Archive - 2010 Marathon Report

New Course Men’s Record at 2010 Marathon

See photos from the race -  Marathon   Half Marathon

A new course record was set at this year's Bungay Black Dog Marathon as hundreds of runners made their way around the gruelling route in the sunshine. Steve Prosser, of Bishop's Stortford Running Club, was first home in the marathon in 2:44:43 to beat Carl Prewer's 2007 record of 2:46:59. He was delighted with his performance and said: "It was a fantastic course, but I found the last mile really hard." Second over the line was Neil Aitken, of Clapham Chasers, in 2:48:17. Mark Shepherd, of Team Kennet, secured third place in 2:51:58 and Christopher Tilbrook, of St Albans Striders, came fourth in 2:52:19.

The first woman home was Maggie Fenn, of Vale Royal, in 3:07:57. She said: "It was absolutely brilliant. It was very hot, but there was a bit of a breeze when I needed it. This is a personal best for me. The marshals and all the volunteers have been just brilliant."
The first Black Dog runner home in the Marathon was Ian Taylor (running 4 marathons in 4 consecutive weeks) who came 70th in 3:42:11. Laura Devereux was the first female Black Dog to finish in 3:54:03 (100th). Bobbie Sauerzapf was 114th in an annoying 4:00:19 and Colin Whale managed a time of 5:20:14 (209th).

In the Half Marathon, Paul Holley, of Newmarket Joggers, finished first in 1:14:22 and Gavin Davies, of Ipswich Jaffa, came second in 1:16:44. In third place was John Oakes, of Cambridge and Coleridge AC, in 1:18:12 with Edmund Kelleher finishing fourth in 1:19:47. The first woman home was Jane Davies, of Reading Joggers, in a time of 1:31:11.

19 members of the organising club took part in the Half Marathon, with John White attaining a magnificent 10th position in 1:26:44. Full details can be found on the Results page.
There were a record number of entrants in this year's half marathon with 598 of the 600 places filled. Race director Bob Paul said that both races had benefitted from the ban on flights because of the volcanic eruption in Iceland. He explained that 40 runners from Clapham Chasers who were booked to take part in the Vienna Marathon had been forced to abandon their plans because of the flights chaos and chose to take part in the Bungay Marathon instead.

Last year the club raised more than £11,000 for their chosen charity the NSPCC and they hope to exceed that figure this year helped by the extra entrants. Bob added: "The weather is lovely, although it has been a bit too hot and we have had one or two pull out of the marathon because of the heat.”Bungay and District Sports Association lends us the field and the facilities for nothing because we are raising money for charity. "The event is all about running and having a fun family day, raising money for charity and putting Bungay on the map."