Jonathan Cleaver has been in training for this race for some time and this paid off on Sunday when he came home in 300th position in a time of 2:34:51. Here is his report of the day:
Definitely up there as possibly my favourite world major with it being a flat fast course with masses of support on the roadside. The day started off well with clear blue skies, but as we started to race the clouds came over, with wind and light rain. I had a target in mind to pace at 05:43 min miles, but I made a bit of mistake trusting this to my GPS and found out by half way I was already 80 seconds adrift which is really hard to get back in the second half. I hit 20 miles at around 01:55 which had me in range for a 02:33, but my legs started to fade ever so slightly drifting me nearer to 06:00 miles for the final 10km landing me on 02:34:51 and 300th place overall in a field of over 44,000. That's a good couple of minutes knocked off my PB from Tokyo which I am delighted with. As always with the marathon - however many you have done - it takes you back to school and you learn about what to do and not to do next time! That's all 6 majors completed now starting back in 2011 in NYC finishing in 03:23.