Sam and Conal score personal bests at Seville Marathon
Hastings Runners are celebrating news that both their entrants in the Seville Marathon completed the course in personal best times.
Almost three months of hard training paid off for M40 Sam Davies – who crossed the line in a time of 3hr 08min 07sec (that’s an impressive average pace of 4:30/km or 7:10/mile) and M60 Conal Tracey (who did so in 3:27:24 who also maintained a superb pace of 4:55/km – 7:54/mile).
The quality of the huge field of 17,221 was underlined by the fact that Davies’ time saw him placed 2,919th – while Tracey, almost 25 years older, was ranked 4,896th.
Although the course is one of the flattest in Europe, the pair had precious little time to take in the sights of the Andalusian capital as they sped by them. Indeed, they were more aware of the crowds and grateful that the route was virtually windless and warmed slowly as the sun rose.
In any marathon, no matter how hard runners have trained, things can go wrong. Unsurprisingly, the body takes a pounding and every bone, muscle and gastrointestinal twinge feels like it could spell trouble. Then there’s the psychological barrier of “the wall” can present itself somewhere around the 20-mile mark.
But at that point in Seville, Davies simply kicked for home. Three miles later, Tracey did the same and ran the remaining part of the race (the equivalent of a Parkrun) as one of his fastest segments of the day.
Ironically, the two did not meet after the race until Hastings Fat Tuesday Tour, when Davies still had the energy to play three sets as the Wytch Pycknyk drummer and Tracey and he compared their finishers’ medals at The Carlisle.
Meanwhile, three green-and-black clad runners represented the club at the Ashford 10-mile race. Fastest was Lewis Parsons, placed fourth in a PB time of 1:02:24 (and first in his MV35 age category), followed by Harvey Thomas (in 1:38:15) and Caz Hall (1:55:16).
The day before, on Hastings seafront, another HR had run a PB in the weekly 5k parkrun. Congratulations to Louise Cavill who knocked 90 seconds off her previous fastest time to cross the line in 24:39.
Hastings Runners welcome new members of all abilities aged 12 and over for fun, training and competitive running. Visit https://hastingsrunners.co.uk