ON the same day Paula Radcliffe was breaking the women's marathon world record in Chicago another gutsy lady runner was in action a little closer to home.

Bury's Woman of the Year, Marie Caldwell was competing in the Manchester Marathon raising funds for ARC the arthritis research charity.

Super-fit Marie, who now qualifies for the over-65 category in races, put in an excellent time of 4 hours 50 minutes despite shivering in the cold for an extra half hour until the event got underway at the Heaton Park start.

"Firstly the organisers said there was a delay of 15 minutes, then they said it would be 30," she explained.

"There was a bitterly cold wind and it was hardly an ideal way of preparing for the race."

To make matters worse at the Wythenshawe Park finish some of the shuttle buses organised to bring some of the 800 competitors back to the start didn't turn up and when they did they dropped them off at the furthest point from the Metrolink station!

"Many people were complaining about the organisation of the race this year and there were some irate police and motorists along the route as the late start caused traffic problems."

However, the 26-mile haul couldn't have gone better for Marie and the long, slow pace that she has perfected for her 24 hour races served her well on the day especially over the final eight miles when she felt quite fresh.

It was the Hawkshaw runner's first long distance competition since she took part in a gruelling 24-hour race at the Costello Stadium, Hull in July clocking up close to 90 miles in that time.

She was also in action carrying the Commonwealth Games baton through Milnrow in the run-up to the summer sporting extravaganza.

The Manchester Marathon was won by Ethiopian Trafford Park bakery worker Tomas Abyu in a time of 2 hours 25 minutes 58 seconds, one of the slowest ever winning times for the event.