Marathon marvel

POUNDING the streets of Oldham for hours on end paid off for veteran athlete Dave Phillips.

The Royton Road Runner was first home in the 65 and over category in the Majorca Marathon, set in and around Palma — not bad for someone who nearly quit marathons two years ago.

Phillips, one of ten club members in a field of 2,000, defied punishing heat to cross the line in three hours 37 minutes 22 seconds.

The 65-year-old said: “I had a bad experience in the Benidorm Marathon, which knocked my confidence.

“I didn’t know whether I wanted to run another one, but I trained hard — I was running 50 miles a week — and I was really focused.

“The day of the race was the hottest in the short period we were over there. It about 80 degrees, so it was important to take on as much water as possible.”

Although pleasantly surprised by his performance — his personal best in 14 marathons is three hours 10 minutes recorded in the Potteries event 15 years ago — Phillips knew from an early stage he was on course for a decent time.

He explained: “They ran a half-marathon alongside the marathon.

“That meant the runners in the shorter race were going a lot quicker. You kind of got swept along with them and ended up going faster than you probably wanted to go in the conditions.

“They peeled off at half-way and suddenly you were on your own.

“The atmosphere was tremendous and running through the streets of the old town was a great experience.”

Phillips took up running at the age of 40 after he was persuaded to give it a go by a work colleague.

He joined Oldham and Royton Harriers, before switching to Royton Road Runners where he is president of a club boasting 70 members.




DAVID EMANUEL was the first home for Royton Road Runners in the Holmfirth 15-mile road race with a time of one hour 42 minutes and 10 seconds.

Colin Green was next to cross the line in 1:44:35, and he was followed by Dave Whittan (1:49:59) and Stuart Hulme (1:50:58) in the 17th and final race of the club championship.

Barry Greaves (1:52:10) was pushed all the way by Sheila Waite, who recorded 1:53:37.

Other results —

Debbie Shaw, 1:57:06; John Kane, 2:00:03; Lewis Shaw, 2:05:40; Teresa Hollins, 2:12:04.