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Six runners from Halifax Harriers finished in under three hours at Sunday’s Virgin London Marathon. The weather was perfect for some good times with sunshine and although had a shower of rain lasting about 10 minutes just before the start the race it was actually near perfect for the runners as temperatures were not as warm as had been predicted.

From the 20 Harriers members who took part in the 26 miles around the capital, six managed to break the magical barrier.

However, the local performance of the day came from Ripponden’s Sarah Cumber in 946 position from a field of almost 35,000 starters. Sarah has done many marathons – New York, Boston, Berlin, Philadelphia and London but never gone under 3 hours . Starting with the women’s elite she smashed her previous best time for the marathon distance, finishing in 2 hours 58 minutes and 11 seconds. The 39 year old was 37th in the ladies race overall a magnificient achievement.

The first male runner home for the Harriers was Lee Buckwell 2:44:01 in 282nd position, a personal best and qualifies for next year on the elite start by being under 2hours 45minutes.

The next Harriers to cross the line were Damien Cole 2:49:15; and Ian Whitehouse 2:51:57 .Followed in by Andrew Wiggins 2:54:44, and Jamie Westwood 2:57:30 to complete the Harrier’s “magnificent 6” sub 3 hour performances.

Sarah’s husband Geoff ran a fine race and finished 8th position in his age catergory (60-64 years) in 3:06:44.

Tristan Kent finished in 3:13:56, Adrian Royston of Ovenden in 3:15:12, Dene Townend in 3:17:37 and Richard Plunkett 3:27:16, all ran well inside three and a half hours.

Andy Haslam of Northowram finished in 3:33:56 followed closely by Queensbury’s Mark Crabtree 3:34:45. Elizabeth Sanderson of Southowram 3:39:31, Emma Vincent 3:56:54 and Dave Wright of Ogden 3:59:16 to finish under 4 hours.

Ovenden’s Dave Cooper missed out by 39 seconds finishing in 4:00:39, Holmfield’s Craig Barrett 4:25:01, Geraldine Roby 4:27:50 and Paul McCarthy 4:27:05 ran very respectable times completing the Harriers returns.