Sevenoaks Athletics Club

Milano Marathon - 2nd April 2017

Jenny and myself really enjoyed our trip to Milan and we both got a PB in the marathon, writes Grace Manzotti. On the Saturday we picked up our numbers and t-shirts at the expo. The t-shirt is red and designed by Giorgio Armani. The weather was sunny and warm and we were a bit worried about marathon weather, but we didn't need to be as the weather was not hot and it was cloudy on marathon day.

My main aim was to go under 4 hours so I started following the sub 4 hours pacers. It was Ok at the beginning but I found difficult that they stopped a long time at the water stations and then had to make up for lost time, so they were really accelerating at times and then slowing down again. At miles 17 they did a very fast mile and I started getting tired and I really wanted to slow down and was worried I would lose them. I knew that psychologically losing the pacers so early on was not good. It was a mental battle, but I managed to to keep up with them, recover and carry on. At mile 24 I really wanted to stop, and it was a real mental battle not to. The pacers went a bit ahead and that wasn't good but I realised that I had  a lot of time to spare to get under 4 hours so I thought if I keep on running I will get there in under 4 hours anyway. Then I saw the 350 metres sign. I looked at the watch and I realised that if I sprinted I would get a PB, so the brain said to my legs it is like the track at Sevenoaks: less than a lap, only 350 metres to go - sprint!  My legs said "You what? You must be joking", but my brain said "I want a PB", so I sprinted as fast as I could for the last 300 and came in in 3h57.48, a PB by about 30 seconds. Phew!

Jenny's PB is much more amazing - over 14 minutes! She also started with the pacers as her aim was to get a PB which would have been under 4h30, but she knew she could go faster than a sub 4h30 so she started following the 4h15 pacers and keeping them in sight, but she knew it wouldn't matter too much as she would still get a PB. She said she lost them at some point but she wasn't worried as she knew she was going to get a good time anyway and she came in 4h.17.46, which is 14 minutes under her previous time and a massive PB.

We both found it a bit strange that of 6,000 people there were only about 773 women. Most of the runners were men and we also found Italian runners not as friendly as our runners in England. There was a lot of pushing and shoving and we both got pushed a few times, and at the water station everybody was pushing to get to the water and shoving everybody else out of the way!! Apart from that the marathon was well organised and the course is nice. It goes through all the sights in Milan.

On the medal is the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele one of the world's oldest shopping malls. The Galleria is named after Victor Emmanuel II, the first king of Italy.

In the evening we celebrated with Italian pink champagne and my mum's home made Italian food.

These are the official results.

Greater Manchester Marathon - 2nd April 2017

After keeping a careful eye on the weather all week, I was very relieved to see the forecast predicted conditions were going to be perfect for the marathon on Sunday, writes John Witton. I travelled to the start using the Metrolink and it was chilly at 7:15 before the sun was properly up, but the skies were clear with just a smattering of cloud and, importantly, no wind.

The race was very well organised with marshals directing runners to the bag drop area from the Metrolink and clear signposting. After dropping my bag, I made my way to start area B to start warming up, bumping into Andrew Milne on the way. It was great to see Ron Hill interviewed, who later started the race. Amazing that this year he finished a 52-year streak of running every single day!

Dan Witt found me at the start and we set off together at the signal, shuffling our way over the start line before breaking into a run. I had a pace range I wanted to stay within to try to achieve my target of sub 3 hours and, with excellent crowd support, wide, traffic free roads and excellent marshalling, I managed to stick to the lower end of it (4 min per km) for the first 20 miles. I felt comfortable up to this point and was buoyed by the support of my family at 9 and 16 miles, but the last 6 miles got tough. My pace slipped to 4:15 per km but I managed to hold on, and was delighted when the finish came into sight. The finishing straight was very long, however, and didn’t seem to be getting any nearer as I pushed myself to maintain my pace. It really started to hurt in the final few metres and I could feel the first twinges of cramp in my thighs, but I made it over the line in a time of 2:51:46, which I was ecstatic with.

I was nearly sick after the finish, due to the gels I’d consumed, but I managed to recover and by the time I'd collected my medal and goody bag, pint of alcohol-free beer and my bag from the bag drop, I felt fine. It was great to see my family at the meeting point and we all went for a celebratory lunch before I met Dan for a couple of pints.

It was a really enjoyable, well-organised race, on a superb flat course with excellent crowd support and we were very lucky with the weather.

The SAC results were:

The full results are here.

Sevenoaks Rotary 10k - 2nd April 2017

Darrell Smith was first M40 and sixth overall and Cath Linney second W45 and fifth woman as seven SAC runners tackled the Rotary Club's 10k race in Knole Park on 2nd April. The SAC results were:

 The full results are here.

Hastings Half Marathon - 19th March 2017

John Stevens was first M55 at the Hastings Half Marathon on 19th March. Grace Manzotti was also running - the only other SAC runner at the event - and she provided the following report:

"Grace Manzotti and John Stevens ran the 33rd Hastings Half Marathon. Hastings is very hilly, the first half is pretty much all uphill and then there are more hills in the second half too, but you then it goes down to the sea front and the last 2.5 miles are on the sea front which is lovely. Well today there was a very strong headwind by the sea front and it slowed me right down. I had to put my head down and run to the to the finish, still I am very pleased with my time as I got a PB, I ran 3 minutes faster than last time. I think this race is hard but I would recommend it, the crowd support is amazing, everybody is out cheering us on. And there are lots of bands around the course, today they had a Dolly Parton tribute act on the seafront, which took my mind off the wind. You get a brass instead of a medal and this years brass is lovely it celebrates the reopening of the Hastings Pier after it caught fire in 2010."

The duo's results were as follows:

The full results are here.