Results for the Greater Manchester marathon, 02-Apr-2017

We’re pleased to report on two excellent performances at the Greater Manchester marathon. Firstly, thanks to Darren Hallett for the following report and photo, and congratulations on going sub-3!

Last year I decided that in 2017 I would run my first full marathon. Having failed to gain a London marathon entry through the club ballot I decided to look at other options. After doing a bit of “googling” I decided that Manchester marathon would be the one for me (it advertises itself as flat!).

A long winter of prep brought me to April 02nd starting near Old Trafford before heading out of Manchester through Sale and Altringham. The course was indeed flat with good support in quite a few locations along the way. With a target of 3 hours in mind I set out to bank a few seconds in the first half before seeing if the body would hold up towards the end. After 20 miles I had a good couple of minutes’ buffer before the dreaded wall hit. The last 6 miles was mind over matter with the body becoming harder and harder to carry. The finish line could be seen for almost a mile along a seemingly never ending road and felt like a mirage for the last few minutes of running. Fuelled with energy gels I made the end in 2 hours 59 minutes and 29 seconds. The event was well organised with 12,000 entrants running this year.

Thanks also to James Abrams for the following report, and congratulations on your PB:

This was marathon number 2 not sure if there is a number 3? will see…great conditions even in Manchester! Good field of over 8000 runners, flat course which included a 5 mile loop where you could spot fellow runners. I could admire the elite coming past me, then to keep myself going all the ones behind me and seeing all the effort put in when I reached that part of the course. Happy with my new PB time of 3 hours 20 min and those damn 10 seconds!

Results:

http://www.chiprace.co.uk/results.aspx?CId=38&RId=1508&EId=1