Hercules Wimbledon AC round-up: David Grima the club’s first finisher at London Marathon

David Grima was the first Hercules Wimbledon Athletic Club finisher in the 42nd edition of the London Marathon, writes George Mallett.

The men’s and women’s events were won by Amos Kipruto of Kenya and Yalemzerf Yehualaw of Ethiopia respectively, with the usual world-class racing at the front.

Grima achieved his main goal of trying to dip under two hours 40 mins, finishing 303rd in the mass race.

Grima, who competes across most disciplines for Hercules, has three times run within a minute of that goal, with his previous best an impressive but frustrating 10 seconds adrift. Grima will have to start looking at some new goals thanks to his 2:39:28 clocking this time around.

Richard McDowell boast a 2:23 clocking on his best day but this year faced a frustrating race to rid himself of illness and injury, meaning Sunday’s race saw him chase different aims this time around. McDowell set himself the goal of running exactly 2:40, falling three seconds short down The Mall.

Greek-born Alexandros Tsagkas took a staggering 45 minutes off his best time, running 2:40:30 to come home 334th. He was paced to the time for much of it by his compatriot and fellow Hercules athlete Dimosthenis Evangelidis (2:41:38).