Four debutantes, three personal bests and a fourth-place finish in the junior event was the story of Heanor RC’s day at the London Marathon last weekend.

In grey and cool conditions perfect for the runners if not so much for the traveling supporters that made their way from the East Midlands, the yellow and blue were well-represented on the streets of the capital.

Prior to the main 26.2 mile event, Lily Winfield followed up her sterling winter and recent middle distance personal bests on the track with a fourth-place finish in the U13 girls Mini Marathon.

The junior event, which sees the best junior athletes from across the UK cover the same final three miles of the marathon along Victoria Embankment to the finish, saw Lily clock 17:45 and lead the East Midlands team home to sixth.

Full Mini Marathon results HERE

Inspired by her efforts, Laura Beth James-Hutchinson sliced over twenty minutes off her personal best to cross the line in 3:24:49.

Laura’s marathon exploits continue in September when she tackles her second of five World Marathon Majors in Berlin.

One of the club’s ballot winners, Carl Hughes, made it two successive personal bests in the capital with a time of 3:00:48 – tantalisingly close to that much-coveted sub-3 hour mark.

After keeping preparations for his second attempt at the marathon under wraps, Dale Annable was first across the line for the yellow and blue in a personal best time of 2:31:10.

Other Heanor RC finishers that were tackling the marathon for the first time included Rita Fisher (4:31:23), Matt Govan (3:41:55), and, separated by just twelve seconds, Ian Parker (3:30:11) and Stuart Chadwick (3:30:23).

Friend of the club and second claim member Chris Patterson ran his third-fastest marathon with a time of 2:51:16.

Full results HERE

Image: Gary Mellors