The journey up to Chester for the MBNA Chester Marathon this morning proved worthwhile for Alison Hopkins, as she finished the race in 2 hours 57 minutes and 51 seconds. This not only revised her PB by more than 4 minutes, but also took half a minute off the previous club record, set back in 1995 by Sandra Janisch in the London Marathon. Alison was third woman overall and the first W35 in the field.
Training partner Mark Delahunty also broke the three hour barrier with a time of 2:59:51; this was also about 4 minutes adrift of his PB, but sadly not in the right direction. However, Mark can take some credit for Alison’s success, having made it something of a mission to get her under the 3 hour barrier.