Marathon with a difference for Three Counties Running Club’s father and daughter duo Victor and Lauren Day
Three Counties Running Club’s father and daughter duo Victor and Lauren Day took part in a marathon with a difference.
With all the excitement of London marathon, people didn’t realise that another big event was taking place at Letchworth.
The Flawed Hero Marathon is a marathon for a select few. This event was for a group of 100 runners who were all running for pancreatic cancer and mental health awareness.
The course was a 1.8-mile looped marathon but the difference with this marathon was it didn’t start until one minute past midnight on the Saturday night. It was Victor’s first marathon and Lauren’s first marathon at night.
Training for the distance was okay but they hadn’t trained at night, bringing its own challenges of lack of sleep, food, temperature changes and refuelling.
The weather was surprisingly nice when they started but it did get chilly in the early hours of the morning.
Lauren was pleased to run with her dad on his first-ever marathon and on such a special evening, although he did tell her to leave him at 20 miles. After two miles of Lauren saying she would stay with him, Victor insisted that Lauren continued and pushed on.
Both Lauren and Victor said that the support and encouragement they experienced that night was something else that they had never experienced in a run before.
The pubs on the route stayed open all night with refreshments, music and cheers from supporters. Some members went along to support and, along with Lauren, went to support other club members running in London.
Lauren had a fantastic run crossing the line in a great time of 3:57.00, finishing fifth out of the 98 starters and was also first lady to cross the line.
Victor also had a fantastic first marathon run and finished in 10th place with an amazing time of 4:11:00.
They raised an incredible £2,365 for the two charities and the group have raised a fantastic £65,000.
Parkrun results: Boston: Sally Fawkes 34.13. Birmingham: James Hall 22.53 (134th/887). Ferry Meadows: Colin Apps 25.50, Joely Apps 33.34. Sandringham: Tabitha Cook 28.38, Mathew Knott 29.01, Hayley Cook 30.16. Wisbech: Viaceslav Goncarenko 24.11, Tracey Else 26.05, Jonny Clark 26.12, Jodie Clark 29.00, Keith White 37.33. King’s Lynn: Lauren Day 23.10, Sarah Johnson 24.16 (1st in age), Claire Smithee 25.37 (1st in age), Dan High 25.38, Craig Freestone 25.39, Sarah Melton-Whitelam 26.30, Daisy Green 27.30, Debbie Agger 27.53, Steve Whitelam 29.53, Kim Coultard 29.59, Sarah Lamb 30.48.
