MORE THAN 20,000 people took part in the Morrisons Great Birmingham Run on Sunday (October 18) for a variety of good causes.
The half-marathon circuit took runners from the Second City centre, out towards Edgbaston and the cricket ground, on to Bournville, the home of Cadbury World and back to the city centre.
Among those pounding the streets and seeing those iconic Birmingham landmarks were runners from the south of the city, Bromsgrove, Rubery and Droitwich.
And the organisers have revealed to The Standard those men and women who finished with the fastest times following the run.
The first man home in our distribution area was Mark Woodus. He finished 50th overall with an impressive time of 1hr, 17mis and 58secs.
Mark said: “It wasn’t my personal best, but I had a good run.
“I’m absolutely chuffed that I’m the quickest in this area – something to tell the kids about.”
The first woman from The Standard’s Bromsgrove delivery area was Lucy Ward. She finished in 1,709th place with a time of 1hr, 41mis and 37secs.
Lucy, who is a West Midlands Firefighter, based at Northfield, said: “It went really well – I haven’t done much training but I kept up with the pace maker and it felt good.
“The last couple of miles when it was all uphill was hard work but the crowd was awesome at that point because everybody was struggling.”
Another man to cross the finishing line was Reluctant Guru Donato Esposito, who completed the course in an impressive 1hr 45mins and 37secs. He ran the distance with a 2012 Olympic torch and finished in 2392nd place.
The 54-year-old was running for the Hibbs Lupus Trust, launched six years ago by close friend John Hibbs and he so far he has raised £540 for the cause.
Writing in his blog he said: “The whole race was an incredible experience and I can see why Birmingham is voted the best supported of the Great Run series.
“It felt an extra honour and privilege to have ran with the torch.
“I had so many funny comments about the torch, i think it will merit a whole blog post of its own.”
