Welcome to the Home of Radcliffe Athletic Club

Kicking off a bumper week of racing for Radcliffe AC, Gary Adkins headed over to America for the world’s oldest annual marathon, finishing the Boston Marathon in a phenomenal time of 3:01:18.

On Wednesday, Karen Doherty took on Keswick Round the Houses, a 7.2km route that weaved through the streets of Keswick with the ‘lung busting’ Manor Brow climb in the middle of the race, finishing in 40:06.

On Thursday, two members attended the Media City 5k, running over the canal, past the imperial war museum and the ITV and BBC television studios. Khama Banda finished in 19:50 and Mia Derbyshire in 22:35.

John Szubert also completed the second in the Clowbridge 5k series on Thursday in 27:55.

On Saturday, Ian Swan once again headed for the hills for what has been dubbed the ‘marathon of the mountains', the Yorkshire 3 Peaks. This grueling but scenic 24-mile fell race saw Ian finish in 5:25:08, only grumbling some of the way.

For his second race of the week, John Szubert also finished the Pilling 10k, a flat 2 lap course in Preston, in 01:02:21.

Saturday also saw members making their way to the Blackpool Festival of Running for 3 of the 5 races offered in this event that took place along the promenade.

First up was Jen Foley, who finished the 10k in 01:13:52.

Oliver was then the first of the juniors to race, taking on the 5k in 28:00.

Whilst the results were not available at the time of writing, juniors Seth, Indie, Skyler and Benjamin then finished off the first day of the festival, enjoying the 2k of the series whilst taking in the sights of Blackpool.

Sunday was a particularly exciting day for the club as members aimed their sights at what was for some their first marathon.

In a race that needs little introduction, two members ran the iconic TCS London Marathon, where the world record was set for the biggest mass participation running race. Kathryn Davies finished in 4:27:08, with Karen Wells completed her first marathon in 5:15:11.

Further up North, Radcliffe AC members hit the streets of Manchester for the second largest of its kind, the Manchester Marathon. Setting off from Old Trafford, Khama Banda crossed the finish line in 3:00:00, followed by Rob Shiels (3:46:49), Alex Field (3:49:24), Joseph Bramwell (3:53:07), Mark Taylor (4:02:59), Andrew O’Donnell (4:06:42), Sheila Jones (4:13:23), Adam Wills (4:17:58), Amanda Callan (4:20:47), Adam Garnsey (4:29:53), Charlene Leyden (4:47:11) and Stephen Crowe (5:25:51). Other members turned up to offer the club’s defining brand of support and morale along the course as this was Alex, Amanda, Charlene and Mark’s marathon debut.

This course also offered relay options for the race. In the two-leg half marathon relay, Chris Mihalyi completed the first half in 1:36:26 and Lucie Tighe the second in 2:04:04.

Dominic Parry also finished the first leg of the relay in 1:47:13, then supporting wife Sara Parry in her first half marathon which she completed in 3:02:43.

In the four-leg, approximately 10k, relays, Sarah Wilson  was the first of the team in 58:07, followed by Chemane Thomas (54:00), Neil Naisbitt (49:37) and Lisa Antrobus (1:02:26).

Also in the four leg relays were the formidable team of Caroline Malone (1:12:10), Laura Aiken (57:31), Louise Shield (57:09) and Emma Wolstencroft (1:08:30).