Merry On Merseyside

10 OCT2011

The marathon made an impressive return to the streets of Liverpool yesterday (Sunday, October 9). After an absence of almost 20 years since the last Mersey marathon, the city's rejuvenated RunLiverpool marathon attracted over 8,000 entries who were supported by large cheering crowds along the route.

Despite an initial delay of almost 50 minutes, spectators cheered participants as they set off from Birkenhead Park. John McCole won the race, completing the course in 2:34:41, finishing over a minute ahead of Ian Streeter (2:36:12). Jason Cherriman of Orpington Road Runners completed the top three positions with a time of 2:39:05.

In what was his first marathon, McCole ran the first part of the race as part of a group before pulling away at around 10 miles. The Liverpool Harrier, who boasts a 5k time of 14:18, was impressed with the event course, commenting: "The best bit was coming out of the tunnel. You ran into a wall of noise with loads of people cheering and clapping."

As was the case in the men's race, the tough second-half of the course, coupled with strong winds along the waterfront, resulted in the women's field becoming strung out. Alison Sedman of Belle Vue Racers recorded victory with a time of 3:08:22, while former Team GB member Jenny Clague finished in second position (3:11:17).

Race director Alan Rothwell was delighted with the reception the runner's received, commenting: "It's gone really, really well. I'm delighted to bring an event back to Liverpool. I think the turnout is absolutely brilliant - much bigger than it was in the 1980s and 90s." On next year's event, Alan continued, "We're coming back next year in October and obviously we're looking to build on the success we've had today."

In what was a busy day for long-distance running in the north of England, Chester celebrated its second ever marathon on a new revamped course. Ben Fish of Blackburn Harriers and Debra Mason of Rotherham Harriers set course records with times of 2:27:24 and 2:48:09 respectively.

In the north-east Ricky Lightfoot (2:33:14) proved as good as his name and came home first in the Keilder marathon ahead of Marcus Scotney (2:47:26). Jane Mooney was fastest woman in 3:06:42. The field of over 1,100 was completed on 6:42:49.