Harriers marathon trio

Mike Baron led the Royton Harriers trio home on his debut over the distance in the London Marathon.

He clocked 4 hours 1 minute 27 seconds, while veteran runner Dave Elliott ran 4 hrs 39:39 followed by Paul Taylor in 5 hrs 15:30.

Pete Williams and Jodie Tinker set personal bests in the Belfast marathon.

Jodie lowered her best from 4:24 to 3 hrs 59:09 while Pete beat his over-50 best time by more than two minutes at 3 hrs 27.53.

Christopher Brown followed up his excellent cross country season by winning the under-13s 2k at Wythenshawe in 7 mins 22sec.

Meanwhile, the club’s track and field athletes finished third in the first match in the Northern League at Stockport.

Wins came from:

Rick Mather (B 100m in 12.2s), Lee Whitehead (triple jump 11.13m), Mike Manning 800m 2:02.9, Mike Rigby hammer 42.9m and shot put 11.44, Colin Allen discus 30.24m, Steve Williams javelin 37.91m, Emily Shaw 100m 12.3s and 200m 25.3s, Melanie Turner 100m 13.2s.

In the men’s relays, Aiden Gilmore, Rick Mather, Mark Wittenbury and Lee Whitehead won the 4x100m in 46.3s and in the 4x400m Rick, Bradley Szakass, Aiden and Reece Hendley won in 3:34.5.


Taking advantage of a break in the Royton Road Runners club championship series, several members travelled to Halifax to take part in the popular Blue Bell 10-mile trail race.

Veteran runner Barry Greaves was first to complete with a creditable time of 1:22:12 but was pushed all the way by the ever-improving Dave Whittam (1:22:59).

Other Royton results were: James Holdaway (1:30:48), over-60 veteran George Meynell (1:34:35), Steve Shaw (1:39:08) and Tony Hunking (1:54:30).

On the same weekend, 76-year-old Louise Gilchrist completed the Rothwell 10k road race in Leeds in 50 minutes, two seconds.

Closer to home, in Littleborough, Steve Shaw was the first Royton athlete to finish the Colin Robinson 5-mile Road and Trail Race with a time of 37:31, followed by Rose Rowson (42:33) and Dave Whittam (44:42).