Success for St Mary’s Alumni in London Marathon

Alumni from the Endurance Performance and Coaching Centre (EPACC) at St Mary’s University, Twickenham saw success in the 2019 Virgin London Marathon.

In the Women’s Elite Race, alumna Charlotte Purdue won the British Race, finishing 10^th overall, setting a personal best (PB) of 2:25.38, putting her third place on the all-time ranking and taking almost four minutes off her previous PB. Her time also qualifies her for the World Athletics Championships in Doha later in the year and is within the qualification time required for the Tokyo Olympics.

Also in the Women’s Elite Race was St Mary’s alumna Lily Partridge, who finished third in British Women’s race, 17^th overall in a time of 02:31.53. Current student and EPACC athlete Louise Small also made her marathon debut, running a time of 2:39.43.

In the Men’s Elite Race, Sir Mo Farah won the British Men’s race, coming fifth overall, in his second London Marathon since switching from track to road after London 2017, in a time of 02:05.39.

In the wheelchair race, student Claudia Burrough took part in her first marathon, which she completed in 4:00.02. In the men’s elite race, David Weir, who has trained at St Mary’s for a number of years, competed in his 20^th London Marathon, finishing in fifth place in a time of 01:37.32.

Charlotte, Lily and Mo also competed in the London Big Half in March with Charlotte and Mo winning their races and Lily coming fifth in the women’s elite.

Elsewhere, EPACC saw success at the BUCS 10000m championships with Petros Surafel winning Gold in the Men’s Race in 29:26.58 and Phoebe Law taking Silver in the Women’s Race in a time of 35:58.26.

Speaking of the weekend’s results, Head of Sport at St Mary’s Andrew Reid-Smith said, “It was a strong weekend of endurance results from St Mary’s students and athletes. Charlie’s run was particularly special, as ever she produced a wholehearted and disciplined performance to achieve a really quick time and see her first Brit home.  Hopefully an indication of future marathon runners, it was also exciting to see our students medalling in the longer track distance at the BUCS 10,000m Championships.”