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Congratulations to all who were part of the Jesuit Missions team in this year’s London Marathon.
It may have been the 25th Anniversary of the London Marathon, but as someone pointed out to me after the race, the Jesuit Mission’s team has been going for a decade! In that time we have had about 200 runners raising an estimated £580,000 (if we can hit the £50,000 this year!)
This year’s race weekend kicked off with Mass celebrated at the Sacred Heart Church by team member Gerry Gallen SJ. Soon after about 25 runners and volunteers were gathered for the pre-race pasta meal to help build up reserves for the race.
Although the forecast was for rain, the race day started off clear if a little on the cold side. By 7am a crowd of eager runners started to appear at the Jesuit Missions office ready to be ferried up to Waterloo. The majority of the team were on the red start, which left the Wombles to go off to the blue start and join the elite runners.
With the help of volunteers the Wombles set off with a 15 metre Make Poverty History banner behind them. (We heard this appeared on the ITV evening news that night, so if anyone has a copy, please let me know).
As a spectator I headed of to the 15 mile mark to try and catch a glimpse of some of the team as they sped past. 33,000 runners is an amazing sight as it is just a constant mass racing down the road for about 3 hours.
Everyone appeared to be going strong at that point and I can reasonably some even beat me to the finish on foot, as I queued up for the underground.
Arriving at the finish I heard about how the Wombles all managed to get an interview. Steadily a number of the team went by, lifting their legs as they heard the cheer from the Jesuit Mission’s supporters in the crowd and the fact that the finish line was just 200 metres away.
The bravery awards though have to go to Andy Wylde who not only ran as a Womble, but unknown to us had a stress fracture and limped his way through from the 17 mile mark. Teresa Broome also suffered with an injury meaning she had to walk from 9 miles, changing her 4 hour predicted time into just over 7 hours.
I know a few of you suffered on the day or after the race, but things have quickly changed and many are saying sign me up for next year. Application forms due out in August!
Well done to everyone who completed the race, and thanks to all our volunteers and supporters who helped the make the day run so smoothly.
Alan Fernandes