Hull Marathon: Okey does more than OK in his home town

COURIER sports editor Paul Okey was among the first 100 from a group of almost 900 finishers when he completed the first ever Hull Marathon at the weekend.

Clocking up a new personal best time of 3hr 21min 28sec, Paul battled through stomach pains from the early stages to finish 96th out of the 876 runners who crossed the line.

One of the reasons why Paul chose to take on the 26-mile challenge, his second marathon after he took part in the Stockholm Marathon last year, was because it would take him around the area he grew up in and past his beloved Hull FC’s KC Stadium where he spent many Saturday afternoons in the past.

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The course also took him on an each way crossing of the Humber Bridge, before he passed the Victoria Docks to finish in Queens Gardens.

More than 1,000 runners took part in the race, which started on a chilly and windy Easter Sunday at 8am.

Despite being in pain for most of the 26 miles and feeling himself fading from 14 onwards, Paul was frustrated at finishing outside the 3hr 15min mark he had set his sights on.

After the race, he said: “I’m going to have to do another one now.”

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