Eddie Kirkup

A member during the “Glorious fifties” era of the club, In 1955 he won his first Morpeth to Newcastle race. This was described as a major surprise since Eddie hadn’t raced beyond 7 miles before. He beat at least six runners who were all expected to finish in front of him, in a time of 1 hour 8 minutes 30seconds His win suggested that the longer distances were his strength, and Eddie won the 1955 Sheffield marathon in 2:35:36.. Eddie won his second Morpeth race in 1956 – beating Jack Haslam in a sprint finish to win in 1 hour 9 minutes 25 seconds. 1957 was Eddie’s most successful year to date, as he won the Doncaster to Sheffield "Telegraph" marathon (which was the Yorkshire and Northern Counties championship race) in 2:25.36. He also won the AAA marathon title, at Watford in 2 hours 22 mins 28 secs. He was ranked 7th in the World rankings for the marathon that year. 1958 brought Eddie his most impressive Morpeth race win yet; winning in 1 hour 6 minutes 25 secs. This time was only 17 secs outside the course record – set by the great Jim Peters. Eddie won an international XC race in Mezidon France. He attributes this win and his earlier Morpeth win to a change in his training. Instead of running one 20 mile training run each day, Eddie had started to run 4 sessions of 5 miles a day at a faster pace.  Eddie represented England in the 1958 Empire and Commonwealth games , held in Cardiff. He finished fourth in the marathon in 2:27:31. The race was won by David Power of Australia in 2:22:45.