Brothers set the pace for Royton club

READY FOR THE OFF: Bernard Goodwin (left), Bernie Cassidy, Richard Fiddling, Chris Eavers, Colin Green and Bill Balmer pose for a picture before the first Liverpool Marathon.

ATHLETICS: TWO North-West marathons on the same day attracted a sizeable entry from Royton Road Runners — 10 athletes completing the Chester Marathon, while seven more took part in the Liverpool event.

The McBride brothers dominated the club displays at Chester, with Ian finishing an impressive 15th place overall in 2 hours 45 minutes 5 seconds.

David, making his debut marathon, broke the three-hour barrier as he finished 59th out of almost 3,000 athletes in 2:58:10.

Chris Lowe also completed his first marathon in an excellent time of 3:07:48.


THE first Liverpool Marathon was over a tough course, and it took its toll on all of the Royton runners in the later stages.
Richard Fiddling just missed out on a London Marathon age-qualifying time as he finished in 3:16:29, while Liverpudlian Bill Balmer recorded 3:41:18 in his first marathon.

The club finishers broke the four-hour mark — Colin Green (3:25:49), Chris Eavers (3:31:28), James Trollope (3:44:56) and Bernard Goodwin (3:59:00).

Bernie Cassidy was deprived of a fast time as he was forced out of the race through illness at the 18-mile mark.


AN impressive line-up of 23 members completed the Congleton Half-Marathon, the latest race in the 2011 Club Championship.
In a field of nearly 500, the Royton runners made light of a challenging half-marathon course, with highlights including a first V55 prize for Barry Greaves (1:29:58), while Carole Madden (1:32:29) continued her recovery from injury as she was second FV50 and fourth woman overall.