Despite the cancellation of the Great South Run in Portsmouth due to stormy weather, the 40th Abingdon Marathon went ahead at 9 am. The event began with light rain at Tilsley Park, and winds increased by the early afternoon but were not too strong.

Matthew Kunov, from Reading, had an early lead in the men’s race, at the Oxford Road roundabout, just a half-mile into the race. He went on to win by about 4 minutes.

Rebecca Piggot, the women’s race winner, with number 1129, can be seen at the front of this group.

The main pack followed behind and took a few minutes to pass. Among them was Jack Dugan, representing Abingdon A.C..

Harrison Read, wearing number 18, was the first Abingdon A.C. runner to finish in 10th place. He is seen here, running along St. Helen’s Wharf, approximately 4.5 miles into the race.

James Clayton, another Abingdon A.C. athlete got 39th place.

Simon Webb, of the Stragglers Running Club, is seen here with Oli Bowers, his guide runner, in East St. Helen Street.

Spectators lined the Market Place and other view points and cheered the runners on and made many smile.

There was a 6-hour time limit for the race. Abingdon A.C.’s Helen Nash crossed the finish line with over half an hour to spare.

990 runners completed the race within 6 hours, and one runner came in with 6 hours 9 minutes. The event’s organisation, as always, deserves high praise. Volunteers were enthusiastic, offering encouragement and instructions to runners throughout the course. They waited patiently for the last runner (the officials could allow an extra 15 minutes).

P.S. Let me know if I got anything wrong. Thankyou  to https://results.chronotrack.com/event/results/event/event-83087# for the results.

Volunteers were working for some time with the parkrun organisation to set up a junior parkrun in Abingdon’s Southern Town Park. The first successful run was on Sunday 7 July 2024. This Sunday was the eighth event so it is well established.

Junior parkruns are for children between the ages of 4-14. They are 2km long and taking part is free and all junior parkruns start at 9am on Sunday mornings. There is information about taking part and registering and volunteering at https://www.parkrun.org.uk/southerntown-juniors/

The event is also supported by Healthy Abingdon. Thanks to Dave from Healthy Abingdon for the pictures from his page: https://healthyabingdon.org.uk/news.htm#parkrun.

There have not been as many photo opportunities as when the Olympic torch came through Abingdon in 2012 but Helen and Douglas House

and Sue Ryder have window displays on an Olympic theme.

Nearby Radley College produced some Olympic rowing talent in 2024. I have found no direct Olympic link to Abingdon this year, but the town’s sporting spirit is undoubtedly alive and well. The last picture is the running track at Tilsley Park in Abingdon.

A surge in England flags came in the days between semi-final and final

Sunday’s newspapers had a wrap-around advert with a patriotic twist. A ‘T’ was designed to resemble the England flag. It said, ‘Every Fan Helps’.  Tesco Express closed at 7:30pm so more fans could watch the match. The Co-op did the same.

Following England’s Euro Cup final loss, Monday’s headlines were: ‘Next Time, Boys’, ‘Shattered’, and ‘You did us proud’. The dramatic Trump assassination attempt in the US was mostly on the inside pages.

Elsewhere, thoughts turned to the summer holidays.

Caldecott Rec. was busy on Saturday as coaches celebrated last season’s successes by awarding trophies and describing the development of their young players. While no local lads made it into the England team this time, they can dream!