Seaford Striders Virtual Marathon

STRideRS weLL SuPPoRTed FoR ViRTuAL LoNdoN MARATHoN

This year’s 40th edition of the London Marathon was an event like no other. Covid-19 restrictions forced all but the elites into an edited-down version of the event run over 19 laps of St James’ Park.

The rest of the runners took part in the London Marathon as a virtual event. Five Striders took the 26.2-mile challenge in wet and windy conditions. They were weather to support me –

given a timeframe of 23 hours 59 the race.

minutes and 59 seconds (from 00:00 to 23:59:59 BST) to complete the race anywhere in the UK or the world. The format meant finishers had plenty of help from other Striders and runners to help them go the distance.

Zingy Thetho ran laps of the Peacehaven parkrun route in Centenary Park and was featured in a BBC interview. Zingy has raised more than £1,000 so far running for Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals Charity which supports patients and staff and the Martin Fisher Foundation, working to eliminate HIV. Zingy marked her 26.2 miles running laps of the park in 6:24 and was joined by runners from Seaford Striders and Saltdean-based RunPals.

She said: ‘The rain was pouring, but the actual running, going through the loops all the time, doing the same thing 26 times, I didn’t get bored. I felt positive throughout. Having different groups of people, having different loops with me meant I really enjoyed it!’

Lorraine Quigley joined up to the London Landmarks Half Marathon to support Parkinsons UK, raising money for both events together. She has raised £1,070 so far and will run both events in 2021

Lorraine was joined by supporters Julie Taylor, Caroline Swinden, Gary and Jill New, Sue Curtis and Debbie Taylor, running with her for nearly the entire stretch of her route, which she completed in 5:38. She said: ‘What got to me most was the fact that so many people came out in the terrible very humbling. I don’t think I actually had a low point due to their encouragement and company the whole way through.’

Darren Evans brightened up the foul weather, running his race dressed as Bananaman. He was running for Brighton’s Rockinghorse Children’s Charity. Support from motorists, passers-by and other virtual marathon runners helped him tackle headwinds of up to 40mph, and he was joined by Justin Wright for the last 10km of different conversations and having someone there to do

‘I dressed up as Bananaman, which led to cheers and spontaneous claps from the public. It was a lift to the soul with every cheer, every clap and every toot from drivers going past. It was also nice to see a lot of other VLM runners doing their own races.’

His running efforts bore fruit, as well as cash, as he was able to donate approx 40kg of bananas each to The Royal Alex and the WOLO Foundation donated by Asda Marina.

Nick Farley’s training plans were disrupted by injury. Although suffering a recurrence within the first third of the race, his trail route over the South Downs helped him push through to finish his 6th Marathon in 5:57. Jemma Crawford and partner Jay Vile raised £582 for St Wilfrid’s Hospice, Eastbourne, during her first marathon, running a route over Seaford Head and over the Seven Sisters which she described as ‘a killer!’ Jemma even managed to end her 5:01 run with a sprint finish. Photos from top: Jemma Crawford and Jay Vile; Zingy Thetho with runners from Seaford Striders and Saltdeanbased RunPals; Darren Evans.