O'Flynn Holmes in on his PB, while Rajan Peakes at London

A raft of local athletes joined Dame Kelly Holmes and Major Tim Peake in tackling the 36th London Marathon on Sunday.
Spa Striders shows off their London Marathon bling.Spa Striders shows off their London Marathon bling.
Spa Striders shows off their London Marathon bling.

Leamington C&AC athlete Eoin O’Flynn was the first of them home in 561st position, clocking 2hr 45min 8sec to finish just outside his personal best.

Next home for the club was Ben Rajan in 1,704th position. Going through the half-way point in 1:29:25, he completed a superb second half to clock 2:58:00 for his first sub three-hour finish.

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Garrath Schule, whose previous best time of 3:22:05 came at London in 2014, took a massive 20 minutes off his best time, coming home in 3:02:57.

Danielle Bryan enjoys the occasion.Danielle Bryan enjoys the occasion.
Danielle Bryan enjoys the occasion.

Three Leamington ladies took on London, with Natalie Bhangal fading in the second half after going through the 13.1-mile mark in 1:31:02. Nevertheless, she recorded a big PB of 3:13:52 to finish 314th lady.

Anouk Molliex produced a negative split to finish in 3:21:50, while Wendy Woodhouse saw the clock click agonisingly over the four-hour barrier as she came home in 4:00:07.

Stuart Hopkins was first home for Kenilworth Runners, finishing 1,018th in 2:52:18, followed by Matthew Kingston-Lee in 2:54:50.

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There was then a three-way sprint between Martin Dorrill, Marc Curtis and Danielle Bryan as they saw the clock ticking towards the three-hour mark as they turned the last corner into The Mall.

Danielle Bryan enjoys the occasion.Danielle Bryan enjoys the occasion.
Danielle Bryan enjoys the occasion.

All three dipped below the three hours, with Bryan (2:59:26) finishing 60th in her category, Dorrill clocking 2:59:31 for 246th in his category and Curtis celebrating his birthday with a new PB of 2:59:36.

There were also PBs for Debbie Streets (by 34 minutes) and Chris Hart, while Dave Pettifer finished sixth V65.

Tim Down led the way for Spa Striders, smashing through the three-hour barrier for a PB of 2:57:19, closely followed by clubmate Andy Graham (3:00:30).

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The first Striders lady to have a medal hanging around her neck was Carolyn Wilkinson (3:09:53), while the trio of Caroline Whitehouse (3:20:30), who had only decided to run the race five weeks earlier, Susie Stannard (3:21:16) and Susan Cox (3:23:18) were delighted with their PBs.

Pete Soley (3:17;13), Nick Varey (3:23:02), Mike Cox (3:57:00) and Laura Peake (3:38:19) made impressive debuts while there were PBs for Mike Pugh (3:17:56) and Fiona Edwards (3:34:15), as well as Steve Pope (3:58:02) and Hannah Smith (4:08:56) who had only just tackled Paris three weeks previously.

Selected others (Kenilworth Runners unless stated): 908, Daniel Mitchell (2:57:03); 2,926, Rob Thompson (Spa Striders, 3:08:03); 4,608, Andrew Holbrook (3:19:23); 4,963, Dave Pettifer (3:21:50); 5,163, Aaron Druce (Spa Striders, 3:54:02); 7,546, Courtney Thornberry (3:35:08); 8,784, Alexandra Shields (3:41:06); 9,292, Martin Belcher (3:43:18); 1,0563, Stef Lunn (3:48:09); 11,243 Claire Goult (3:50:39); 12,760, Debbie Streets (3:55:52); 12,785, Mark Loosmore (3:55:55); 12,788, Ed Simkiss (Spa Striders, 3:55:56); 14,890, Richard Green (4:02:09); 16,723, Anton Raath (4:09:51); 21,063, Chris Hart (4:26:30); 37,409, Ezma Eminoglu (6:20:26).

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