Thirteen members of MMI Engineering’s Warrington, Bristol and York offices came together last weekend to have an enjoyable and successful time at the Asics Greater Manchester Marathon.
Following on from our success at the event last year, we entered two teams in the four-person relay, a team in the half and half relay, and a team of four runners all doing the full marathon distance (unfortunately Paul Gardner had to withdraw pre-race when an injury did not recover in time, however he was on hand to cheer his colleagues on and take photographs).
On a glorious morning, all three of the full marathoners – Andy Nelson (3:14), Euan Stoddart (3:26) and Chris Robinson (4:01) ran strong races, and crossed the finish line outside Lancashire County Cricket Club’s Old Trafford ground with personal best times.
The highlight of the day was the performance of the half and half relay team of Kevin Malone and Rob English, who were the fifteenth team home out of over 200 teams, which including runners representing a number of running clubs from across the UK. They were, however, the first corporate team to finish in a time of 3 hours and 23 minutes.
The focus of the two four-person relay teams was purely participation, however despite this, a sense of healthy rivalry developed between them! The team comprising David Burt, Dannielle Parry, Lyndsay Duffill and Dave Sanderson all ran strongly to finish in 4 hours 13 minutes, as did the team of Sean Malkeson, Gang Dong, Caroline Iles and Tim Jones, who finished in 4 hours 37 minutes.
The race was another great team building event, with all the runners enjoying the fantastic support of the volunteers, bands/choirs and communities lining the streets of Greater Manchester. The post-race celebrations included talk of returning next year, with half marathoners stepping up to the full distance, and other relay runners contemplating the half marathon distance.
Below left – Andy Nelson about to receive a high five from his son
Below right – Euan Stoddart clearly enjoying the event!
