The whole team put in an outstanding effort on the day and amazingly each runner crossed the finish line within four minutes of each other, even though they started from different starts/times:
4:28:21 - Dave Soper
4:30:20 - Garry Burrows
4:31:45 - Charlie Crossley Cooke
4:32:14 - Kerry Poulter
What is even more fantastic is that between the group over £10,000
has been raised for the NSPCC!!
Hear what the runners have to say about their experience:
Gary Burrows
"What an absolutely fantastic event the New York Marathon is!!
"From the great organisation at the start (how someone even contemplates getting
39,000 people from all over the world in one place at roughly the same time
is beyond me, especially when the only bridge to the start on Staten Island
is closed 3 hours before the race starts so that everyone can run across it!)
to the fantastic finish in Central Park.
"My goal (apart from actually finishing the race) was to try to go under 4
hours 30 mins. The race was as tough and hard as I thought it would be,
and whilst the amount of people that were all along the route were absolutely
amazing and really helped (including a number of fire engines with fireman
sitting on the back), the last bridge at the 20 mile mark that went uphill
for nearly 1 mile was a real killer! My plan was to run at around 10 minute
miles for the first 20 miles (which I pretty much did) and then to try to
kick on from there. However, as mentioned earlier I then came across the bridge
at 20 miles that scuppered my plans big time, and for the next few miles
I was getting slightly slower on each mile that I completed. Entering Central
Park (for the first time) with still over 2 miles to go my legs were still
feeling very heavy and I knew that I was getting further away from my goal.
I decided that at the 25 mile mark I would try and really go for it to see
how close I could get to the 4.5 hour mark and to my surprise I seemed to
have something in my tank and started to pass other runners at a fare old
pace considering I had just run 25 miles! I completed the last mile in just
over 9 minutes, my fastest mile of the race! Unfortunately, I finished 21
seconds outside my target on 4 hours 30 mins 20 secs. If only I`d picked up
my pace earlier........
"A big THANK YOU to everyone who sponsored me and/or entered my `finishing
time` game. Once all money is in I will have raised over £1550 for the
NSPCC.
"I would also like to thank Charlie for giving me this fantastic once in a
lifetime opportunity."
Dave Soper
"Well what a few days we had in New York! Having arrived we set off to the
expo to get our race numbers and thankfully also managed to change our mode
of transport from a 4.00am bus to an 8.00am ferry which made the get up slightly
less daunting. Sunday morning arrived and we set off for the ferry dressed
in our finest collection of old clothing ready to be thrown away at the start-
I think we're all glad there are no photos of that! Once we arrive at the
start area we had a couple of hours to wait so it was time to get eating/drinking!!
It was a great atmosphere with thousands of people nervously waiting for the
start all with their own way of preparing for what was to come.
"The time to head to the start line had arrived and all those months of training
were about to be put to the test as we slowly moved towards the start line.
The view that met us at the start was that of the Verrazano suspension bridge
which links Staten Island to Brooklyn and was a very impressive and fitting
start to the world's largest marathon. Once over the bridge we were in Brooklyn
where we would spend the next 11 miles soaking up the atmosphere from the
thousands of people and numerous bands which lined the route. The crowd were
fantastic but it took a while to get used to people shouting your name out
as you run passed them (my name was on my top). We then spent a couple of
miles in Queens before heading over the dreaded Queensborough bridge which
was a mile long but seemed to go on forever (a dark point for most people
I've spoken to about the marathon) but at least we were now in Manhattan and
16 miles in. What followed was a 4 mile straight road (5th Avenue) where all
you could see were thousands of heads bobbing up and down in front and behind
you for as far as you could see which was an impressive sight itself. The
crowd on 5th were building up again having become slightly patchy through
Queens and definitely gave the lift I needed at this stage in the run. From
5th we headed into the Bronx for a mile before going back to Manhattan and
Harlem where with 4 miles to go the end was in sight. With a blister that
felt like it was consuming my right foot forming at this stage things were
getting a little bit painful but fuelled on Gatorade and adrenaline the final
few miles passed in a blur crossing the line in central park 4 hours 28 minutes
after starting and with legs that were now good for nothing.
"Finishing the marathon was a fantastic feeling marking the end of the biggest
physical achievement of my life and one which will stay with me for a long
time. A lot of people have asked me, since finishing, if I would ever run
a marathon again and for a couple of days after I was unsure but now the answer
is definitely a yes!
"Thanks to all those who sponsored me and sent words of encouragement they
were definitely with me for the whole 26.2 miles."
Kerry Poulter
"The whole marathon experience was rather surreal from start to finish
• Waking up bright and breezy an hour before my 5.45 three alarm calls
- I am never that sunny that early in the morning!
• Wandering down to reception to meet Dave and his girlfriend, Clare,
thinking that it was going to be quiet with no-one around to find bustling
with people all in sports gear and trainers - it seemed that our entire hotel
was also running the marathon
• Arriving on Staten Island to be met with 39,000 other people all sitting
around in random clothes - it is very cold first thing in the morning so it
is common place to purchase clothes that you plan to discard, which will be
given to charity. We saw some very amusing sights: one man wearing a lady's
long brown fitted jacket, a crocheted hat and trainers, lots of white paper
suits which made them look like they were from a police contamination team
but to look at our group we all seemed to have raided Primark.
• Standing at the start line of the third wave waiting for the gun to
go off thinking ‘bloody hell this is it, this is what I have been doing
all the training for, oh god here we go!!'
• Climbing onto the middle of the embankment over the first bridge to
look back at the thousands of runners all running towards me - wow a breathtaking
sight that will stay with me forever. All your eyes can see are thousands
of other runners like little ants weaving their way forward. You just can't
comprehend how many people are running with you.
• Smiling from ear-to-ear for the first ten miles, the atmosphere just
carries you, you just don't notice the miles passing, there are thousands
of people lining the route, cheering, giving you encouragement, little children
wanting high fives, generous people giving you sweets, bananas and pretzels
and bands. My favourite band was at about mile 13 when a huge brass band was
playing the Rocky theme tune - what a lift!
• The smiling stopped at mile 15 when I caught sight of the Queensborough
Bridge and my quads started to hurt even at first view. It was a 150ft incline
and decline over the course of 2 miles and it wasn't evenly spread!!
• Running through the refreshment stops are tricky themselves: first
you go through the Gatorade section where your feet stick to the ground and
then you meet the water section straight after which is slippy - it was more
like an assault course
• Running up 5th Avenue and seeing a sea of people all bobbing along
ahead of you as far as the eye can see.
• The dark miles: 21-24 where the previous miles start to take their
toll, it felt as if I wasn't wearing trainers, my lower back and hamstrings
were sore, I felt every step and was willing the miles to pass, I kept my
head down, saying over and over ‘this will pass' and thinking about
all the people that had sponsored me and just kept going.
• The light at the end of the tunnel came at the 24 mile marker, the
end was near and I got a second wind and the pain seemed to disappear.
• The thrill at crossing the line is seems nearly impossible to put
into words: happiness, elation of 5 months of training fulfilled, a sense
of pride and achievement about completing a huge personal challenge and knowing
that I didn't have to run another step!
"Overall a fantastic experience that I will never forget, a huge thank you
to Charlie for giving me this amazing opportunity and thank you to everyone
who sponsored and encouraged me throughout the journey. I completely my marathon
in 4 hours and 32 minutes and will I do another again....ermmm I just maybe
crazy enough, but it would have to go some to beat the New York Marathon Experience!"