Lowe on a high after big marathon effort

MEMBERS of Royton Road Runners were out in force at the Greater Manchester Marathon.

There was a new personal time for Gill Lowe, who ran three minutes, 38 minutes, seven seconds. That was good enough for seventh place in the FV50 category.

Other ‘bests’ came from Julie Greenwood (3:40:36), Kirsty White (3:30:18) and Jen Bloor (3:17:30).

Bloor’s marathin time was the second fastest by a female Royton Road Runner, beaten only by Becki Robinson’s 3:14:26 on the same course in 2015.

Of the marathon debutants Daniel McManus ran a superb 3:03:32 and was the first from Royton to cross the line.

IMPRESSIVE

Becky Mercer finished in an impressive 4:13:41, while Wendy Leech (5:47:30) completed her first marathon just 12 months after starting with the club’s beginners’ group.

Also completing the 26.2 mile event were —

Paul Leech (5:47:29), Jillian Heywood (5:18:59), Stacey Andrew (5:08:42), Claire Timms (5:00:37), Paul Cooke (4:39:34), Rachel Wood (4:23:34), Simon Howard (4:18:39), Stewart Jones (4:05:37), John Sweeney (4:00:57), Andrew Swettenham (3:57:48), David Freer (3:45:21), James Wright (3:45:10), Neil Brock (3:45:00), Brian Moore (3:41:28), Brad Howard (3:41:17), Matt Kilburn (3:35:11) and Robert Fairbanks (3:09:42).

Not only did 24 Royton Road Runners to complete the race, but a hard-working team once again manned an official drinks station two miles from the finish.

Over a much shorter distance, some of those marathon runners were among the remarkable 60 Royton finishers out of 106 in the first of the Littleborough 5K race series.

It was no surprise that the club won both the men and women’s team prizes, given that 18 of the 20 complete teams were wearing Royton colours.

Four new club members made impressive debuts in this race — Nick Mallon (25 minutes, 12 seconds), Helen Radcliffe (24:22), Rob Marsden (21:10) and Nick Cuff (18:17).

Cuff’s time was good enough for eighth place overall. He was the first Royton athlete home, closely followed by men’s captain Shane Reading (18:32), who finished 10th overall, second V40.

In addition to the debutants a number of Royton athletes were making their first appearance of the season, including June Allingan (34:32) and Barry Greaves (23:04), who picked up prizes as first FV70 and first V55 respectively, Jenny O’Callaghan (31:03), Rachael Shuttleworth (25:45), Paul Cooke (23:53), James Cashin (23:09), Bernie Cassidy (third V55 in 23:06), Natalie Fitzpatrick (second FV35, 22:34), John Higgins (third V60, 22:03), Matt Kershaw (21:19) and Rob Battye (15th overall in 19:00).

Ronnie Garrod, who is back running after serious illness, crossed the line in a respectable 23:47.

Other age category awards were claimed by —

Emma Bower (30:53, first under 23 female, Bernie Ball (30:36, first FV60), Anne Jones (30:04, first FV55), George Meynell (25:01, first V70), Becky Mercer (24:18, first SF), Val Kilburn (21:48, first FV45), Debbie Shaw (21:46, first FV50), Ronnie Quinn (21:34, first V60), Bernie Goodwin (19:32, first V45), David Emanuel(19:20, first V50), Simon Lake (23:04, second V55), Janet Jobey (22:12, second FV40), Dave Freer (20:16, second V45), Sharon Dracup (32:14, third FV50), Rochelle Evans (23:57, third FV40) Bryan Lawton (20:58, third V50).

All the other Royton finishers —

Angela Rogowskyj (35:06), Mary Freer (30:52), Amanda Lane (30:23), Karen Stuttard (30:10), Eloise Bartlett (29:27), Stephen Jones (26:32), Ben Ruscillo (25:22), Ben Lawton (25:14), Adrian Bowcock (24:57), Adam Stirling (24:12), Stephen Rogowskyj (23:59), Martin Jones (23:48), Gary Smith (23:25), Damian Mercer (23:14), Chris Eavers (23:03), Adrian Marshall (22:24), Andy Hayhurst (21:57), Jason Keast (21:31), Mark Brynes (21:30), Matt Kilburn (20:47), Elliot Stone (20:25), Lee Higginbottom (20:19), Owen Flage (19:17), Mike Harrison (19:09), Robert Fairbanks (18:50) and Shaun Armstrong (18:44).