Oliver – Our Five Star Marathon Man

In the early hours of the morning UK time, Oliver Reilly was warming up as the rest of us slept. With temperatures near perfect at ten degrees Centigrade, the runners set off at a blistering pace in the hope of fast times and they didn’t disappoint.

The winner, Benson Kipruto (2:02:16) ran the quickest time recorded in the Tokyo marathon and the fifth quickest in the world.

But it wasn’t just the elite runners who were on form. Our very own marathon man, Oliver, had set his targets on a 2 hours 40 minutes marathon time. Another chunk off his personal best of 2:42:05 wasn’t going to be easy.

Oli ran steadily for the first 5km, going through in 19 minutes and bang on track for his target time. The conditions remained ideal throughout which really helped the runners. At the half marathon mark Oliver crossed the timing mat in 1:18:43 (only 1 minute slower than his personal best time at the distance) and bang on track for a new PB.

Anyone who has run a marathon will know how tough the last 10km can be, but with plenty of experience under his belt now Oliver maintained consistent splits until 23 miles knowing he would need to dig deep in his reserves. Keeping an eye on his splits he could see the 1:40 target slipping away but remained focused and determined. At the finish line he recorded an outstanding time of 2 hours 40 minutes and 14 seconds, another personal best performance at the distance. This was enough to secure a position in the top 400 runners and notably 11th British athlete.

After a well earned recovery Oliver will now turn his focus to New York where he will earn his elusive sixth marathon major ‘star’, becoming part of a small pool of runners who achieved the gold standard at the distance. If that wasn’t impressive enough, Oliver is also on track to run all six races under 3 hours – a feat that won’t have been achieved by many runners across the globe.

Oliver’s marathon major record:

Tokyo, March 2024

2:40:14 (PB)