Nicky Bird pulling away from Liverpool Harriers Christine Murphy

Lively-Bird clocks 1.18 at Liverpool Half The inaugural adidas flora Liverpool half marathon took place last Sunday morning with 3734 runners competing in the new course put on by the organisers of the London Marathon.

In the Woman’s race Tipton Harrier Debbie Mason who was a 4th placer at the last commonwealth games was the winner in 1.13.02 after pulling away at the 10 mile point from Athens Olympian Tracey Morris who finished second in 1.13.18. Local girl Helen Lawrence of Wirral AC who had been with the leaders up until 10 miles produced a personal best time of 1.13.49 to secure third position.

Having yet another storming run for Ellesmere Port was Nicky Bird who knocked another 32 seconds off her personal best to finish an excellent 7 th lady and 39 th overall beating all her male teammates at the club in a stunning 1 hour 18 minutes and 55 seconds. Nicky was supported well by Alison Macdonald who gave a solid run finishing in 1.39.33 for 707 th position and 12 th in the Lady Vet 35 category.

The men's race saw Simon Kisamili clinch victory in 64.15 - but there was a dead-heat behind the Kenyan winner.

Salford's Andi Jones thrilled the crowd with a scintillating sprint finish to snatch second on the line from club mate Thomas Abyu although the judges gave them both the same time of 64.49.

Dave Winder was the first Ellesmere Port RC male runner to cross the line after clocking up a time of 1.23.48 to secure 80 th position.

Matt Whitfield was next to follow after posting a time of 1.28.33 for 184 th position. Keith Jones was next home for the club in a time of 1.29.33 and was followed by Steve Blaylock who tackled the course in 1.33.22 for 355 th place.

The 5 th runner home for EPRC was Brian Griffiths who shaved 19 seconds of his time recorded at the Village bakery half last month to finish 410 th in 1.34.25. Stephen Tague was next to finish after securing 615 th position in 1.38.13.

Kevin Curtis was the next runner home for the club after seeing his times come tumbling down again. Following outings at Helsby (1.46.37) in January and Wrexham (1.41.52) in February Kevin produced an excellent time of 1.39.11 for 677 th position.

Paul Pinkham was next for the club after producing his quickest time in four years to finish the race in 1.39.51 for 737 th place.

The final runner for EPRC was Brian Treadwell who negotiated the 13.11 miles in a time of 1.51.36 for 1645 th position.

On Sunday afternoon four EPRC runners headed east for the third and final round of the Cheshire Cross Country league in Macclesfield. The course was about 8.4 kilometres and consisted of three and a half lapse around the fields and mounds of Macclesfield Leisure Centre. 58 runners were present on the start line.

First runner home for the club was Steve Crowe who tackled the course in 28.30 to secure 23 rd position.

Danny Legg produced a solid run and found himself sandwiched between two West Cheshire runners to finish 33 rd in 30.15.

Paul Welsh was the third runner back for the club after tackling the tough course in 33.38 for 46 th position and Tony Smith came immediately after Paul to complete the teams scoring in 47 th position in 33.44.

The results meant Ellesmere Port finished 7 th out of 13 clubs in the team standings.

The final race of the day saw Les Fleetwood compete in one of the first 5K races of the year. The St-Helens-Sutton 5K.

Les finished the hilly course in a time of 20.42 securing 17 th position and 2 nd in the Vet 45 Category.

In the 1 mile for run that preceded the race, the future talent of Ellesmere Port running club was on show as Tony Hyland's nephew and niece competed. First in was 8yr old Lily Hyland in 13.38 followed by an impressive display by 2 yr old Jimmy who propped up the rest in a time of 14.23.