London Marathon

The 2007 Flora London Marathon saw around 30 runners from Stockport Harriers compete which is the club's highest number to run in any one marathon, once again the women were to the fore. The club now having 50 different women completing a marathon.

Jenny Knass and Kerrie Wood were in the elite ladies start and both were a little apprehensive, Jenny was hoping to beat her time of 3-00 from last year and all was going well until she suffered a groin injury at 20 miles.

There was a slight niggle at the start but she thought being here she might as well run, however this was to cause her leg to swell out and she ended having to hobble to the finish to record 3-04-15.

Meanwhile, Kerrie too was struggling, her training preparation having not gone well but still performed bravely to record 3-06-32.

Having lost Sharon Glendon and Samantha Thomas earlier on in their marathon preparation, we also lost Vicky Barrett on the Monday before with a foot problem. It seems as just as we are getting an excellent group of ladies together fate deals it's cards.

However we had two new ladies in the club, Sarah Lomas on her debut marathon and Rachel Chatwin in her 3rd with a previous best of 3-33. Both were hoping to qualify for next year's elite race needing a time of 3-15. Rachel was so close with 3-16-23 and Sarah just fading in the later stages in 3-19-22.

Our next lady was Alice Dagg in her 4th marathon and first London, with a best of 3-38 she was hoping to break 3-30. Her training suggested that this was on the cards but suffered and struggled with the heat to record 3-45-18.

We then had a group of 4 ladies also hoping to record good times but were all off their predicted targets; Ros Mann 4-02-29, Vicky Buckley 4-03-43, Ruth Lee 4-13-58, and Nicola Logue 4-15-25. Having said that they were all positive and hoping to come back in the future and again take up the challenge.

Finally Susan Holland on her debut marathon ran extremely well to record 4-34-37 and Peta Walsh also on her London debut running 6-10-01

Meanwhile the men were not having it easy either, James Corden was our first man home in 2-50-25, followed by Simon Heys 3-11-30, Lee Barrett 3-14-53, Tony Audenshaw in a Elvis outfit in 3-15-23 (no wonder I didn't recognize him!).

Having spoke with a few of them prior to the race, they too were struggling to get to their predicted times.

To all that ran a superb effort under trying conditions - keep faith and well done - here's to next year!

Thornbers Podiatry gait analysis offer

Thornbers Podiatry are offering club members the opportunity to have a full gait analysis and consultation at half the normal rate (£20 instead of £40), this offer lasts during May only.

If you need orthotics and purchase them from Thornbers the consultation of free charge.

More details at www.thornbers-podiatry.co.uk or telephone 0161 491 2938.

Isle of Man Easter Athletics Festival

Report: Isaac

A long Easter weekend at the Isle of Man Easter Athletics Festival saw glorious weather, demanding races and a quality field from across the UK.

This long standing tradition for the Harriers is a mixture of hard racing followed by lots of rehydrating and carb loading! The students from Aberdeen, Glasgow, Manchester, Leeds and many other seats of learning may be better qualified in the 'drinking' finals that took place as part of the presentation evening at Douglas' one and only nightclub 'Paramount City' (which has carpets stickier than Hazel Grove's Bamboo Club!) but the team from Stockport gave their best displays out on the road, hills and Douglas promenade.

The weekend comprises of a 10K evening road race from Port Erin to St Mary and back, a Saturday afternoon hill (or was it a small mountain) race in the picturesque fishing village of Peel and then rounded off by a muscle bursting Sunday morning 5k race along the sweeping promenade in Douglas.

Key performances for the weekend came from Bashir Hussein and Mike Shaw who finished overall first and second masters (or is that vets), Amber Whewell finishing overall U17 winner also with individual race prizes to Bashir Hussein, Jackie Newton and Amber Whewell. The rest of team managed many PB's during the course of the three races and will certainly be back for more in 2008.

National 6-stage Road Relays

Report: Phil McCann

Stockport's ladies again were out in force for the National 6-stage Road Relays, coming away with our fastest time ever and also matching our highest finishing position but this time against more opposition.

Like the Northerns a few weeks ago it looked like we would be unable to get a team out, but with some new ladies in the club plus younger ones coming through the ranks we managed to field 2 full teams for the first time.

It was a hot sunny day at Sutton Park where the A-team consisted of Rachel Shepherd, new to the event and given the difficult job of running the 1st leg. This she did with great determination and ran 18-58 the club's 5th fastest time ever at the Nationals.

This was to be a continuing trend with Toni McIntosh taking over for the 2nd leg and running the club's 4th fastest time 18-44.

Leah Kaye was brought in on the last minute to fill a gap and performed brilliantly to record a 3rd club fastest time 18-26.

With this the rest followed suit Sharon Glendon ran her best for this course in 20-08 handing over to Carla Stansfield another personal best with 20-00.

Finally on last leg Carley Davies running her first 6-stage to record 19-21 and club's 8th fastest leg time in the event.

Meanwhile the B-team having a complete team for the first time with only 2 incomplete B-teams before at the Nationals were to follow suit.

First leg was Karen McCrackle and for the first time took the mantle of 1st leg runner and didn't disappoint, Karen matched her time from last year of 20-22 handing over to Alice Dagg who kept it going and recorded a personal best for this course 20-25.

Another new lady to the event was Fiona Johnson and having only ran a couple of races before found out what it really was about with a time of 22-32 and kept us up there in the same position. Jane Mellor took the 4th leg and her experience was there to clock 20-28.

The final 2 legs were for two brilliant ladies who wanted to make sure that we had a complete team and were both battling together to try and record the fastest time against one another! Maureen Wilkins at her first road relay threw the gauntlet down to record 24-57. Marie Kaye new it was going to be tough and on the last leg gave it her all to just pip Maureen with a time of 24-52.

What a terrific day, everybody encouraged each other showing the great team spirit we are building here at Stockport. They had a belief to go out and give it their all and we even beat many teams that have always been in front of us!