Record number of runners at Waterside half marathon

Judith Storm claimed the women’s title in a time of one hour 22 minutes and 38 seconds

A record number of runners took to the streets of Londonderry on Sunday for the city’s Waterside half marathon.

The 13.1 mile (21km) race started at Ebrington Square at 09:30 BST.

For the first time, runners followed a route that included all four of the city's bridges over the River Foyle.

Derry City and Strabane District Council had warned drivers to expect some traffic disruption.

Jayne Bleakley won the women’s wheelchair title and Karol Doherty won the men’s

“This year’s Waterside Half Marathon sold out weeks in advance and we are delighted to be able to accommodate a record field this Sunday morning,” Mayor of Derry and Strabane Lillian Seenoi Barr said ahead of the race.

Runners followed a route that takes in the Craigavon, Foyle and Peace bridges as well as the Bay Road Bridge which opened earlier this year.

Nearly 3,000 people were due to take part.

Kyle Doherty took first place with a time of one hour 11 minutes and 20 seconds

Kyle Doherty and Judith Storm, who both City of Derry Spartans members, took gold on the podium.

It is the second successive year the local club has claimed the men’s and women’s titles at the event.

Jayne Bleakley won the women’s wheelchair title for the first time.

Whilst Karol Doherty retained his men’s wheelchair crown.

The challenge of changing his lifestyle, initially prompted by his daughter's wedding, brought Warren Elder to the challenge of Sunday's race

Among the runners was half marathon first-timer Warren Elder from Limavady.

Sunday’s race was the latest step on a fitness journey that started 18 months ago, when Warren weighed almost 22 stone (139.7kg).

Speaking on BBC Radio Foyle’s Mark Patterson Show, he said a phone call from his daughter Tamsin in May 2023 prompted a lifestyle change that would lead him to running the half marathon.

“I was sitting on holiday in Mexico at an all you can eat buffet when I got a phone call from my daughter to say ‘by the way mum and dad, we have brought the date forward for our wedding from August 2025 to July 2024’.

“It was the kick start I needed. I thought I need to do something about this,” he said.

In recent months, and with the help of a personal trainer, he has stuck to a strict diet and training regime.

He has also run almost 20kms (12.4 miles) in a single day's training, which is just shy of the distance he faced on Sunday.

“I am only now realising how far it is… hopefully, the crowd will pull me though the last couple of miles," he said.

Warren said if all went well in Derry, he would fix his sights on running the Belfast marathon in 2025.

Minute's applause

Sunday’s route took runners from Ebrington to King Street, Duke Street and across the lower deck of the Craigavon Bridge.

It then went along Foyle Road and the Foyle Embankment before crossing the Peace Bridge and onto the Waterside greenway and onto Strathfoyle.

The course then brought runners back toward the Foyle Bridge, the Culmore Road, Bay Road and along the greenway to the Peace Bridge and onto Ebrington.

The council said a number of traffic restrictions and temporary speed limits would be in place and the Peace Bridge was closed to pedestrians until 13:00.

A minute's applause was held before the race to remember Charlie Large who died earlier this month.

Mr Large was a founding member of the first half marathon in the city in 1981 and a long-time race official.