NO one in Essex had as many club runners as Benfleet RC did at London, with the red and white army made up of 40 competitors.
With a combined age of 144 and with 30 marathons between them, the club’s veteran duo of Vic McCloud and Bobby Oliver hung up their marathon shoes forever after finishing on The Mall on Sunday.
McCloud, 74, who was taking part in his 20th marathon crossed the line in a superb 4h 35m 40s.
Seventy-year-old Oliver, meanwhile, who recently stepped down as ladies captain after a long reign, came 13th in her age category with a stunning time of 5h 25m 52s.
Though their marathon days are behind them, both runners will remain active members of the club.
Bobby Oliver and Vic McCloud
Pete Stally who had to run under 3h 5m to get his “good for age time” and get automatic entry for next year’s race, pushed through the pain barrier to get a PB time of 3h 3m 18s making him the first Benfleet runner home.
John Gould (V40) also managed a “good for age” time of 3h 04m 5s, as did Terry Spooner on debut making his debut (3h 05m 18s)
Sarah Grabowski, who is in the form of her life, put in a sterling performance to become first Benfleet lady home and picked off many of her male team mates with a three-minute PB of 3h 25m 45s.
Jaqui Watson also managed a “good for age” time of 3h 32m 40s to be second lady home with Whitney Lodge third 3h 48m 26s.
The biggest PBs on the day came from Steve Wise (V40) whose 4h 13m, was 45 minutes quicker than his old best, Chris Wright, whose 3h 21m was a 13-minute PB and Lynsay Pain, whose 6h 31m was 13 minutes quicker than she had gone before.
Special mention must also go to Neil Casey who was meant to race the first half fully dressed as a horse and then supposed to run the second half dressed as a nurse but due to a wardrobe malfunction he actually ran 22 miles as the horse, then four miles as the nurse!
Casey still completed the course in in 3h 46m and raised more than £5,000 for Gt Ormond Street Hospital and Hopefield Animal Sanctuary.
Other Benfleet results: Paul Prosser 3h 08m 13s, Adam Mathews 3h 11m PB, David Miller 3h 15m 05s, Graham Crocket 3h 16m 46s, Steff Cohen 3h 17m, Steve Hickey 3h 25m 50s, Billie Burroughs 3h 27m, Kevin Challis 3h 30m 19s, Keiran McGill 3h 32m 46s, Zoe Western 3h 50m, Steve Billington 3h 50m 32s, Matt-Harper-Ward 3h 56m 6s, Roman Burroughs 4h 02m 20sm Jo Dyson 4h 03m 29s, Barry Key 4h 08m 53s PB, Caroline Maguire 4h 19m 22s, Susanne Barton 4h 22m 24s, Greg Lloyd 4h 22m 24s, Sam Challis 4h 25m, Ian Banthorpe 4h 41m 27s, Michelle Foster 4h 28m 47s, Vic Mcloud V70 4h 35m 42s, Steve Higgins 4h 47m, Sharon Johnson 4h 53m 45s, Julie Peacock 4h 50m 36s PB, Bob Chapman 5h 15m, Stuart Ross 5h 23m 31s, Sara Adams 5h 17m 53s, Lee Olney 5h 56m 05s, Tracey Jones 6h 03m 34s.
With his team-mates in London, Tom Byrne took on the Rotterdam Marathon, finishing in 3h 57m.
