Mark's Column - 29/03/09

Wilmslow Half Marathon 29th March

Hosting the English National Half Marathon Championships, Wilmslow was the destination for England's top runners on Sunday. In perfect conditions with a start temp of 8C with a light breeze, 3898 runners toed the line looking for PB's and qualification to run for England.

Mark Dodd who's currently returning to form was EPRC's sole representative. However, he suffered a disaster in running terms, when his watch wouldn't start leaving him to run the race as a true race and without any pacing. However he applied himself well coming home in a new PB of 1:18:16 (5:58 m/m) for 88th position.

However the real plaudits are for the runners up the business end. For the first time in over 15 years, Wilmslow truly had an all-star line-up with 27 men breaking 70 minutes making this one of the quickest half's in recent times in the country. Winning the race in a scorching 1:04:11 (4:53 m/m) was Belgrave Harriers Mark Miles, closely followed by Andi Jones from Salford in 1:04:22 (5:54 m/m) and Toma Abyu also from Salford  clinching 3rd position in 1:04:39 (4:56 m/m).

The ladies race was won by Michelle Ross-Cope from City Of Stoke AC in 1:12:35 (5:32 m/m), 2nd place going to Kim Fawke from Telford AC in 1:15:47 (5:46 m/m) and 3rd was Pauline Powell from Blackburn Harriers in 1:17:20 (5:54 m/m)

Liverpool Half Marathon 29th March

Over in Liverpool, one EPRC runner was making an appearance in his debut Liverpool Half Marathon. Running in glorious conditions, Mark Fiddler stormed to a superb 609th place in 1:39:04 (7:33 m/m) setting a new PB. With a field of 3500 runners, this is a superb showing, and Mark's next target must be surely breaking 1:35 later in the year.

The winner of the men's race was Stuart Stokes of Sale Harriers in 1:10:19 (5:21 m/m), followed by Andrew Davies of Maldwyn Harriers in 1:10:26 (5:22 m/m) with 3rd place going to John McCole of Liverpool Harriers in 1:10:54 (5:23 m/m).

The ladies race was won in a slower time of 1:23:46 (6:22 m/m), 2nd was Claire Andrew of Spectrum Striders in 1:26:21 (6:35 m/m) and 3rd lady home was Natalie Palin from Liverpool Running Club in 1:27:48 (6:41 m/m)