Virgin Money London Marathon 2016

Congratulations and a huge thank you to all the runners who took part in the 2016 Virgin Money London Marathon for CRY on Sunday 24th April. We are very proud of all our runners and grateful to them for their fantastic efforts and for choosing to run for CRY.

The 117 London Marathon runners who ran for CRY comprised of 47 who ran with their own ballot places and 70 with places acquired through CRY. Among our runners was CRY Patron, Bill Neely, Chief Global Correspondent for NBC who took part for the 7th consecutive year in memory of Katrina Brown and finished in 3 hours, 19 minutes and 13 seconds.

BBC journalist Liz Rawlings also took part for CRY in memory of Claire Prosser.

The weather was unseasonably chilly this year, especially for spectators and cheerers, however that did not dampen the enthusiasm of the crowds or the incredible atmosphere on the day.
CRY staff Nat, Nicola, Rosie and Yassi headed to the start to meet the CRY runners and wish them all good luck. We also used this opportunity to start our social media coverage on the day tweeting out photos of our excited runners. Thank you to everyone who came to meet them before their run.

As the race started CRY staff and volunteers Jenny Boag, Kerry Ferne, Wendy Harrington, Jim and Barbara Holland, Tina MacMillan, Becci Robinson and Theresa Taylor unloaded the vehicles and set up the Blake Suite at the Hilton Hotel, Green Park in preparation for the runners’ return. Refreshments were laid out and the room was decorated with flags, display screens and banners.

This year, as in the previous two years, the Hilton Hotel, Green Park, kindly donated an additional two suites – the Byron and the Darwin – and CRY volunteers Rob Lundberg, Ian and Teija Wynn set up these rooms with massage beds so that CRY runners could have their post-race massage in a quiet, relaxing environment, away from the bustle of the main suite. We are extremely grateful to the Hilton Hotel for the use of these additional rooms and the Shelly Suite which was available, again free of charge, as a quiet area, if required. The Hilton Hotel also donated a further two bedrooms to be used for showers and provided discount vouchers, towels and bottled water.

Nat and our runners’ friends and families, kindly took photographs and cheered for all of our runners at miles 18 and 23 and gave them the extra boost they needed to keep going.

Katy, Chris, Lucy and Oliver Turberville; along with Graeme Attridge, Bob and Carol Finch, Ed Hannon and Abi Jonas – also CRY volunteers – waited in Waterloo Place, near the finish area, to welcome the CRY runners and offer them a drink and snack whilst they waited for the CRY shuttle service to take them back to the Hilton Hotel.

The runners were transported to the hotel in the shuttle vehicles by CRY staff Tony and Ben. CRY Staff Trudi and volunteer Kerry Ferne greeted each of our runners outside the hotel and welcomed them to the reception.

The first CRY runner to cross the finish line was Carl Ryde who finished in a fantastic 2 hours, 23 minutes and 4 seconds and the first CRY runners back to the hotel were Richard Gordon and Barry Parker who finished in an equally impressive time of 3 hours, 19 minutes and 23 seconds and 3 hours, 19 minutes and 33 seconds respectively.

As the afternoon progressed, more and more runners came back to the hotel, each of them welcomed with a well-deserved round of applause from CRY staff and volunteers. They were then checked in by volunteers Barbara and Jim Holland, offered a goody bag by volunteer Tina MacMillan, photographed, interviewed and offered refreshments. The main reception room was, full of exhausted and elated runners and their proud friends and family members sharing the highs and lows of the day. They were able to meet and chat to Alison Cox MBE, CRY Founder, who was available for part of the afternoon, and other CRY staff who all enjoyed meeting everyone and thanking them for their extraordinary efforts.

The runners were interviewed by CRY staff member Lily, Nicola and former CRY staff member, now a volunteer, Becci Robinson. Following this, runners were taken to the massage suites where the therapists helped to relieve their aching muscles.

The massage areas were supervised by CRY staff Emma and volunteer Lauren D’Mello Guyett who did a wonderful job of accompanying the runners and ensuring that they were not interrupted during their massage.

A huge “thank you” to our volunteer massage therapists; Olecia Addo, Michelle Andreou, Andy Clarke, John Daines, Alex Hough, Paige Kern, Leonie Lawson, Rob Lundberg, Emma Smith, Ellie Thomas, Andy Tibbott, Ian and Teija Wynn and Carole Young, some of whom have helped out year after year and whose skills were much appreciated by all the CRY runners who came back to the hotel.

After their therapeutic and soothing massage, runners were escorted to the hotel bedrooms which had been reserved for showers, by Krisztina Cserhalmi, Jenny Boag, Wendy Harrington and Theresa Taylor. Everyone seemed more relaxed and fresher after a hot shower and change of clothes!

Thank you so much to the runners and their supporters who were able to came back to the hotel to meet us and thank you also to all of our volunteers.

As always, it was a challenging and emotional day for everyone, and especially difficult for those who were running or supporting the runners in memory of a young person. It was great to meet so many of our runners’ friends, family members and supporters too. We are grateful to everyone who has sent in photographs from the day. If you haven’t already done so, please do send any you have to [email protected] – we will include as many as possible on CRY’s Flickr account in the coming weeks.

CRY staff members Phil, James and Toby did a wonderful job of taking photos of CRY runners at the Grandstand and at the hotel. Nat tweeted photos and information about CRY runners throughout the day.

A huge thank you to the Hilton Hotel, Green Park, for once again hosting our post-event facilities and providing dedicated staff to assist with any queries and providing many extra facilities for CRY, free of charge, which was much appreciated.

Once again, we would like to thank each and every one of our runners for their time, effort and valued support. Well done to everyone!

The CRY Team

This is a selection of photos from the day. If you would like to view all of the photos, they are available on our London Marathon 2016 Flickr gallery

CRY runners in the 2016 London Marathon were: