A field of 2,000 runners completed Sunday’s Mersey Tunnel 10K (14 April) with numbers considerably up on last year’s figure of 1,200 finishers. The point-to-point race is the only time throughout the year when people can make their way through the Kingsway Tunnel on foot.

The race was won by Ian Lawton of Prime Triathlon Coaching in a time of 31:40. This is the second BTR podium place of 2024 for Ian, who came second in the BTR Liverpool Half Marathon only last month. Second place went to Paul Howard of St Helens Striders in 32:20, with Francois Rafferty of Southport Waterloo AC in third place with 35:23.

First place female was Kirsty Longley of Liverpool Pembroke Sefton Harriers AC in 37:51. Second place was claimed by Lisa Gawthorne of Vegan Runners in 39:32 and third place went to Heather Hatton in 41:34.

This year's race saw a team of 16 Armed Forces veterans from Liverpool, Wirral, and Sefton taking part to raise funds for Liverpool-based The Block – Armed Forces Foundation homeless prevention project. The group has already raised £3,700 for the charity which help local ex-forces in times of crisis.

The group carried equipment and completed the route through a traditional military style exercise called speed march, or Tactical Advance to Battle (TAB). They were led by former Paratrooper physical training instructor and founder of Tactical Athlete programme coach Mike Chadwick.

Former Paratrooper Colin Eastaway is Chief Executive Officer of The Block and brought the group together, he commented: “The team absolutely loved marching through the Kingsway Tunnel. What a fantastic experience. And it was really good for them to come together and raise funds for a charity close to them.

“Some of the guys have already been supported by The Block, so they felt it was important to give something back to help their Armed Forces colleagues who may need help in the future. We’d like to say thank you to BTR Liverpool for supporting us with our efforts, as well as the runners and spectators who gave us plenty of cheers along the way. It meant a lot to us all.”

Entries are already open for next year’s BTR Mersey Tunnel 10K on Sunday 13 April 2025. You can enter online here.

Image: BTR Liverpool