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Grange Farm and Dunmow Runners’ record broken again
Grange Farm and Dunmow Runners’ Alistair Brown has regained his club marathon record and guaranteed himself a championship start place in the next London Marathon.
Brown qualified to line-up with the elite and professional runners in the capital next year by clocking two hours 44 minutes 56 seconds at the Amsterdam Marathon; the 44-year-old finished 135th and was 21st veteran out of around 16,000 entrants.
He told the Broadcast: “The goal was always to run under 2:45 to qualify for the championship start place at London, so I did it by four seconds!
“I had given up on it during the race and stopped looking at my watch, however in the final section I looked and realised I could just do it. It was a huge relief when I crossed the line.”
In doing so Brown broke his marathon record by 10 minutes, his previous best was the 2:54 which he had set at London as a 30-year-old old back in 2004.
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Club rivalry has played its part in Brown’s improvement.
Just three weeks previously club-mate James Bosher had taken Brown’s old club record away from him at the Berlin Marathon.
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“This was my chance to get my record back,” said Brown who hails from High Easter.
“Since James has joined the club he has really spurred me on, it has been a huge inspiration knowing he is hot on my heels.
“We train together and his improvement has been unbelievable.
“He is still young and will have the chance to re-take the record starting with the New York Marathon next month.”
Grange Farm and Dunmow Runners’ Geoff Maidment also ran the Amsterdam Marathon and achieved a personal best running 3:17:40.
Elsewhere, the club’s Colin Jackson completed the Abingdon Marathon in 3:49:44.
