A real race to the line at Half
Weather
conditions were good for the 668 runners who completed the Macclesfield Half
Marathon on Sunday 30th September, the 6th running of the
race over the present course. Despite taking place on the same day as the Great
North Run, runners from clubs as far afield as
A close-fought
battle in the mens race saw Nick Goodliffe
from Holmfirth win in a time of 1:11:20, only one second ahead of Dave Norman
from Altrincham, with the lead changing hands several times during the final
400m. Third place went to Carl Hardman of
First lady Olivia
Walwyn knocked 51 seconds off the ladies course
record, coming home 7th over all in a time of 1:18:45.
The first Male
Veteran home was Ken Moss (unattached) in time of 1:16:57, finishing 5th overall and
in doing so set a new record in his own age class (M55) and also finishing
ahead of the leading M40 (Rob Downs, Wilmslow, 1:16:59) M45 (Paul Light, Staffs
Moorlands, 1:20:09) and M50 (William Alves, Totley, 1:24:53).
New course
records were also set for their respective age classes by Ken Burgess M65
(Altrincham, 1:27:54) and Joe Park M70 (
Ladies veteran
winners were F40 – Alison Sedman (Belle Vue Racers, 1:27:48), F45 – Mary Egerton
(Pennine, 1:35:24), F50 – Shiela Bradley (Buxton,
1:48:30), F55 – Susan Lucas (Lancaster & Morecambe, 1:49:27), F60 – Mavis
The first
Macclesfield Harriers runner home was James Sherratt,
who finished 31st in a time of 1:27:09. The highest placed Macc lady
was Hanny Stockman in 1:31:21, 75th
overall, but 4th lady and 2nd F35.
The organising
team from Macclesfield Harriers and AC wish to thank runners for taking part
and for expressing such positive feedback after the race. The event was
co-sponsored by Cheshire Building Society and AstraZeneca, and will enable
donations totalling in excess of £9000 to be made to MacMillan Cancer Support,
East Cheshire Hospice, Crimebeat and the Macclesfield
Athletics Track Appeal, with many runners also raising individual sponsorship
for their chosen charities.