The aim of the game in the Phoenix Running ‘Titanic Run‘ was to complete as many 5.3km (3.28 mile) laps as you can of an out and back course along the River Thames in seven hour duration. Or you can do it as a designated Marathon or Half Marathon distance and then doing as many as you need to to cover the distance.

In keeping with what we’ve come to expect for her, Heather Khoshnevis went for the Marathon of course which meant she had to do eight laps. Having done 150 of them before though, it was probably the distance that Heather knew best so it kind of made sense.

The Phoenix Running events are famed from their unique and intricately designed themed medals. The one for the Titanic Run came about because it was the 25th anniversary of James Cameron’s blockbuster film, which is something that might make us all feel old.

Heather has done several of these Phoenix Running Events and she finds that they are always fun and friendly. They are also pressure free as they don’t really feel like a race, since you don’t know how many laps anyone is intending to do.

Travelling to the race with Littledown Harriers man Paolo De Luca, Heather said that the marathon was a doddle in comparison to getting up at 4am in order to make it up to Walton on Thames in time for start. It was a flexible ‘rock up and run’ style start though, meaning participants could begin their run whenever they want within an hour window.

There was a massive downpour at one stage whilst Heather was running which only lasted about three minutes but it was enough to get her absolutely drenched. The sun came out again afterwards though and she was dry within five minutes!

Completing the marathon distance in a time of 3 hours 46 minutes and 37 seconds, Heather was actually third fastest out of any of the 35 runners in the designated Marathon race. She was also fastest lady, although they didn’t really have prizes and categories as such.

The only people to go faster than Heather were Tom Bell who did it in 3:29:10 and Rohan Kallicharan who went the distance in 3:43:23. Marathon legend Steve Edwards was next over the line after Heather, clocking a time of 3:54:55. That was Steve’s 972nd official marathon and he’s well on his way to reaching the 1,000 landmark, which will be truly astounding.

Lisa McGillivray was the next fastest woman, getting through it in 4:14:19, which put her 7th overall. Then it was Sarah Marshall who registered a time of 4:22:09 which put her 8th. Despite running with a hamstring injury, Paolo still managed to complete the full marathon distance and did it in 4:36:17, which put him 10th overall.

In the timed event, where the idea was to do the most laps, or cover the most distance over the course of the 7 hour duration, there were four athletes who managed 32.8 miles. David Cleaver was the quickest of them, doing it in 6 hours 8 minutes. Mylene Elliott was 2nd in 6:31:18, Thomas Cleaver 3rd in 6:38:40 and Karen Bennett 4th in 6:49:37.

Heather loves running along the Thames Path is looking forward to doing it many more times in the future. Heather has now decided to switch her first claim allegiance back to Littledown Harriers, which will be a sad loss for Bournemouth AC. She feels that the team spirit has dwindled over the past few months and with the lack of interest in the Dorset League races it has proved difficult to get a team of any description out over recent fixtures.

It will be a shame to lose Heather as a first claim runner, not just for the trophies and age category success that she brings but also for the light hearted, positive energy she brings around the camp, especially on race days. She will be retaining her membership as second claim though and will hopefully still attend some of the training sessions. No doubt we’ll still see her around on the Dorset race scene as well, albeit in the orange colours instead of yellow.