With April being a month dominated by marathons, a distance which conjures countless tales of heroism and inspiration, April’s GRC Member of the Month was always going to be a very hard decision to make. Not only was there a strong case to be made for each of the thirteen who made the shortlist, there were many other runners, not least of whom those who made their marathon debuts, who could all have considered themselves worthy recipients of the accolade.
The shortlist included Julie Riggall (5:31:02) and Suzanne Angeloni, (6:02:00) who both made their marathon debuts in the hottest London Marathon on record. Liam Vincent was also praised for his effort at London, as were Holly Durham (3:22:26) and Matthew Kingston-Lee (2:47:27), who both ran close to their personal best times when much of the field wilted in the heat.
Away from London, those taking part in the Manchester, London, and Rotterdam marathons in particular enjoyed far better conditions and our runners made the most of it. Andrew Pask (3:07:23) gained a PB at Rotterdam, Caroline Davis (3:50:15) did likewise at Manchester. Adrian Walker (3:58:59) paced himself like an expert on his marathon debut to break four hours and Grant Davies aimed high on his marathon debut, suffered in the closing stages, but impressed greatly with a 3:10:40 clocking.
In Brighton Robert McArdle (3:26:54) clocked a fine 72.6% Age Grade and Catherine Payne (3:19:19) secured herself an England Masters vest with a superb V50 age group win and a club record age grade for the marathon of 82.83%.
Nick Rossington’s 4:06:32 (57.6%) won him the runner-up in the MOM vote. Nick ran the London Marathon with his son Charlie, raising over £11,000 for CLIC Sargent – the charity who did so much to support Nick’s daughter Alice and the family during her battle to overcome bone cancer.
April’s Member of the Month ran the London Marathon too and also raised substantial funds for CLIC Sargent. It was an excellent performance at the Manchester Marathon, where she beat her previous PB best by thirty minutes which clinched Julie Gilbert with a 4:52:19 (53.63%) in Manchester and 6:25:37 (40.65%) in London April’s GRC Member of the Month Award.