Furness runners hit form at Manchester Half Marathon

Barrow and Furness Striders' three-man senior men's team of Phil Waite, Ian Quinn and Ross Campbell excelled to all finish in the top 40 of a race competed by more than 8,500 runners.

And there was also joy for Glaxo Hoad Hill Harriers, with David Fulford setting a new half marathon club record of one hour, 14 minutes and 28 seconds to finish 47th.

Striders captain Waite led home the Barrow contingent in a time of 1:09:43 to land 22nd place in what was his first half marathon.

Quinn came home in 1:12:53 in 33rd place and 20-year-old Campbell was three places behind in 36th (1:13:14).

Waite said: "Considering we’re a small town and a small family club, our three runners were all in the top 36 which is a great result."
He added: "I had no real expectations going into the race as I consider myself a frustrated 800m runner whose calf muscles have gone!

"Iain Quinn produced a staggering effort considering he had run 100-plus miles in the week leading up to the race and felt 'flat’ after one mile.

"This was Ross’ debut over the half marathon distance too, a scary prospect considering he has 10-15-plus years left of potential improvement."

Katie Waite was the Striders' only Senior Women's representative and she too put in an impressive performance. Waite finished 35th female (535th overall) in a time of 1:31:01 in her first half half marathon.

And this was despite putting in no half marathon specific-training, with her only having trained for 5k and 10k races during the summer.

The Striders senior men's team put in a very respectable display in the

Northern Athletics Cross-Country Relay Championships in Sheffield to finish eleventh out of 62 teams.

The first leg was run by Todd Oates with Jed Bartlett next up, and the Striders' contingent was completed by Campbell and Waite - just six days after their exertions in the Manchester Half Marathon.

Next up for Striders is the second Mid Lancs cross country fixture of the season in Leyland this Saturday.