A quartet of 'Harribelles' (a new term coined for the members of the Exmouth Harriers who also run with the Exmouth Belles Running Club) travelled to Amsterdam on the weekend of October 20th to take part in the annual marathon in the city. Billed as a fast, flat course with PB potential, our four ladies were planning to do just that: beg themselves a pan-full of PBs as a Dutch souvenir!
After overnight rain and early morning fog soon lifted to give way to a sunny, autumn day which made for ideal marathon running conditions.
The race started and finished in the 1928 Olympic Stadium. After the elite runners had set off, some 11,000 runners followed in their wake in in the mass participation event. Long distance running, as a spectator sport, does not seem to have been embraced in Mainland Europe with quite the same passion and fervor that we have witnessed at events such as the London Marathon in the UK. This meant that, in certain parts of the course, especially along a 10km dog-leg by the river, support was thin. Nevertheless, our four ladies - Susan Hill, Jane MacDonald, Amanda McCann and Lorraine Kirby - dug deep and never lost sight of their goal. They maintained their target pace right through to the finish, on the track inside the old Olympic Stadium. The dearth of support on some quiet corners of the route was more than compensated for within the stadium as Susan describes running in to be greeted by an atmosphere that was ‘incredible’.
All four runners finished well inside the first half of finishers. Susan was timed at 3:49:00 for a massive personal best; Jane at 3:49:26, also for a personal best. Amanda ran 3:56:22 - again, a PB. These three were delighted to break the pinnacle of barriers for many female club runners: the magical 4 hour mark! Although Lorraine just missed out on that target by a hair's breath, her performance was perhaps the most impressive of all as she came very close with her 4:03:52, despite suffering illness in the week before the race. All four acknowledged the value of training with both the Belles and the Harriers for their success in Holland. Having seen the dedication these ladies have put in on training nights all season and having seen them improving their times at the monthly 'Sandy Bay Time Trial', this fantastic set of results is just reward for all their hard work and efforts: well done ladies!
No comments:
Post a Comment