Fenland’s finest complete gruelling Virgin London Marathon

NINETEEN runners from Fenland completed Sunday’s gruelling Virgin London Marathon alongside roughly 35,000 competitors.

March Athletic Club’s Paul Hensby was the first home in a time of three hours 01.33 minutes, followed closely by Andrew Larham in a personal best time of three hours 05.42 minutes.

Chris Roach was the first Fenland Running Club member home in a time of three hours 22.47 minutes just seconds ahead of Richard Dix whose time of three hours 23.07 was a personal best.

Four Fenland runners, Keith White (3:35.39), Dan Wate (3:53.05), Aaron Parker (3:53.15), and Darren Jackson (3:59.50) finished inside the treasured four-hour mark.

There were personal bests for March AC’s Karen Patterson (3:27.14), Mark Salmons (3:43.29), Rhian Old (5:17.01) and Shaun Donkin (5:28.39).

Other runners which completed the course were Tracy Veenendaal (Fenland, 4:57.15), Julie Garden (Fenland, 5:28.41), Frances Cooke (March AC, 3:36.11), Darren Moat (March AC, 3:46.11), Jason Perring (March AC, 4:04.20) and Elinor Richards (March AC, 5:17.33)

• Steve Cockrell, who runs as a second claim athlete for Fenland (also registered to Nene Valley Harriers), ran superbly to finish 197th overall in two hours 42.13 minutes and qualify for the men’s elite race next year.