Overmatter: bowing out

Regular readers may recall that Immediate Media paper manager Steve Wehrle is one of just a dozen ‘ever presents’ who’ve run every single London Marathon since the race’s inception in 1981.

Overmatter is both admiring and a little sad to report that Wehrle decided to hang up his London bib after this year’s event, which also marked his 50th marathon overall – a suitably fitting landmark to bow out on. 

Wehrle said he wanted to finish his amazing London Marathon odyssey on his own terms, having seen some compatriots really struggle as age inevitably took its toll. “It went OK to 17 miles then I jogged and walked and finished in 5h 18m. Definitely my last London,” he says. “I’m volunteering for the baggage bus next year!”

Twenty minutes behind Wehrle was Webmart CEO Simon Biltcliffe who completed his first London Marathon in 05:39:15.

In other marathon-based news, Gould Publication Papers managing director Dominic Blakey raised a fantastic £23.5k by completing the gruelling Marathon des Sables (six marathons over seven days, over scorching sand) in aid of charity Walking with the Wounded. 

Bravo all!