A MAGNIFICENT victory made Tom Carson one of the stars of the London Marathon.

The Bolton Harrier proved himself to be one of the country's fastest 14-year-olds by winning the under-15s mini-marathon race over the last 2.62 miles of the Marathon course.

He was running for Greater Manchester against the top six athletes from nine other counties as well as 100 runners representing London.
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It was a double success for Bolton Harriers with Thornleigh pupil Callum Short coming third in the under-13s mini-marathon.

Both runners qualified to run for Greater Manchester by finishing at the head of the field running for Bolton in an inter-town race.

Tom, from Horwich, and a pupil at St Joseph's High School, Horwich, has enjoyed instant success since taking up running seriously by joining the Harriers six months ago.

He won the prestigious North-west Red Rose cross country under-15s title with first place finishes in three of the four races and third place in the other.

He also won the inter-town race which qualified him to represent Greater Manchester in the national inter-counties showdown over the Marathon course before the main event last Sunday.

His performance was electric as he destroyed the field with a time of 13 mins 34 secs and even overtook a huge part of the field for the under-17s race which set off seven minutes earlier.

By Neil Bonnar