Sheffield PE teacher's amazing run and time in the London Marathon

David, who teaches at Westways Primary School in Crookes, set a personal best with his 2:34:32 finish time, crossing the line 147th out of 40,000 runners last Sunday.

Today the superfit 37-year-old said he was “really, really chuffed” – and setting his sights on the next challenge.

“The plan is to try to go faster,” he laughed. “I’ll have a couple of weeks to wind down, then start thinking what’s next.”

The Specialist PE and Sports teacher set a ‘robotic’ 5:51 minute mile pace in the 26.2 mile race, shaving exactly seven minutes off his previous marathon PB. He was only half an hour behind the winner, 30-year-old Kenyan Amos Kipruto.

Married man David has been racing competitively for 10 years and runs six days a week, often with friends from Sheffield Running Club.

At his preferred Saturday morning 5km parkrun at Endcliffe or Millhouses Park, his PB is a blistering 16 minutes and 40 seconds.

Having put in four months’ training for the world’s most famous marathon, he spent the days beforehand concentrating on diet and hoping for perfect conditions.

“It was pasta for tea the night before, porridge for breakfast in the morning,” he said. “Then everything just fell into place really.

“I knew I was in good shape for it, but that time was never on the radar. In the back of my mind I had 2:39 as my target. The weather forecast had been bad but in the end conditions were just right. I ran the Berlin Marathon a year ago and then it was 25 degrees that day. That’s the thing, you can train every day but it all comes down to that one day.”

David first started running as a schoolboy in Scunthorpe, but focused on playing football until a knee injury forced him to take a different path in 2010.

“Now I get so much more out of running than I ever did from football,” he said.

“When I run on my own it’s my time away from everything else, and in bad times running has practically saved my life. But I also run with a group and I’ve met amazing people. The group I train with regularly are now my closest friends.”

David, who studied at Sheffield Hallam University, has previously run the Berlin and New York marathons and wants to complete the Boston, Chicago and Tokyo marathons eventually. His tremendous time in London gives him automatic qualification, but for now he’s lacing up his trainers for events closer to home.

“I’ve got the Percy Pud in December, and I love the weekends taking the Westways kids to cross country,” he said.

“That’s the most important thing, that the kids hopefully feel inspired. We ran the Mini London Marathon all last week at Westways, all the Year 1 to 6 children trying to run a combined marathon.

“Westways have been so supportive, not just colleagues but the parents on the playground – it’s undoubtedly the best school I have ever worked in. I’ve got congratulations cards on my desk; the kids are asking me to bring my medal into school.

“I’ve been teaching for 16 years and I’ve never felt such an affinity for a school as I do for Westways,” he said. “I am never going to leave here if I can help it!”