Recent Birtley Performances

There have been quite a few outstanding performances lately from Birtley athletes. Chris Perkins was the first U15 home by a fair margin in the Good Friday Relays at Elswick, crossing the line in 7:52, and he also ran in the London Mini-Marathon, representing the North East, along with several other club athletes - well done all!

Photo by Ian Harman

The London Marathon saw a fair number of Birtley athletes crossing the line, with 3 of them incredibly all finishing in 2 hours and 49 minutes - congrats to Darren Purvis, Martin Bell and Tracy Millmore (placing an impressive 32nd lady in a very competitive field). Ruth Dadswell also put in a great performance, finishing a mere 4 minutes over 3 hours and placing 21st in her age category. Phil Atkinson made his marathon debut, having won our coveted club place, and did us proud, finishing in a strong time of 3:25. The race also saw two recent Birtley members, Sally Riding and Chris Tiffen, with Sally putting a tricky year health-wise behind her, to make it to the finish line with pride.

Finally, slightly further afield, Adrian Bailes decided to enter a track 800m race whilst warm weather training in Portugal - and may have annoyed the locals by winning the race (and 50 Euros!), if their expressions are anything to go by!