Virgin Money London Marathon 2017

Congratulations and a huge thank you to all the CRY runners who took part in the Virgin Money London Marathon 2017 on Sunday 23rd April. We’re extremely proud of everyone and grateful for being so many people’s chosen charity.

107 runners supported CRY this year, running the 26.2 mile course through the centre of London. Running his eighth consecutive race in memory of Katrina Brown was CRY Patron Bill Neely, Chief Global Correspondent for NBC, who finished in 03:11:13.

Mims Davies MP took part for the first time to raise awareness for CRY, finishing in 05:35:52. Both joined supporters and fellow racegoers for a celebratory post-race reception at the Hilton London Green Park.

CRY staff Hiddy and Cara, as well volunteers Susi Keen and Tina MacMillan, greeted runners and supporters at the start line to wish them good luck and kick off our social media coverage for the day, sending tweets and photos of the runners. The weather this year was sunny, breezy and warmer than last, providing a challenging set of conditions for both seasoned and amateur runners.

Runners were invited to a post-race reception at the Hilton London Green Park, where refreshments were provided and much-deserved complimentary massages on offer.

This year, as in the previous three years, the Hilton London Green Park has kindly donated an additional two suites on top of our initial booking so that CRY runners could have their post-race massage in a quiet, relaxing environment, away from the bustle of the main suite. Many thanks to CRY volunteers Ian and Teija Wynn for setting these suites up on the day. We are extremely grateful to the Hilton for the use of these additional rooms, as well as the Shelly Suite, which was also made available free of charge, as a quiet area for rest and reflection. The Hilton also donated a further two bedrooms to be used for showers and provided discount vouchers, towels and bottled water.

Hiddy, volunteers and our runners’ families and friends kindly took photographs and cheered for all of our runners at miles 12 and 23, giving them the extra boost they needed to keep going. CRY’s volunteer cheerers were:

Maria Arnold, Lucy Baker, Nicola Bayliss, Zoe Brown, Michelle Campbell, Amy Cole, Helena Daniels, Steve Day, Naomi De Silva, Antonia and Mark Fallows, Sarah Fowler, Jacki Godfry, Birte and Munseng Lam, Phil Harrington, Marion and Robert Hayman, Julia and Brian Howells, Phil Llnag, Lyndsay Mcnicol, Catherine and Andrew Mulvey, Patricia Oyebamiji, Sarah Payton, Daniel Reilly, Amy Smith, Hannah Tobin, Marina Tomsett, Suzanne Vine, Wanda Wilson and even a CRY band providing music to keep all CRY runners going!

Katy, Chris, Lucy and Jackie Turberville; along with Graeme Attridge, Ben and Carol Finch, – 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 post-race reception.

The first CRY runner to cross the finish line was CRY Patron Bill Neely who finished in 03:11:13 and the first CRY runner back to the hotel was Keith Preedy who finished in 03:13:32.

As the afternoon progressed, a steady stream of runners joined the reception, with each of them welcomed with a well-deserved round of applause and cheer. They were then checked in by volunteers Barbara and Jim Holland, offered a medal by volunteer Tina MacMillan, photographed, and offered snacks and refreshments including a bowl of pasta by CRY staff Lily and volunteers Ann and Dorian Mead and Becci Robinson.

The main reception room was buzzing with exhausted and elated runners and their proud family and friends, sharing the highs and lows of the day. They were able to meet and chat to CRY Founder, Alison Cox MBE,  and other CRY staff who all enjoyed meeting everyone and thanking them for their extraordinary efforts.

The 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 Kerry Ferne who did a wonderful job of accompanying the runners and ensuring that they were not interrupted during their treatment.

A huge “thank you” to our volunteer massage therapists: Michelle Andreou, Andy Appleby, Karen and Alice Bacon, Shelley Bjornson, Andy Clarke, Andrew Grendale, Shauna Hanlon, Alex Hough, Lysia Jiggins, Maisie Landeryou, Clive Muller, David Piddington, Katherine Taplin, Jill Thorne, Andy Tibbott, Alan Wicks, Ryan Wilkinson and Ian and Teija Wynn, some of whom have helped out regularly over the years 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 Nic Charlesworth, Wendy Harrington, Theresa Taylor and Isabel Turner. 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 come back to the hotel to meet us.  And of course, a  huge thank you also to all of our wonderful volunteers.

As always, it was a challenging and emotional day for everyone, and especially difficult for those who were running or supporting runners in memory of a young person.

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.

Volunteers Sue and Pete Robinson did a wonderful job of taking photos of CRY runners at the Grandstand, CRY Staff Phil and Toby did a great job at the hotel and CRY staff Hiddy for his action shots along the route. Toby was also on hand to tweet photos and information about CRY runners throughout the day.

A final thank you to the Hilton London Green Park, for once again hosting our post-event facilities and providing dedicated staff to assist with any queries, as well as 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

All of the photos from the day can be viewed in our London Marathon 2017 Flickr gallery

CRY runners in the 2017 London Marathon were:

First name                                  Last name                                                                         In memory of