The London Marathon always shines as an inspirational day for epic athleticism alongside moving stories of those taking on the challenge of a lifetime.
This year, as the city simmered in the warm sunshine, 38 C&C runners took to the London course.
C&Cers on the charge at London
First off the line at 9:05am, with the tiny elite women’s field of 15 runners, Holly Archer rocked the C&C vest and ran a brave solo race to dip under 2:40 in her marathon debut.
From the championship and mass starts, we had some stellar performances, led out by Jonathan Escalante-Phillips who debuted in 2:19:39 despite some illness battles in the last miles. He was closely followed by Jack Nixon (2:20:06) who was 2nd in the 40-44 age category, and Josh Carr in 2:23:29, together giving us a great chance of retaining the Men’s National Championship title.
Other impressive performances to highlight include Ben Clarke who was 11th in the 55-59 age category in 2:52:55, and Sae Kawai who was 12th in the 65-69 age category in 4:02:44.
Amongst the rest of our courageous white-and-blues were many PBs, solid runs, returns from injury… and of course the usual dose of blow-ups too, an essential chapter in any proper marathoner’s history! (If you know, you know.)
Stories from our club ballot runners
Our two club ballot places this year were won by Thom Jenkinson and Ed Banham-Hall.
Thom writes…
My year started with a bit of a bang at the C&C Christmas/Not Christmas party in January where I learned I had been granted one of the club’s allocated spots for this year’s London Marathon. (to those considering entering this for next year, there were excellent odds with 2 out of 2 ballot entries being successful!) At the time, I must confess that I wasn’t completely certain whether this was good news or bad news having only recently gotten over a marathon block but thankfully, those feelings were short lived: it gave me the perfect excuse to get stuck into running after an overindulgent Christmas holiday. Minced pies and glasses of wine were quickly replaced with early starts and runs in the dark (with a few Frostbite races dotted around for good measure!)
I have never raced at London so when race day finally came, I wasn’t completely sure what to expect. The almost festival-like feeling on Blackheath was quickly replaced with nervous energy in the start pens and before long we were released onto the course to what felt like an unbroken, 26.2mile long line of supporters cheering from the barriers! It’s an atmosphere like no other race I have ever participated in and has given me memories which I will carry for years to come.
Whilst the second half of the race was a bit of a blur for me, the notable highlight would have to be seeing all of the C&C supporters dotted around between Poplar High St and the finish line (not to mention all of the physical landmarks which the route takes you past) and I can wholeheartedly say, having now experienced the spectacle of the event, that it was absolutely worth struggling through the dark and cold winter months for and I’ll end my ramblings by extending a sincere thank you to Sarah and the rest of the coaching team for getting me to the start line in one piece as well as to the club for affording me the opportunity to race in the biggest marathon in the world!
Ed writes…
I was over the moon to win a spot in the 2025 London marathon through the club ballot. Although I’ve done a few marathons before, I have never attempted one of the majors and getting to participate was a dream come true.
This was particularly exciting for me as I’m a long way off being good enough to qualify on speed, the main ballot is hugely over-subscribed, and I wouldn’t be able to access sufficient funds for a charity spot.
The atmosphere was incredible, and unlike anything that I have ever experienced before. Warm, sunny weather meant that huge crowds showed up and lined the streets pretty much the entire route – 10 deep in some places. The only downside to the weather was that it was a bit warm in the second half of the run, but the encouragement from the crowds more than made up for this.
I managed to hold a pace of 4:45/km for the first 30km before cramps slowed me down in the final quarter, in the end crossing the finish line in 3:27:01, around four minutes off a personal best. Considering the heat and my age, I was extremely happy with this result and the unnecessarily chunky medal that looks like it’s made out of real gold but presumably isn’t 😉
Overall, this was an amazing experience I’ll remember with great happiness for the rest of my life. Most of all, I owe C&C huge thanks for accepting me into the club ballot, and look forward to crossing paths with lots of you at the Wednesday track sessions. Although I might still be recovering this week…“
Well done to both club ballot runners! And don’t forget to put in your entry this year if you’d like the chance to win a place.
There were lots of C&C supporters out on the route, with a noisy posse at the 20-mile mark on Poplar High Street – who were also on hand to congratulate and commiserate club friends in The Porterhouse afterwards!
Manchester Marathon
Manchester Marathon was the same day as London this year, 27th April. We had a smaller band of C&Cers up north, but some fine performances there too, including from Neil Convery (2:50:34), Tim Welsh (2:51:45), Luke Malone (2:56:16) and Iain Wood (3:03:17).