London calling for runners

GREAT Yarmouth and District Athletics Club's Road Runners have certainly been busy over the past few weeks, covering the miles in preparation for the forthcoming London Marathon.

Two weeks ago Chris Gay was the sole representative at the Wymondham 20 mile - a race that used to include a 10-mile route as well - and all his training proved worthwhile, when he clocked an improved time of 2-41:11.

Last Sunday, the runners went to separate venues. The local race was the Broadland Half Marathon held at South Walsham and covering the country roads around the area including Salhouse and Woodbastwick.

Two runners took part in this race, David Drewitt finished in a time of

1-59:06, while Sue Fraser completed her race in 2-00:50.

Further afield, three runners took to the F1 circuit of Silverstone for the Adidas London Half Marathon, 13.1 miles around three circuits of the race track, in good spring-like conditions. Some 6,500 runners took part and Chris Gay was very pleased with his performance of 1-38:39, hoping this will help him complete a sub 3-45 London.

Elaine Haggarty finished in a time of 2-27:46 to complete her third attempt at this race.

Following up the rear - due to lack of training, as usual, Pat Brightman completed the course in a time of

2-54:12. Although she was disappointed, it bettered her time at the recent Great Bentley race.

Closer to home, two other runners Maureen England and Denise Goodwin, ran 20 miles around the local roads in under four hours - which makes good preparation for the big day on April 26. Stefanie Herod and John England hope to recover from injuries and get back into training to enable them to run the London Marathon.

The next race on the local calendar is the Frettenham 10K organised by Coltishall Jaguars on Sunday, March 29. In the meantime, various road runners from GYDAC will start their training for their seventh entry into the Round Norfolk Relay on September 19 and 20.