Eight Goole Viking Striders came back from last week’s London Marathon with the usual tales of triumph and disaster, thankfully more of the former than the latter.

Triumph certainly for the Flying Doctor Giles Harris, who broke the 3 hour barrier for the first time, and also for the senior members of the squad Keith Wilson and Patsy Fenelon, who were both delighted to be comfortably inside 4 hours.  This was Keith’s first marathon since turning 60, and by the look of him he will have no trouble extending his marathon career past 70.  Patsy just goes on and on, and that’s just talking about the race, never mind doing it! 

Gary Keenan was the happiest of the marathon debutants, with an excellent sub 4 hour time, but Nina Hanney can also be very proud of a battling performance taking into account her youth and almost total lack of long distance road racing experience.

Other good efforts came from former sub 3 man Dave Pullman in his umpteenth marathon, and also Simon Griffin, who seems to have temporarily abandoned his quest for a 3 hour time despite being well capable of it. 

The only disaster really came from Mark Smith, who on a limited training schedule did very well to finish. Everyone’s allowed at least one bad day at the office. He then even came on the Monday night training run which was well impressive. Of course Dave Pullman also made the Monday night - never to be outdone. 

Striders’ times:Giles Harris 2.59.28, Simon Griffin 3.15.00, Gary Keenan 3.47.00, Keith Wilson 3.48.17, Patsy Fenelon 3.51.12, Dave Pullman 4.01.10, Nina Hanney 5.32.00, Mark Smith 5.36.00.