Chichester Observer

Houston shows class in Tokyo Marathon

- Athletics by Phil Baker

Road Race Round-up

With Harry Leleu in cross country action, the other two members of Chichester 10K Sussex medal winning team have been in action on the roads, both in England and further afield.

Pride of place as to the improvemen­t he has made over the last year must go to Mike Houston who travelled to Japan last weekend for the Tokyo Marathon which attracts not only elite internatio­nals of the highest calibre but also has one of the strongest in-depth fields of any marathon in the world.

With a previous best of 2 hours 44 minutes from 2018, Houston proceeded to knock over five minutes from his previous best and joins the coveted sub 2 hours 40 club with a time of 2 hours 38 minutes 48 seconds and can bask in a UK top 17 placing at this early stage in the season.

This follows a 32.36 10K clocking at Goodwood in February smashing his previous best by over a minute.

The third member of the trio has had an even busier time of it in the last month with a personal best in the Barcelona Half Marathon followed by a 1 hour 53.31 clocking in the Bramley 20 miler then with just seven days to recover lining up with Sir Mo Farah in the London Half Marathon at Greenwich last Sunday.

Bird crossed the finish in a fine 70 minute 11 seconds, less than a minute outside his time in Spain but neverthele­ss showing great powers of recovery. Not far from the capital, Lucy Thraves, Chichester first female in the Chichester 10K, tested herself in the Surrey Half Marathon at Woking on Sunday to finish in 83 minutes 44 seconds and 6th woman home.

Corporate Challenge

A full report of last night’s second Corporate Challenge with pictures will appear in next week’s Observer.

 ??  ?? Mike Houston
Mike Houston

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