Harriers Excel at London Marathon

Posted on by

On a warm sunny day down south in the Capital, the record books were being rewritten. The 2026 TCS London Marathon broke the Guinness World Records title for the largest number of finishers in a marathon, with an incredible 59,830 runners crossing the finish line. Men’s and women’s world records were shattered, and Sebastian Sawe became the first man to officially dip below the 2-hour mark. Five Harriers attended, with Alex Lowe the first red vest across the line in a fine sub-3-hour time of 2:43:09. Under 4 hours was Gary Porteous in 3:49:45, who raised close to £1,500 for the Bolton Hospice charity. Julie Williamson managed to navigate the course tantalisingly close to a sub-5 in 5:04:54. Mark Kmiec and Lawrence Pinnell were separated by a smidgeon, finishing in 5:38:58 and 5:39:30 respectively.

Gary Porteous on his way to achieving a sub 4 hour maraathon
Gary Porteous on his way to achieving a sub 4 hour marathon at London

In equally warm climes, roving club reporter Steve Thomasson travelled to Greece for the Poseidon Athens Half Marathon, smashing his previous PB by 90 seconds in a time of 1:44:52.

The weather was less kind at the Blackpool Prom, featuring mainly a stiff coastal breeze, where Richard O’Reilly competed in the Blackpool Festival of Running. Taking on the “undulating” 5k distance in a race with few sub-20 minute finishers, O’Reilly clocked up a respectable 21:25 for 8th overall and 1st Vet55. Commenting afterwards, O’Reilly noted he’d never encountered a race where three competitors ahead of him were walking up the coastal path hill!

Almost certainly with fewer walkers, a number of Harriers were out on the fells for Fo(e) Edge. Romping home to take victory was Irish international James Kevan in 32:05. It was a strong set of results for Horwich with several category wins: Mark Titmuss took 1st MU18 (5th overall, 35:02), followed closely by Julian Goudge who was 1st Vet55 (6th, 35:10). Matt Fawthrop was 9th in 35:37, and James Titmuss took 1st Vet50 (14th, 36:42). After some recovery scrounging, Dan “The Pigeon” Gilbert came in as 2nd Vet50 (16th, 37:48), followed by Nick Kelly (30th, 40:19). Gary Chadderton was 1st Vet60 (60th, 44:53), Kevan Newall was 62nd (45:19), Sandra Kelly was 1st FVet55 (63rd, 45:22), and Doug Fleming took 3rd Vet65 (66th, 46:18).

In the weekly parkrun round-up, Julie Williamson turned out for a pre-marathon leg-turner at the huge Tooting Common event (923 participants), finishing 764th (34:11). Haigh Hall saw seven Harriers: Isaac Parker was an impressive 3rd (19:13), Chris Charnley 16th (22:16), Jeanette Lewis 73rd (26:58), Andrew Storey 77th (27:26), Gail Maxfield 124th (30:00), Emma Lucey 134th (30:33), and Tony Hesketh 190th (33:43).

Elsewhere, Paul Murray was 115th at Clarence (43:35) and Graham Schofield was 86th at Heaton (22:35). At Peel, Rob Jackson was 21st (18:47) and Steve Jackson 421st (29:27). Marcus Taylor finished 27th at Watergrove (26:57), Andrew Crickmore 52nd at Keswick (22:43), and Jason Middleton 270th at Alexandra Park (24:52). On the coast, Gillian Smith was 441st (33:04) at Morecambe Prom. Worden saw four Harriers: Richard Howarth 13th (19:30), Oliver Hughes 69th (23:45), Michael Salmon 89th (24:27), and Linda Webb 90th (24:27). Grace Freary clocked 22:51 at Sale Water (23rd), and Ava Winstanley was 11th at Witton in 22:36. Parkrun of the week goes to Luke Foley for a magnificent 2nd place at Mile End with a sub-16 time of 15:52.