Marathon records for Lou Harvey and Lisa Gorman abroad

Both members of Harborough Athletics Club raced in the standard 26.2 miles marathon distance in their women's 50 to 60 age group division and easily signified the common adage that age is only a number.

Harvey, turning 60 in her next birthday,raced against 35 000 competitors in Sunday's big Valencia marathon in Spain, where she recorded a lifetime personal best time of 3:50:46.

The midwife running enthusiast maintained a strong kick all the way to the end and improved her previous record by a staggering 16 minutes, which was a great show of resilience and extra stamina.

"I never believed I would run below four hours at the age of 59.

It was a battle in my head, but I broke it down into chunks to prevail.

I am so excited about my achievement", said Harvey.

Harvey committed herself and followed a stringent training programme to ensure she was equal to the task and against thousands of runners with different abilities.

A few weeks ahead of Harvey's Valencia race, her club-mate Lisa Gorman, featured at the iconic Athens marathon in Greece which had more than 19 000 runners.

Gorman, quite popular as a strong runner on hilly courses, surprised herself striding home in a personal with a personal best time of 4:09:42 in the the 50-54 age group division.

It was only her second marathon after Copenhagen in Denmark this year, and also after having competed at the Cardiff half marathon in Wales.

While still recovering from the Athens marathon, Gorman immediately took the challenge to race against her 18-year old son George, at the recent Norwich half marathon.

George, who is a student at UEA Norwich University outwitted her mum by over 11 minutes, recording a good time of 1:41:12 for a rising junior.

Lisa, though, made the grade in her age group finishing seventh overall with a time of 1:53:10. At the end of the race, it was time for family reunion as Lisa and George hugged each other to rejoice their race outing.

The Norwich half marathon had another family encounter for Harborough runners - Dan Perrin and his wife Carmel fighting it out in the same competition.

Dan finished 52nd in the men's 50 age group category in 1:42:31, while Carmel placed 43rd in the women's equivalent age group registering a time of 2:14:18.

Harvey and Gorman's international races followed another club member Kevin Dinsdale who ran a personal best at the Berlin marathon in Germany.

Dinsdale was named Club Athlete of the Month in September, along with Madeleine Stevens nominated for the junior female award for her performance at the English National cross country championships.