Marathon Man

Mike Stratford

March 1981: fit from football, I was well into my training for the first-ever London marathon. 20,000 applied and I was 1 of the lucky 6,747 accepted. Then disaster struck; both Achilles’ tendons groaned under the workload. I went to see my teammate, a lightning-quick right winger, who happened to be club doctor for Everton FC, having succeeded his Dad.

“Whoa, come and feel this crep! (crepitus),” he bellowed across the Bellefield treatment room to Mac, the Club physio. Mac was well impressed.

“Take these. You will be ok”, Ian said, handing me a prescription. Well, as he wouldn’t tell me what the tablets were and I hated taking medicaments (times have changed!) I missed the marathon - my greatest sporting regret. I only ever ran a half marathon -1 hour 38 minutes, Cheltenham 1983, alongside (till he retired after one mile and three cans of beer) the immortal National Hunt jockey, Terry Biddlecombe.

Terry later faced his alcoholism, in 1995 married legendary National Hunt trainer, Henrietta Knight, (qv), and they enjoyed a mutually supportive and successful evening of life together till Terry’s death in January 2014.

Contrast my puny effort with those of the mighty Major Marathon Man, Currie resident Mike Stratford, aged 41.

Ex-Balerno High School pupil Mike started dedicated running after his GP decreed “No more football or hockey”, as Mike had a serious sight problem that could have been exacerbated by contact sport.

Not a man to do things by halves, Mike has since logged a staggering (running!) total of 16 marathons and 40+ half marathons. His average time for 26 miles 385 yards is about 3 hours compared with an average time for amateur allcomers of 4 hours 30 minutes worldwide.

He ran his PB of 2 hours 55 minutes in Tokyo, February 2018, despite having been kept awake

most of the previous night by a snoring roommate, who somehow survived! Inspired by his idol Eliud Kipchoge, (world record holder), Mike boasts an enviable CV entry - the rare completion of the sextuplet Abbott World Marathon Majors, the foremost in the world: Tokyo, Boston, London, Berlin, Chicago and NYC.

As a result, along with just a couple of thousand others, Mike has been inducted into the Marathon Hall of Fame and proudly displays his medal and certificate acclaiming this awesome achievement.

“My wife Ele and sons Callum, aged 9 and Theo, aged 8, have been my rock. Without their constant and selfless support, I’d have got nowhere,” Mike tells me. “We also have plenty of fun together, like the time Callum ran the finishing straight with me at Strathearn; torrential rain so he was running in wellies, which prevented me beating 3 hours by just 11 seconds. Worth it though!”

The next target is the Berlin marathon 2019 with brother Allan, aged 39, who has also completed three London marathons and an Ironman! Two tough hombres!

Mike tries to tell me his days of serious, competitive running are done. Yep and one day they might build a wall between Mexico and the USA or Everton might win the Premier League! Lol!

The sports column is contributed by David Levin. David is a Liverpudlian living in West Lothian, and describes himself as a writer, sportsman, patriarch and dreamer.