A group of Herne Hill Harriers athletes headed to Germany to race in Sunday’s Berlin Marathon. The race so very nearly yielded a new world record at the very front of the field, with Harriers runners bagging a good collection of personal best times of their own.
Nick Bester ran 2 hours 30 minutes and one second in the London Marathon back in April, so he was more than delighted with Berlin becoming his first time under 2:30 as he recorded 2:29:50. Bester managed to keep a recent issue with his leg at bay throughout a very well-paced run which saw him pick up as the race went on for a faster second half than first.
Andrew Grigg sneaked a 14 seconds PB with his 2:39:28, followed by Charlie Osborne whose 2:47:22 was an improvement of some six minutes.Paul Calver also ran a PB with 2:53:12, as did Martha Reynolds with 3:12:25, while Nick’s wife Taryn Bester clocked 3.50 for a top day all roundfor the visitors from London. The Besters will now head off to the famous Oktoberfest to celebrate.
Sunday also saw a PB for Myles Preston at the Ealing Half Marathon, running a good 77:47andleaving in his wake Herne Hill club mates Matthew Munro 79:30, Jonathan Ratcliffe 79:46, Henry Brown 79:49 and Eriç Dol 82:39 with some good team packing.
Andrew Clarke was the winner of the Streatham Common Cross Country race on Saturday morning ahead of M45 Brian Wilder who was backin London for a brief visit from Australia. Eoin Brady was a good third, with another M45 Robin Jones finishing sixth.
Not much further behind Tom Conlon led a pack of strong Herne Hill M55s as he was 12th, Gary Ironmonger 13th, Vic Maughn 15th and Keith Newton 16th. First woman to finish was Rosemary Hurford of Clapham Chasers as 55 runners successfully negotiated a challenging course with a stiff hill to climb on each of the four laps for a distance a little under six miles overall. A good opener to the cross country season which is now getting under way.