphere wad amazing, 26 miles of crowds and cheering…tower bridge.. wow. There are a lot of variables with marathon running and it’s important to understand them all on the day and adjust your race plan to suit. I’m still learning the distance and will take a lot away from this one. Congratulations and well done to everyone who ran in the marathons over the weekend.”

Tom Blaney (1233)

Our third Marathon runner was V50 Nick Owen who ran in the London Marathon and was really unfortunate in the build up due to innjury. Marathon’s and marathon training don’t alwsy go as well as you would like as so many things can happen – injury, ill-health whilst training, and then things going wrong in the race itself, environmental and other factors coming into play. Having had to settle for a time of 3hr 58.41, Nick told the Club afterwards that he had  “Mixed feelings really as been limited to one run a week due to an ongoing injury then the warm conditions, cracking at mile 18-20 was always going to be the bucky’s favourite. Definitely disappointed with my time but really grateful to take part in such a prestigious event.”

Nick Owen

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In track & field, Blackburn Harriers Matthew Heywood, just back from the US where he is at University in North Carolina, took the trip up to Gateshead to participate in the Hammer competition on Sunday May 4th, which was part of the Gateshead Open. Matthew had six throws – the first two being fouls and then threw successively 45.74m , 49.76m, 50.39m and a final throw of 49.32m which gave him a best of 50.39m. (RESULTS).

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The Chorley 10k was held on Sunday morning May 4th in warm conditions with Blackburn Harriers Matt Nutall and Ella Green both lining up for the race featuring over 1400 runners and won by James Kevan in a time of 33.04 – the Women’s race winner being Serena Walker in 40.02. (RESULTS). V55 Matt won his age category running 39.11 and was 27th overall. Ella was running her first ever race for the Harriers and posted a debut time of 47.01, was 15th Woman and 2nd V35 in the race.

Matt Nuttall

Ella Green

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The Great Hameldon Race took place on Sunday May 4th with Louisa Powell-Smith amongst the runners as they lined up at the start. Louisa had a cracking race, winning the Women’s race in a time of 44.17, won her age group category (V45) and was 12th overall. (RESULTS). Speaking to Louisa after she had won she told us “I started easy to get myself going, but once I found my flow, I felt strong and worked my way through the field. Absolutely loved it! Great course, perfect weather, and such a lovely crowd!“.

Louisa Powell-Smith

In the Great Hameldon Junior Races Ryker Hanson, Jenna McKinlay and Pippa Blackburn ran in the U11/13 race featruing 62 runners. Ryker finished 8th overall in a time of 11.03 and was 6th out of 19 in his age category, whilst Jenna was 5th in her age category out of 11 (12.58)  and Pippa 8th in her agecategory out of 11 in a time of 13.41. (RESULTS). In the U15/U17 Race – three more Blackburn Harriers took part – U17’s Theo Robinson and Liam Bennison as well as U15 and new member U15 Liam Frith. Theo took 5th place overall and 4th in his age category running 13.53 whilst Liam finished in 8th overall and 5th in his age category running 14.32. In the U15 Race Liam Frith came 6th in his age category with a time of 17.01 (RESULTS).

Theo Robinson (89) – Photo courtesy of David Belshaw

Liam Bennison (10) – Photo courtesy of David Belshaw

Ryker Hanson (44) – Photo courtesy of David Belshaw

Jenna McKinlay (64) – Photo courtesy of David Belshaw

Pippa Blackburn (15)  – Photo courtesy of David Belshaw

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