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The London Marathon will live long in the memory for former Maidenhead United forward Kirsty Matthews as she was swept along by the support of the crowd to a new personal best time in the capital.
Matthews, a member of Maidenhead Athletic Club (MAC), had marathon running experience under her belt following her endeavours at the Boston Marathon earlier this year and she smashed her target time of 3hrs15mins.
Reflecting on the achievement she said: “No way did I ever imagine I could achieve 3.10.07,” she said.
“Going into the race I knew I wanted to start at a slightly faster pace to ‘bank’ some time knowing the dreaded wall would come at around mile 20.
“All I can say is that the wall never hit and that slightly faster pace did not drop. The crowd and atmosphere were immense. I now understand what people mean when they say the crowd will carry you round, it was infectious.
“I truly loved every second, every step. One to remember for my lifetime. Plus, being featured on the BBC’s marathon highlights was pretty cool.”
Anthony Hall and Mel Tudor also took on the annual London Marathon with Anthony just missing out on a sub three hour time.
“I was the lucky one who had the Club ballot place for London this year, so decided I needed to make the most of it and really knuckle down with a training plan,” said Anthony.
“I started a few weeks late (due to Endure), but following that stuck to every session on the plan, so felt confident going to the line that I was in shape for a good run.
“Travel to the start on the Datchet coach was smooth and easy, the forecast rain never materialised, and the temperature wasn’t roasting either.
“The run too was fairly uneventful, resisting the temptation to go out too quickly – my pacing was pretty much spot on – not deviating from 4:15 / km by more than about 20 seconds per 5km interval all the way up to 35km.
“The effort of keeping this pace up finally took its toll in the last 5km – dropping to circa 4:30 pace, and ultimately just missing out on an elusive sub 3:00 hr. Still, happy with a new PB of 3:01:17.”
Mel also enjoyed the run despite having to amend her target time due to injury and COVID. She said: “I have managed to ride the ‘good for age’ train for a few years and I knew that this London Marathon wouldn’t yield the results needed.
“The summer has seen me suffer the dreaded plantar F curse and COVID has resulted in the NY Marathon that I entered back in 2019 occurring a few weeks later in November. Both of these meant that whilst I didn’t want to forgo London, I had to amend my race goals.
“My aim for this race was to simply not get too wet (the forecast all week had predicted heavy rain), enjoy the crowds, take in the views, see how far my sore foot would manage before I had to walk and most importantly not result in further injury.
“Anyway I needn’t have worried. I loved it – the sun shone – my foot hurt along with everything else as you come to expect at about mile 23 and it was a great event.”
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