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Two soldiers in Iraq training to run London marathon
9:09pm Monday 17th March 2008
Comments (2)TWO Bolton soldiers, who are stationed in Iraq, are training to run the London Marathon.
Corporal Damien Byrne and Sergeant Major Stephen Tickle will join other members of the 1st Battalion The Duke of Lancaster regiment in returning to the UK to compete in the race on April 13.
The group has been serving in Iraq since November and it had been hoped that they would be home in time for the marathon, but they are now due back in May.
The soldiers will return to the UK just to run the 26.2 mile race before heading back to their base in Basra and the Bolton men are among those rising to the challenge.
Corp Byrne, of Halliwell, said: "It's something I've never done before so I thought I'd give it a go."
Thirty-six-year-old Sgt Mjr Tickle said: "It's always been a personal ambition of mine.
"It's something I have always wanted to do."
The Battalion members will run in a bid to raise £7,500 for the charity Sense, which supports children and adults who are deafblind or have associated disabilities.
Captain Jon Gilbody who is also running the marathon, said: "It's a really worthwhile charity that we hope to raise money for while competing."
The soldiers are training for the race around their duties and 28-year-old Corp Byrne said: "We have been running around Basra airport whenever we can.
"It's hard but we should be alright, we just have to do it when we have time.
"The temperature is 33c though and getting hotter."
Sgt Mjr Tickle, of Harwood, said: "The training is going ok. It's a little bit disjointed because our duties are priority with training second.
"It's the nature of what we are doing so we take time when we can and we're getting there.
"It will be nice to run without sand in my face during the marathon.
"I'm nervous but looking forward to it. I'm confident we can do well and put on a good show and most importantly raise money."
Anyone wanting to sponsor 1LANCS for running the marathon can visit www.justgiving.com/1LANCS.
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amosc99, Hoofdorp says...
9:59am Tue 18 Mar 08
Suicide is defined as a permanent solution to a temporary problem. I hope Bolton Wanderers learn that lesson the hard way this season, because their demise would be a mercy killing for us all.
Football should be about glory and honour. It should be about winning, pride and entertainment, inspiring a community and striving for accomplishments that will stand the test of time.
But when Bolton, a club who have never scaled the heights of achievement or affection in the modern era, were a few steps from the summit of European success, when they had the chance to do something truly special for their fans for the first time in 50 years, they looked down from their giddy perch and jumped.
You're on your own: Megson's poor show in Lisbon
Rather than send his men out to perform as if their lives depended on it, manager Gary Megson took the decision to pull the plug on their adventure. A temporary problem that should have been a magnificent challenge became a justification for assisted suicide.
What is the point of Bolton when they behave like this? The club had a genuine chance of seizing a place in the last eight of the UEFA Cup against Sporting Lisbon.
But Megson's priorities were so skewed he arrived in Portugal without 12 regular first-team players. He even left assistant manager Archie Knox and physiotherapist Andy Barr behind at the training ground, which was an extraordinary message to send to his squad. Needless to say, Bolton met their predictable end with open arms.
The excuse was they had important business at home three days later against Wigan. Megson weighed up the prospect of writing the club's name alongside previous UEFA winners like Juventus, Bayern Munich, Inter Milan, Barcelona and Real Madrid and decided it was nothing when compared to the practicalities of scrapping for Premier League cash.
So what if a decidedly average Sporting were there for the taking. Cowardice, pragmatism or plain stupidity told Megson it was better to kop out.
But why battle for an entire season to claim a place in Europe if you are going to throw that opportunity away at the first sign of difficulty? Why fight for magnificent results against Atletico Madrid and Bayern Munich if you are going to chuck in the towel a few days later?
It was a lousy call and a shameful dereliction of everything a football club should stand for. Most of all, it was an insult to all the fans who had paid good money to make that trip to Lisbon, as well as the journeys that preceded it. After this slap in the face, many won't make the same mistake next time.
Not that there is likely to be a next time. Bolton, complete with their supposedly fresh and rested personnel, lost against a Wigan side reduced to 10 men for a full 85 minutes and look closer to relegation than ever. So much for that mini-break.
Yet they could have jogged out on to Wigan's ploughed field having earned themselves a place alongside Fiorentina, PSV, Rangers and Bayern Munich in the last eight of the UEFA Cup. The considerable morale boost of European victory might have helped spark a move away from danger at the foot of the table.
Instead, Megson effectively told his players they were incapable of playing two games in such a short space of time and that they were not good enough to bother about Europe either. With this endorsement ringing in their ears Bolton went out and promptly proved it.
They are not alone, of course. Reading were equally foolish in treating the FA Cup with contempt earlier this season and, incredibly, there are rumblings from within West Bromwich Albion that their Wembley semi-final date is now proving a 'distraction' from the promotion hunt.
Well thank God for distractions. Coventry City fans still regale one another with talk of their FA Cup Final 'distraction' in 1987. Fans of old Wimbledon have been doing the same for the past 20 years. And Ipswich Town distracted themselves to the point of complete bewilderment by collecting the UEFA Cup in 1981. Silly them, eh?
But Bolton represent the ugly truth of the game. It is now a chase for money, not glory and some are quite prepared to scrabble around in the gutter for their pennies, throwing aside trinkets like medals because they don't understand their true worth. They seem happy to accept their place and live down to their limitations.
If Bolton now follow their selfinflicted European exit by dropping through the relegation trapdoor and landing with an almighty splat a division below, it will be difficult for any neutral to feel sympathy for the club. A Premier League death will be a release.