Radcliffe Athletics Club had a total of six finishers at the 2024 Manchester Marathon on Sunday.

First over the line for the club was Andrew O’Donnell, who ran a personal best of 3hrs 33mins 57secs, closely followed by Mark Garner, in 3:40:32, and first female Mia Derbyshire, who ran an impressive 3:46:27.

Karen Doherty, running her first ever marathon just weeks after fracturing her shoulder, clocked a fantastic 4:18:23 with a huge smile the whole way round and thumbs up for every camera she encountered.

Also finishing were Kathryn Davies (4:11:09), and Dominic Parry (4:25:49), but Manchester Marathon veteran David Bartlett narrowly missed out on another finish, retiring 22 miles in after suffering an injury at mile 15 - though seven miles running with an injury is a remarkable effort.

Elsewhere, there was success for Radcliffe AC chair, Donna Cartwright, in the Lakeland Trails 16km race in Hawkshead. She ran 1:35:59 to claim first place in the ladies’ race.

At the Clowbridge 5K, Rob Shiels came second in his age category (MV45), and 10th overall in 21:13 at this scenic two-lap circumnavigation of Clowbridge reservoir, while Kath Biddle clocked 2:14:00 in the Pier to Pier half marathon, a hilly and breezy coastal route along North West Wales.

The club’s head of junior section, Peter Warr, finished his Bob Ross ‘Happy Little Trees’ 5K, raising money for reforesting projects. He was helped by Radcliffe juniors Aoife, Skyler, Benji, and Oliver, keeping him going after a lengthy injury lay-off.