London calling for Borders marathon-runners
Selkirk’s Rory Banks went the distance in aid of the town’s cricket club at this year’s London Marathon on Sunday, raising almost £900.
The 34-year-old, vice-captain at the Philiphaugh club, had set his sights on completing the 26-mile course in under four hours and managed to pull that off by the narrowest of margins, clocking 3:59:58 for 20,309th place.
“I started struggling with about nine kilometres to go and definitely hit a wall,” said Banks afterwards.
“I began working it out in my head that if I averaged six minutes a kilometre, then I would be sub-four hours by two or three minutes, so I took a few walk breaks.
“The heat in London was also an issue as I’d been training in 5-7C. The temperature on the day of the race was around 20C on the day, so that was a challenge.
“With one kilometre to go, I needed to up the pace and basically sprinted the last 200m as the clock was getting closer and closer to the four-hour mark.
“When I crossed the line, I wondered if I’d done it and looked down at my watch, which had been slightly off, and it showed I’d managed it with ten seconds to spare.
“My official time came in soon afterwards at just two seconds under the four hours, so I was hugely relieved. If I hadn’t completed it in under four hours, I’d have been pretty disappointed.”
Banks was also pleased to have raised the best part of £1,000 in sponsorship for the East of Scotland Cricket Association division 3 club, saying: “Everybody has been really supportive and generous and I guess raising that amount would be my personal highlight.”
With 59,000 runners taking part in the English race, the father of two said he’d found it hard to find a rhythm and keep a steady pace, explaining: “You had to constantly manoeuvre round slower folk in front of you, with people regularly stopping to walk or to get drinks.
“All in all, it was a pretty overwhelming experience, and the crowds lining the route were amazing.
“The organisation of the event ran like clockwork from start to finish and it’s something I’ll never ever forget.”
Other Borderers taking part included two members of Teviotdale Harriers and five from Gala Harriers.
The former’s Greg Walker was first of them home, as well as being ninth man over 45 and 216th overall, in 2:30:19, with clubmate Rory Anderson close behind, clocking 2:30:23 for 220th place.
Clark Scott was the Galashiels club’s front-runner, placing 535th in 2:37:57, followed by James Dennison, 4,956th in 3:10:11; Nikita Tait, 12,410th in 3:38:41; Paul Wheatley, 30,074th in 4:29:12; and, taking on his 39th marathon, over-70 David Nightingale, 31,739th in 4:34:02.