Jo’s amazing marathon run

Oct 16 2009 by Our Correspondent, Dumfries Standard Friday

ONLY ONE Dumfries Running Club member, Jo Zakrzewski, took part in a race last weekend but turned in one of the best individual club performances of this or any other year.

Jo travelled on Sunday with two friends to Leicester and at short notice decided to enter the marathon.

While she has been on good form recently, there is little margin for error in an unforgiving race such as a marathon.

Reaching the six-mile mark in under 40 minutes she was well up with the leaders and maintained this fast pace in two hours eight minutes at 19 miles.

In the end she kept up this relentless schedule and crossed the line in three hours one minute 40 seconds as third woman, an extraordinary 14 minutes faster than her personal best.

To put this into some kind of perspective, this is the eighth fastest female marathon run in Scotland in 2009 and is the fastest time run by a woman in Dumfries and Galloway for over 20 years.

It is also the fastest road marathon time this year run by any of the 124 members of Dumfries Running Club and means that Jo was a massive two miles faster than her previous best time obtained last year in Blackpool.

With a guaranteed elite start in London next year, there is every chance she will smash the three-hour barrier very soon.

This weekend, the round Rotherham 50-mile race is the target. This year there will be two mixed Dumfries Running Club teams and two individual runners.

Les Hill is very experienced on this course and knows it well and Marcus Scotney is a debutant and will tackle the complex navigation and off road running without having managed any practice runs. Hopefully the weather will be kind and no one is directed off course.