Stragglers were out in force at yesterdays' London marathon with 29 members completing the iconic course plus one doing the virtual marathon closer to home. And if there wasn't enough yellow bobbing along the streets of London, groups of Stragglers supporters could be found all along the route, as well as at the after event celebration in Waterloo.
Lisa Bailey and Sarah Holt were the club's first finishers, having run side by side for most of the race, as captured by the BBC. Despite both having challenges in the final six miles they finished in 2:44:02 and 2:45:34 respectively - amazing times that put them just behind the elite runners. Lisa finished 16th among the women in the mass event and Sarah was 18th.
Ed Buckley was the first Stragglers man to finish with a time of 2:55:42, followed by James Drake in 2:55:58 and James Bowell in 2:56:26. A further five women finished in under three and a half hours - Nicole Hamilton, Ana Ramos Marugan, Sonia Bandeira, Claire Curtin and Victoria Wood, as did another seven men - Filip Egierszdorff, John Western, Chance Rowan, Abu-Turab Bharwana, Matthew Coakes, Kevin Price and Nick Little.
A special mention goes to Emily Eastwood who finished her second marathon in April, going over five minutes faster than she did at Brighton. Also Orla White, a graduate of our first Couch to 5k programme last year, completed the virtual marathon running along the Thames in 7:57:48.
Congratulations are due to all those who finished including Merilyn Davis, Tim Ferguson, Jason Nourse, Rachel Simpson, Christopher Berry, Roberto Ferreira, Naomi Johns, Dan Partridge, Caroline Preston, Julia Snaith and Jeannie Taylor.