STRATFORD Athletic Club has recently had runners in major international marathons in Chicago, Berlin and Dublin, so it was no surprise there was a club vest at Sunday’s TCS New York City Marathon.
This time it was the turn of club stalwart Malcolm Bowyer, who was lining up at the start on the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge in Staten Island.
Malcolm was delighted to be Pen 1 at the start, which meant he was able to get a good start during the first uphill mile.
The course then goes through all the other New York boroughs, from Brooklyn to Queens and over the Queensboro Bridge into Manhattan. Then comes the Bronx before winding back to Manhattan’s Central Park and the finish.
At the halfway point in Queens, Malcolm was running strongly in 94 minutes. Inevitably, the unseasonably warm weather and the hills took their toll and Malcolm slowed a little in the second half to finish in a very creditable time of 3:30.10.
The total number of finishers in the race was 51,388, making it the largest marathon race in the world, and Malcolm’s finishing position of 4,544th was well inside the top ten per cent overall. He was 343rd in his age group.
The winner was Ghirmay Ghebreslassie in 2:07.51 and at aged 20 he is the youngest ever winner of the race and the first Eritrean to win any of the world marathon major races.
Report compiled by Paul Hawkins.
