Countdown to the Nineties

Continuing with my short history of the Wilmslow Half marathon. We have noted our first winners, the medals awarded, the fashion of the day then and discovered that the course was very different to today.

So let’s finish off the 80s.

In 1987 we had an increase in the number of runners – 1927 ran. The race up to now had seen the men’s and women’s winning time come down year upon year. This year it didn’t. Well for the Men at least. The first man home was Stephen Forster in a time of 1:04:58 over 40 seconds down on the previous men’s winning time. However for the women the trend continued. Bronwen Cardy finished with a time of 1:15:31 – over 90 seconds quicker than the previous winning time. The 1986 winner was second 2 minutes behind.

Bronwen Cardy-Wise as she became to be was  long-distance runner. and was a regular winner of British Half-Marathon races during the 1980s and 1990s. She competed in the Half Marathon for Britain at the second 1993 IAAF World Half Marathon Championships in Brussels.

In March 1988 we saw the merger in March of the SDP and the Liberals to form the Liberal Democrats. And In 1989 there were two fatal rail crashes and the Exon Valdez oil spill.

In Wilmslow those 1988 and 1989 half marathons we saw the winning times got slower. David Locke and Tony O’Kell were the men’s champions with finishing times of 66 minutes and Frances Crozier and S Drehan were the ladies champions.  The ladies winning time had dropped down to 80 minutes.

The number of runners dropped dramatically in 1988 down by over 700 from the previous year.

1989 introduced Team and Age Category winners. It brought a slight increase if 150 to 1363 runners who completed the course

Manchester Harriers were the Mens Winners; Sefton Rugby Club were the Rugby team winners; Stockport Harriers the Ladies Team Winners; and in a category of Other Teams – Salford University were crowned first.

Yellow Shoes were in fashion: