DOZENS of Harlow runners completed the London Marathon on Sunday after waiting over 800 days since the last one in April 2019.

And they were all heroes every one of them as they took on and conquered the 26 miles and 365 yards of the central London course.

Our list is not exhaustive so apologies if we have missed you out. We will be adding to the story over next couple of days.

Many of the local runners were members of clubs such as Harlow Running Club, Innovation Multisport and ParkRunandBeyond but there were also those individuals who ploughed a lonely furrow through the weeks, months and indeed, years to start and finish the London Marathon.

There was also an amazing turnout by volunteers who stepped up to help with marshalling including over sixty from Harlow Running Club.

Firstly, let us not lose sight that it is a race and Harlow Running Club’s Jack Shury ran it in 2 hours and 46 minutes. This was Jack’s first marathon and this young man has a bright future.

Harlow Running Club captain Andrew Terrell was running in his twelfth London Marathon. Andrew is the embodiment of everything club running should be and produced an excellent time of 3 hrs and 32 minutes.

ParkRunandBeyond’s Thomas Whay has followed a decimated training plan. Anyone who follows him on social media will have been impressed with those Sunday morning runs that got longer and longer and longer.

Thomas, hampered by a touch if cramp towards the end, competed the course in 4hrs and 17 minutes.

One of the many dedicated solo runners was Harry Tennison. Better known in the town for his theatre work, Harry ran to raise money for Multiple Sclerosis. Harry completed the course in a very creditable 5 hrs and 25 mins.

Another very impressive performance was by Harlow Running Club’s Sandra Webber. A glance at Sandra’s parkrun times will show she is a very consistent performer and Sandra’s 5k split times (on the VLM website) were a masterclass in even paced running.

Sandra finished in a very impressive 4 hours and 31 minutes.

Now this is a social story: Innovation Multisports’s Andrew Kitson and Harlow Running Club’s Dominic Emery ran with double amputee Shaun Whiter

Shaun is a former non-league footballer who had his legs amputated after a hit-and-run crash.

Dominic said: “I spoke to Shaun about a month ago at the O2. I offered to run with him on the day, not expecting to hear again.

“We kept in touch then yesterday happened. I only told Andy Kitson on Friday night hoping he’d be ok to run with us.

Andrew was an absolute legend. So knowledgeable and helped Shaun through the dark bits of the day. So he too sacrificed his “finish time” to do this. He did say it was a hugely rewarding experience and so humbling.”

They completed the course in 7 hours and 23 minutes.

At one point, Shaun stopped to speak to the BBC.

Well done to Monika Iyinbor. Monika runs for Enfield and Haringey Athletics Club and is also one of our NHS heroes as she works at Princess Alexandra Hospital.

Monika ran a very impressive 5 hours and 2 minutes.

Other runners

Dimitra Christopoulous: 4 hrs 20 mins

Sarah Cass: 4 hrs 47 mins

Dave Jeffries: 4 hrs and 49 mins

Alison Walker: 6 hrs 42 mins