At 10 o’clock last Sunday morning the Luton Marathon started from outside Lea Manor sports Centre in Luton, Bedfordshire. England. The race was organised and marshalled by the local Stopsley Striders. Right to the fore amongst the nearly six hundred athletes who put their toe to the line was our own Jackie Doherty.
The route is unusual in that it comprises three laps with a mixture of urban, leafy suburbs and rolling countryside. This was Jackie’s fourth crack at the Luton Marathon and he was certainly at home at the head of the large field.
Jackie has been following a dedicated training regime over the past 4 months and his efforts were well rewarded as he recorded a superb 3:09:53. This captured 45th spot overall, a tremendous finish for the purple veteran purple vest.
The early morning mist cleared for the start of the race and disappeared by the time Jackie passed through Bramingham and headed out to Streatley for the rural stretch of the course, before turning back into Luton through Sundon Park and heading back to the start of the second lap by the Purley Centre.
Jackie ran a strong race all the way and a great crowd gathered at the finish to cheer our man home. The race was won by Tim Haughin of WSE & Hounslow who finished in a time of 2:35:20, and Sally Wilder of San Domenico RRC won the ladies race in 3:01:27.
Jackie will be aiming for 3:05 for his fifth attempt next year.