Tadley runners sprint over to Barcelona

TADLEY Runners recently sprinted over to Barcelona to compete on an Olympic stadium track.

The group all wore special ribbons in memory of a club member, Tim O’Sullivan, who died earlier this year.

A 48-strong group from the club – 29 runners and 19 supporters – recently headed to the European capital of culture.

Trip organisers and club members, Sharon Reilly and Gary Shaugnessy, started planning the trip last March and Ms Reilly said: “It started out with just a few members wanting to take part, but snowballed into nearly half the club signing up for it.”

Wearing special vests designed for the trip, including the colours of the Spanish and UK flags, all club members wore black ribbons in memory Mr O’Sullivan, a Tadley Runner for 25 years, who sadly died a few weeks before the trip.

The 29 runners joined a total 15,000 runners for the Barcelona Marathon, including nine tackling the 26.2-mile distance for the first time.

More experienced members have clocked up a total of more than 180 marathons.

Race organisers laid on a special breakfast for all the runners, and the route included running the last four kilometres of the 1992 Olympic Marathon course, finishing on the track in the Olympic Stadium.

“Conditions were ideal on the Sunday, the day of the race, with cool air and no wind for the runners, but plenty of sunshine to bring out the supporters,” said club spokeswoman, Tracey Grigoleit, who added that 14 members recorded personal bests.

Tadley Runners is a small, friendly club, which trains together twice a week and organises three races throughout the year.

The next race is a 10km road race and 3k fun run on Sunday, July 5. For more information visit www.tadleyrunners.co.uk.