This was the first Ealing half marathon (in this century), although some of the other ESM members remember the Southall Charity Half Marathon 1988 (in the Ealing Borough), see Lynn Wilson’s picture.
The course started in Lammas Park, running mainly on the smaller leafy roads of Pitshanger & West Ealing as well as Ealing Broadway/Uxbridge Road, taking in some of the other parks including Cleveland park and Walpole Park before finishing in Lammas Park. See course map here.
The first men were Jonathan Stead (Herne Hill Harriers), John Franklin (Met police AC) and Robert Wilson (ESM). Robert Wilson was also the first Ealing resident across the line. Also note that Rob had been out for a while recovering from a stress fracture.
The first ladies were Gabriel Carnwath (Altringham & District AC), Issy Menzies (Army Athletics Association) and Jenny Simms.
Our club was well represented, with 24 runners from our club (shown in the results).
Rob Wilson, Jon Ellis & Alex Leslie
ESM runners included Rob Wilson 1:13:09, Jon Ellis 1:22:29, Alex Leslie 1:23:36 (see above), Stephen Morris 1:23:59, James Steel 1:26:56, Rob Brown 1:27:20, Ciaran Eaton 1:28:49, Tom Yates 1:30:44, Ben Hagreen 1:31:02, James O’Neill 1:31:59, Christopher Brown 1:35:33.
Then our 1st lady Patricia Thomas 1:39:34 (see below), followed by Steve Clune 1:39:39, Andy Leung 1:40:02, George Davidson 1:44:25, Tim Cunningham 1:46:43, Emily Burton 1:52:23, Rachel Warren 1:54:44, Jane Harris 1:54:54, Doug Buckeridge 1:58:00, Sophie Pitt 2:05:09, Patrick Barton 2:06:05, Martin Allen 2:13:59 and Laurence Messer 2:18:13.
Patricia Thomas, Emily Burton and Rachel Warren, our first three ladies.
Former members running included Peter Flewitt (9th in 1:16:23), Dan Grant (10th in 1:16:37) and Mo Ismail (25th in 1:19:33). Tom Langley finished in 1:24:04 but was running under an alias. Piers Keenleyside who moved to Ealing Eagles finished in 1:47:03.
Congratulations to Ealing Eagles who organised the race, under the direction of race organizer Kevin Walker. They also managed to get a team of 90 runners in the race.
Results are available on the Sports Systems web site and also on the Ealing Half Marathon Results page and ThePowerOf10 here.
Also, the race could not be run without the volunteers, many of which were needed for the multitude of turns in the course and the number of road closures.
The ESM contingent of marshalls and cheering spectators included Fiona Kennedy, John Falvey, Mark Delahunty, Mary Walsh, Steve Elson & his wife, Beverley & Anja, Lynn & Martin Wilson, Andy Dodd & crew, Alison Hopkins, Peter Drew & his missus and probably several others [my apologies for anyone I have missed out].
There are two albums of pictures on our Facebook page: here and here and also on the Ealing Half Marathon Facebook page (you don’t need to be a member of Facebook to view these). Photos on this page courtesy of Andy Dodd and Lynn Wilson.
See news article by Poppy Bradbury on 1st Oct in the Ealing Gazette.