2006 Flora London Marathon Roll of Honour

Well done to all Royston Runners taking part in this year’s marathon.

Royston Runners’ 2006 London Marathon Team. Click on picture for larger version.

2005 Flora London Marathon Roll of Honour !

The Royston Runners pictured at the start of the Flora London Marathon 2005.

2004 Flora London Marathon Roll of Honour !

The 14 Royston Runners (plus 3) pictured at the start of the Flora London Marathon 2004.

2003 Flora London Marathon Roll of Honour !

But the marathon is not just about the elite athletes. Further down the field, club and fun runners are achieving all manner of personal bests and lifetime goals, raising millions of pounds for charity in the process.
Royston Runners was represented this year by 16 men and women.
Lewis Davies, the club's men's captain, led the contingent home in a time of 2.54:19, improving on his effort last year by more than a minute.
The 32-year-old said: "Last year I did 2.55.45 in my first marathon, and this year I hoped to do a sub-2.50.
"My training had gone fairly well and I was running 70 miles a week.
"But I picked up a slight cold in the days before the race, plus the heat on the day told me within a few miles of the start I wasn't going to achieve my aim."
Club colleague Gordon Baxter, 41, also broke the three-hour barrier, dipping under the magical mark for the first time by coming home in 2.59:02.
Kate Nankivell is no stranger to marathons. The 50-year-old was running her seventh London, and 12th marathon in total, and was ecstatic to finish in 3.40:39, after numerous injury problems in preparation.
She said: "I didn't have a very good training schedule this year, as I had a virus, then a trapped nerve in my back.
"I didn't think I was going to do under four hours, so I was quite chuffed, and a couple of minutes faster than last year.
"I was in danger of getting cramp in the last few miles, and had to keep pouring water down the back of my legs."
Kate added: "The icing on the cake was Paula, though. She was just brilliant."
(*Reproduced by kind permission of the “Royston Crow”}

Marathon first-timer Eileen Rose said “The support along the way was terrific. Family and friends were spread all along the course and we even saw Don Lay at about the 22-mile mark, which gave us a real boost. Each time I saw my son he kept urging me to catch up with Batman and Robin and he told me that the caterpillar wasn’t too far ahead either. I’m not sure about this “wall” business, as if it means the point where you are not sure what is propelling your legs in a forward direction, I think I met several walls, starting at about 12 miles. The charity we were running for was at the 19-mile point, which was the agreed place for me to get my next tumbler of my ‘green algae’. Sadly (or perhaps not), my husband found himself queuing for a Happy Meal in McDonald’s at that particular moment and there didn’t seem much point in putting myself through the further torture of drinking that muck having reached the Houses of Parliament. Thus I decided to eat anything and everything that was handed to me over the last seven miles, which included a mouthful of Vaseline. Not to be recommended, but still an improvement on green algae!

Well we made it to the finish line. The last few hundred yards brought a lump to my throat. Crossed the finish line, picked up our medals and (more importantly) goody bag and took an immediate left into the St John Ambulance marquee to sort out Sally. Well that was an eye-opener. I thought we’d walked into the aftermath of a war-zone with the number of people lying about on stretchers being tended to. While they were bandaging up Sally I did try and make reassuring noises to some of the injured, but my mouth was never empty long enough as I systematically worked my way through all edibles in the bag.

We eventually made our way back to the repatriation tree, although no one mentions that the mix of painkillers and running 26 miles leaves you temporarily unable to work out the order of the alphabet. There they all were, our little motley crowd of supporters all huddled under tree “R” – and we thought we looked rough! Somehow we managed to walk a further mile to the charity’s party in Covent Garden. Made our way down the spiral staircase to the party. Ignored all advice of having a complimentary massage, went straight for the complimentary wine instead and two hours later had to be carried up the spiral staircase. The next thing I remember is waking at 2am extremely dehydrated, falling out of bed as my back had completely seized up and crawling downstairs to the kitchen for some water.

So, was it worth it? Of course it was.

A big thank you must go to Royston Runners for all their support and motivation over the preceding months.