Marathon Efforts and Lakeland Gold for Radcliffe AC15 April 2024 (by D.Cartwright) |
Radcliffe Athletics Club had a total of six finishers at the 2024 Manchester Marathon on Sunday. The 2nd most popular marathon in the UK draws participants from all over the world due to its lively Mancunian support and fast flat route. Though as all finishers will tell you, the brief incline stretching away from Altrincham does not go unnoticed!
First over the line for Radcliffe this year was Andrew O’Donnell who ran a personal best of 3:33:57, closely followed by Mark Garner in 3:40:32 and our first female Mia Derbyshire who ran an impressive 3:46:27, considering Mia used this as a ‘training run’ after coming back from injury. Some training run!
In case we needed another impressive post-injury resilience story, Karen Doherty, running her first ever marathon just weeks after fracturing her shoulder, clocked a fantastic 4:18:23 with a huge smile the whole way round and thumbs up for every camera she encountered. Also completing the marathon on Sunday were Kathryn Davies (4:11:09), and Dominic Parry (4:25:49). Manchester Marathon veteran David Bartlett narrowly missed out on another finish, retiring 22 miles in after suffering an injury at mile 15. Though 7 miles running carrying an injury is a remarkable effort.
Elsewhere, there was success for Radcliffe AC’s Chairperson in the Lakeland Trails 16km race in Hawkshead, as Donna Cartwright ran 1:35:59 to claim a wonderful first place in the ladies race. This annual Lake District trail race features the infamously long and steep climb of the ‘coffin trail’ - made even more daunting in the wet and muddy conditions.
At the Clowbridge 5K, Rob Shiels came a fantastic 2nd in his age category (MV45), and 10th overall in 21:13 at this scenic two-lap circumnavigation of Clowbridge reservoir, whilst Kath Biddle clocked 2 hours 14 in the Pier to Pier half marathon, a hilly and breezy coastal route along North West Wales.
In a slightly different kind of race format, Head of Junior section at Radcliffe AC, Peter Warr finished his Bob Ross ‘Happy Little Trees’ 5K, raising money for reforesting projects. Pete was helped by Radcliffe juniors Aoife, Skyler, Benji, and Oliver, keeping him going after a lengthy injury lay-off! Well done all.
The Manchester Marathon didn’t stop the usual flurry of Parkrunners, with Radcliffe’s Head of Senior Section Ian Swan look set to break that sub-20 barrier soon… full results here: https://www.parkrun.com/results/consolidatedclub/?clubNum=2791
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