Big run leaves Priest in seventh heaven
James Priest has broken into the sub 2hrs 30min. club for the marathon – on his debut.
And to back up his own successful assault on the distance at the Valencia Marathon, where he posted an impressive 2-29-45, fellow debutant Mike Batiste dropped a 2-32-50 in the same race. It was only the third time Batiste has raced further than 10 miles.
The pair enter Guernsey’s all-time list at seventh and 11th respectively for the 26.2-mile distance.
Off an excellent build-up, Priest had gone out courageously and capitalised on good racing conditions to pass half-way in under 1-12.
That hot pace took its toll as he slowed in the second half – including a real rough patch in the dying miles – but not enough to derail a delightful debut.
‘That was probably the hardest race I’ve done,’ said a prolific runner who has competed regularly for nine years.
‘The first half felt amazing, but a small stitch after halfway and some calf pains at around 22 miles affected my pace for the last bit.
‘I thought I might have drifted just over the 2-30 mark, but I saw the clock showing 2-29 with 300m to go and gave it everything I had, so I’m absolutely buzzing to have got the sub 2-30.’
Former middle-distance specialist Batiste entered as an even more unknown quantity, having only recently ventured into the longer distances with his runner-up placing at September’s Butterfield Half Marathon.
But he ran a consistently solid pace that barely relented even in the notorious closing miles.
Among the other Guernsey-linked athletes in Valencia, London-based Andrew McArthur defied injury deep into his build-up to debut with a 2-40-06.
Guernsey-born and Luxembourg-based Kris Allen was only another 26sec. back on that and is eligible for the island’s all-time lists, for which he edges into the top 20.
While not technically a debutant, veteran Danny Blake put in his first marathon as a serious athlete and ran a negative split to post 2-51-55.
Nick Mann was next of the Guernsey veterans with a 2-52-57.
Meanwhile, Clint King ended up just on the wrong side of the three-hour barrier with 3-02-55.
His wife, Vanessa King, showed real determination to even finish following an unfortunate collision just 5km in.
She had set out on pace for her personal best of 3-03 but took a knee to the head while collecting a dropped inhaler, after which she battled on to post a still-respectable 3-12-50.
On social media, she reflected: ‘I was determined to reach the end, even semi-concussed and seeing double.
‘Can’t plan for that and I’m not even disappointed with my time.
‘It would have been easier not to finish but I stuck it out.’
The organisers faced their own obstacles given the floods that ravaged Spain in the build-up, yet they pressed on and staged the race as a show of solidarity with additional fundraising motives.
