Holmfirth Harriers in the London Marathon

 

Lewis Byram takes 2nd Place in London Mini Marathon

The London Mini Marathon sees teams from the all regions of the UK battling it out over the last 3 miles of the London Marathon Course. The regional athletes are selected based on performances over the winter with only the best from each region gaining the chance to run. Two young athletes from Holmfirth Harriers were chosen to represent Yorkshire & Humberside.

 

With rain falling keeping the air cool hundreds of young athletes lined up. The event included Regional Teams and London Borough Teams in different age groups.

 

Max Kaye took part in the 15-17 year old boys and Lewis Byram in the 11-12 year old boys event. Holmfirth’s Max Kaye running in the 15-17 year age group competed in the first event of the day, starting from Old Billingsgate following the Thames along the Embankment, passing the London Eye, Big Ben and turning at Buckingham Palace and finishing on The Mall. In a field of 280 including 64 regional runners Max finished in an excellent time of 15min 40seconds and 42 nd place in the Region Challenge.

 

The 11-12 year old boys started their race just as the rain stopped. Following the same 3 mile course Lewis Byram was in the lead pack from the off and managed to move up to 3 rd place by the second mile mark. In the last few hundred yards Lewis made a dash for home to gain a further place to finished 2 nd overall in a time of 17min 3 seconds just 4 seconds behind the leader, in a field of 237 athletes including 55 regional athletes. Lewis led the Yorkshire team to overall victory. For his efforts on the day Lewis received a Watch for 2 nd place and all finishes received special London Mini Marathon medals.

 

London Marathon successes

 

Thirteen of Holmfirth’s senior athletes managed to complete the gruelling 26mile marathon course. First home for the Harriers was Matthew Pierson in 68 th position overall in a time of 2.31.31. Matthew felt unwell during the race and was disappointed with his performance. Dave Shepherd and Mike Pennington both ran well to finish under 3hrs 15, Dave in 3.11.57 and Mike in 3.12.51. Alistair Langron had a disrupted preparation having to travel across Europeon a coach days before the event due to the ash cloud finishing in a time of 3:16:42. Lorraine Smith had a strong run in 3.18.47, the first Harrier lady home. Sean Doyle finished in 3.37.56, Margaret Sykes in her first attempt at the distance ran strongly in 3.41.25. Matthew Rose completed the course in a good time of 3:49:04 closely followed home by Angela Currid who ran well in 3.51.03. Jane Stirling finished in 4.21.20, Rosemary Baker in 4.25.06, Charles Crosland in 4.28.27 and Diane Kolat in 5.32.00. Well done to all of them.

 

MY LONDON MARATHON EXPERIENCE

I have now been running just 5 years, starting with the Race for life in 2005; I quickly got the running bug and completed the Great North Run in 2007.

I decided I would like a new challenge and decided to attempt to get in the London Marathon, but being just a Puma runner wondered if it was just a little too ambitious.

Never the less I entered the ballot, but unfortunately was rejected, still desperate to do

The Marathon I decided to go for a golden bond charity place, to which I was successful.

At this point I began to panic and wondered how intense the training would have to be

To complete the gruelling 26.2 mile distance, I spoke to the very helpful and approachable Matthew Pierson who said he would help me with a training schedule.

He managed to convince me that if I stuck to his training plan I would definitely get through the marathon in one piece.

The training was really hard work, on some awful snowy days, even resulting in having to run on a treadmill when the weather was so bad, 15 miles on a treadmill is just the worst most boring thing you can imagine.

I still stuck at it focusing on my goal and receiving encouraging emails from Matthew, whilst training himself in Kenya, to keep me motivated.

Anyway completed the training, booked hotel, booked travel arrangements and off we went myself, Barrie my husband, and son Luke.

Travelled direct to Excel to pick up my number, was all very exciting but I felt nervous at the same time, thinking of the £1,850 charity money raised. Did not want to let them down.

The next morning up for breakfast at 6.00 am, although struggled to get anything down me as the nerves were really kicking in.

Was at Greenwich Park in plenty time to soak up the atmosphere, the race got underway, but being so far back took 15 minutes to even get through the start.

The miles ticked by quite nicely and the camaraderie with the other runs was amazing.

I was lucky enough at mile 11 to see my mum and dad, wow how emotional that was, and then the next highlight was Tower Bridge, Awesome!! No other word fits any better, thousands of people screaming words of encouragement and calling out my name, then between 14 and 18 mile were probably my hardest time, but still managed to jog on but very slow. At mile 22 I also managed to see Barrie and Luke another emotional time for me.

Then at the final stages coming up the the Mall was something I will remember for the rest of my life, seeing my parents cheering in the Grandstand, and the feeling and

Realization that I had actually completed the 2010 Virgin London Marathon in 5 hrs 32 minutes. To which myself, family and friends are very proud.

 

Diane Kolat