Priscilla Pathak takes the prize for the completing the first marathon of the spring 2025 season, the TCS Mumbai Marathon! And what a marathon!!
Priscilla at the Mumbai Marathon
The Mumbai Marathon
is amongst the top 10 marathons in the world and its been said to have truly put India on the global map of distance running. It starts on the iconic Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus and takes runners through some of Mumbai’s most famous attractions, including both urban and seaside landscape. Its a MASSIVE event , the largest sporting event in Asia with around 60,000 runners taking part in various races from 10k up to an ultra.
Well done Priscilla! It was her 15th Marathon and it does not sound like it was an easy event at all. As well as overcoming the time difference there was also a need to acclimatise to the heat.
Priscilla was already was suffering from a lack of sleep and a nasty cold, and felt generally terrible. Infact so bad that she considered not starting at all. But she did It! she pushed through, ran on sheer determination and finished. It may have been her personal worst finishing time, but huge huge kudos for pushing on to finish an epic race. One more off her bucket list. Marathon 15 in the bag! 5hrs and 43 mins and a very impressive 2nd place in her age and gender category.
Priscilla reports “The weather was very hot & humid and even the locals and elite find it difficult to bear for marathons. The temperature at the 5am start time was 25 deg c and by the time I reached the finish line it was 32-33 degrees! There were several cooling stations with thousands of ice bags, cold sponges and cool mist sprays which really did help. But trying to take care of yourself did take up a lot of minutes from running time ”
Despite this she says the route was beautiful and the spot that stood out was the “Bandra-Worli Sea Link” bridge , a 5km long bridge which is truly stunning. The public support was immense! People lined up at 5 am! Towards the end, there were lots of public giving out cut oranges with salt, water, biscuits and other goodies.
I asked her would she do it again? The answer was an emphatic NO!! It’s a once in a lifetime experience 😃.
GVH out in force at the Fred Hughes 10
GVH Ready to Roll
Around the time Priscilla was crossing the line in Mumbai, 29 GVHs were lining up to start the very popular and decidedly cooler Fred Hughes 10. Another firm favourite in the GVH calendar. A lovely 10 mile undulating run through the lanes between Bedmond / St.Albans, made better still with perfect running conditions.
Fred Hughes is usually a one loop race but its not been unusual over the years to have a last minute change to two shorter loops due to ice or localised flooding. This Sunday was one of those years, and the event was run over the two short loops, which evidence seems to suggest is the slightly quicker route – probably as it misses the long up hill into Bedmond. The vast majority of our runners finished in faster times than last year.
At the front of the pack Gareth Jones and Michael Linden had a great race pushing each other to new PBs. Gareth finishing just ahead on this occasion to take 20th and 21th position in their category, just a few seconds ahead Nick Crowther.
Heather Timmis was our 4th runner and 1st lady home with a very fantastic run, taking 4th position in her Catagory. Congratulations Heather.
A little further down the GVH field, Martin pike and Simon Morris had a good tussle, finishing 3 seconds apart. Kim Morgan had a storming run to take 6th position in her category as did Martin Alexander to finish 8th in his.
A fantastic well done to Claire McDonnell too who took theW55 10 mile record . Another very impressive run from Claire! Great running too from Andrea Beattie – the furthest distance she has ever run!
Well done to all that took part. Some strong running from all the team and fantastic chunks of time taking off many PBs. See full results below
Fred Hughes 2025