28th Moray Marathon
Elgin, Scotland

Melanie Johnstone celebrated her 100^th marathon today in company of many Collingwood members and 100 Marathon Club members who made the long trip to her home town race in Elgin, Scotland, for the 28^th Moray Marathon.

Mel had her grandmother, parents and many other family members in attendance, including a piper, to celebrate her achievement.  She was also featured on the event website and in a nice article in the local paper.

Accompanying Mel were Dave Ross, Andy and Gill Stalley, Steve Cooney, Allan Rumbles, Martin Lloyd, Nicola Stevenson, Ruth Cottam and Annette Helliwell.  Two other significant attendees were David Thompson (with Sheila Thompson) and Michael Grehan; friends and members of the 100 Marathon Club.

The race unfolded with Michael and Andy setting off ahead of the others, both looking for a good time; and with Andy trying to forget last week’s poor run.  Next came David dressed as ‘118’ from the TV advert (and no I have not worked that one out).  Behind them Mel and Dave were running together dressed as pirates (with no obvious connection to anything as well), with Dave intending to pace Mel to a sub-4 finish.  Nicola in her 1^st marathon was escorted by Allan, Martin and Steve; looking for sub-4 as well.

There was some misty rain in the air for the first couple of miles, followed by what were excellent racing conditions; overcast, relatively cool and with a nice gentle breeze.  Gill was the fastest on the course, but she was in a Ford Focus acting as official photographer.

The course sets out from the town of Elgin heading to Burghead through arable fields and forests, with the one hill on the course peaking at 3½ miles.  From Burghead the route turns right to follow the scenic and gently undulating coastal road into Lossiemouth, passing RAF Lossiemouth.  Part way along this road, the half marathon runners are bussed to their start, for them to race the last half of the full marathon course.  Ruth and Annette, both started 90 minutes after the full start, both in form and both looking for PBs.

As the race developed Michael ran consistently well to stay comfortably the first runner from the 100 Marathon Club to finish, in 3:11:48 and 20^th place, another excellent time, after his 3:15 last Sunday.  Michael and Andy both passed Annette and Ruth, both clearly running smoothly and clearly on route to their PBs.  Annette was concerned to see a huge dead sea gull, a dead rabbit and most tragically a dead squirrel.

Andy ran a conservative 1^st half to then pick up the pace from half way to run a negative split of 2.17, to finish in his 5^th best time of 3:16:20, for 27^th place.

Next home was Ruth, who finished strongly to beat her previous PB by 2:10 minutes, in a time of 1:50:27, in 118^th place.  Her previous best time was 1:52:37.

Not long after Ruth, Annette cruised home in 1:53:51 and 139^th, having improved her PB of 2:06:53 by a brilliant 12:02 minutes.  There were 282 finishers in the half marathon.

David had taken it easy for a good while, before picking up the pace well in the 2^nd half.  As ‘118’ he heard some novel banter along the way including “what’s the number of the Elgin chip shop?”  His finishing time was 3:28:45 and 40^th.

Mel and David come home together accompanied by Allan who had started out with Nicola, Martin and Steve and then swapped groups half way through the race.  They crossed the line together in 3:48:40. Mel had no problems with her recent injury and was therefore able to celebrate the moment of her achievement.  They were 80^th, 81^st and 82^nd.

The last Collingwood runners home were Nicola in her first marathon finish with her two escorting gentlemen in 3:53:29, well inside her target time, in 90^th, 91^st and 92^nd.  Nicola had started to really understand the marathon distance in the last four miles, but finished well without any reaction from her recent injury. Nicola’s time was an excellent one for a debut; clearly more to come.  There were 155 finsihers in the marathon.

Dave disappeared for while only to return without Mel’s 100 Marathon Club medal which he had left behind in the guest house! Therefore after an addition run, there and back, he was ready to give Mel’s presentation speech. He also presented her with her 100 Marathon Club vest, bought by a secretive group of Collingwood members, which you are not allowed to wear until you get to the magic century and full membership on the ‘100 Marathon Club‘. The organisers of the event then presented Mel with £100 in vouchers for sporting goods.

Steve set another marathon PB in his post-race acquisitions; 3 t-shirts, bottles of water, numerous packets of biscuits, bunches of bananas and numerous cups of tea.

Stop Press - Ruth and Michael must have looked dodgy at Inverness airport, being called for random baggage searches!

Full Marathon results
20        Michael Grehan           3:11:48
27        Andy Stalley                3:16:20
40        David Thompson        3:28:45
80        Dave Ross                  3:48:40
81        Melanie Johnstone      3:48:40
82        Allan Rumbles             3:48:40
90        Steve Cooney             3:53:29
91        Nicola Dicks                3:53:29            Debut
92        Martin Lloyd                 3:53:29

Half Marathon results
118      Ruth Cottam               1:50:27            PB
139      Annette Helliwell          1:53:51            PB