Portadown Running Club's Gareth King qualifies for World Championships after great London marathon time

Gareth King achieved his best ever marathon time, finishing in an amazing 2hr 25mins 36sec placing – 66th overall against an impressive field of elite athletes.

A member of Portadown Running Club, Gareth’s fabulous performance was fast enough to qualify him for the World Championships.

The 44-year-old father-of-four completed his first marathon in Belfast in 2011 and has previously represented NI and Ulster in the ACP 100k British Championships multiple times as well as competing for Great Britain in the World Ultra Marathon Championships where he finished in ninth place overall and first for Team GB in Berlin in 2022.

This performance gave him the Northern Ireland and Ulster record, and the fourth fastest GB athlete, for the distance, of all time.

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Gareth said: “London was an amazing experience, lifted by the extremely energetic crowds of supporters and iconic landmarks.

"Next up for me is to try to improve the marathon with the main focus being Dublin marathon where I believe I can run closer to 2hrs 20 mins. That will be the focus for this year.”

Everyone in Portadown Running Club are extremely proud of Gareth’s achievements and are looking forward to supporting him with his training and watching his performance in Dublin this year.

A spokesperson for the club said they were all so proud of Gareth and four other members – Laura Corr, Natty Bowbanks, Jeff Scott and Stephen McMorris – who took part in the London marathon.

“Just amazing and an inspiration to all our club members,” the spokesperson said.