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Distance running star Paul Evans visited Newmarket Joggers in january as part of the England Atheltics Flying Coach initiative.  And as a result, a number of club members exceeeded their expectations in the Virgin Money Giving London Marathon recently!

Paul is most well known of winning the 1996 Chicago Marathon at the age of 35 in 2:08.52.  He ran in the 10,000m final in the 1992 Barcelona Olympics and also the 1996 Atlanta Olympics.  In 1996 he was 2nd in the Great North Run and 3rd in the London Marathon.

• Club runner Paul Holley finally broke his PB after 7 years of trying to finish in 2:39:35 - he was delighted and now looking to better that already.  In addition he was 160th overall and 5th in his age category (v45).  
• Team mate Robin Clifford did a 2:45 which is amazing considering that he was involved in a car crash 2 weeks before the marathon resulting in injuries that left him with a suspected broken toe and internal damage to his kidneys.
• Ben Blowes did 2:54 and Greg Davis did 3:01 – he was hoping for a sub 3 but just missed out feeling that he went too fast through 20k. He said, "It’s gutting for me but I’ll be back and it’s still 10 minutes off my recent marathon best time of 3:11."
• Matthew Harvey (last year’s 2:36 runner) suffered cramp and had a nightmare race finishing in 3:11 but he also had problems leading up to the race as he dislocated his shoulder a fortnight ago so it’s one to write off for him.

Carolynn Anderson from the Newmarket Joggers commented, "I know Paul and Greg put down their improved form to the support and advice Paul Evans offered back in January as they took it all on board.  Paul followed a schedule this year - as set out that night - and it’s definitely seen him improve his form following a fine series of results 1:13 in Cambridge Half (4th overall), and 27:26 in the Olympic Park Run (12th overall and first veteran over the line out of over 5700 runners)." 

She continued, "Our first lady over the line was Ursula White in 3:35 another PB on the day.  With 11 runners for the club on Sunday and 9 finishing sub 4 hours (3 in the sub 3 hour category) it’s amazing to have runners of this calibre and although we’re a small club we’re definitely quality over quantity and improving all the time.  Massive thanks from us all for your support to the Joggers; its making a huge difference to the club and proven when we get results like we did on Sunday."

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