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Wednesday, March 27, 2024
Sports: Pair of NOTL runners complete London Marathon
Margot Devlin crosses Tower Bridge during Sunday's rainy London Marathon. Supplied
NOTL's John Bobrel with his wife Debbie Whitehouse after Sunday's London marathon. Supplied

Most people travel to England to see the sights and soak in the history, but two Niagara-on-the-Lake runners separately were there last weekend to run 42 kilometres in the London Marathon.

As Margot Devlin wryly noted, she and NOTL’s John Bobrel are very different runners.

“It was a bit like the tortoise and the hare, with me being the tortoise. But I made it,” she said after Sunday’s run.

Bobrel completed the course in 4:07:25, about two hours behind the near-record run of race winner Kelvin Kiptum of Kenya.

Devlin doesn’t talk about race times. “I’m very slow,” she said previously.

But for most marathoners, it’s not about speed. The goal is to start – and finish.

Bobrel made it to the finish with his wife Debbie Whitehouse lending support and said via email that he was “feeling pretty good after the race.”

Devlin said the cheering crowds were “amazing. I was so emotional.”

But, “the weather was terrible. It poured on us at the beginning and there was a cold wind, but the sun came out at the end.”

For Devlin, this was her fourth London Marathon (two virtually during the pandemic) and her 14th career marathon. Her husband Shaun is on hand to provide support on her running adventures.

“Now I am getting ready for the New York Marathon, which will be my 15th, but my 11th New York Marathon,” she said.

It was Bobrel’s first time running the London race, but his 20th marathon.

He also is aiming to achieve a unique milestone – completing the world’s top half-dozen marathons.

London was “my fourth race in my quest for top six in the world,” he told The Lake Report.

“I have completed Boston, Chicago and New York. I hope to run Tokyo in 2024 and Berlin in 2025. There is a special medal for the top six marathons in the world.”

It’s called the Six Star Finisher Medal and is considered one of the most exclusive race prizes in the world, according to Canadian Running magazine.

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