Magnificent Eleven men break three hours at London Marathon
Inverclyde Athletics Club had 11 athletes under three hours at the London Marathon, as the capital welcomed back the masses following the COVID-19 outbreak.
Quickest of the lot was Gregor Yates who finished in 2:23:11 in 11th in the mass start, in one of his first outings as an Inverclyde athlete following his transfer from Bellahouston Harriers. A couple of minutes down the road was seasoned runner over the distance, Craig Ruddy, who clocked a time of 2:25:34, an impressive mark considering recent injury woes.
Posting one of the best over-40s times of the day was Pete Tucker in 2:28:27; and Jonathan Roebuck finished in 2:31:23, agonisingly just one second outside his personal best.
John Sharp and Nick Gemmell had two of the most impressive runs, with the over-45s finishing in 2:29:53 and 2:34:19 for sixth and 11th in their category.
Al Myers ran a negative split to cross the line in 2:40:57 – running his second marathon in just over a week having raced at the Berlin Marathon in late September. David Henderson was just over four minutes down the road in 2:45:13. Neil McLaughlin hung on well after aiming for a personal best, showing grit to finish in 2:50:34.
Andrew Harkins faded in the second half of his run, but still crossed the line in 2:53:01. Sean Gaffney had a fun outing, crossing the line in 2:55:48 to complete the 11, admittedly after struggles with training.