‘We’ll celebrate his life’

Andy Holden, the Bermuda International Marathon record holder who died at the weekend aged 65, was ‘part of the magic’ of the event.

That’s the view of race organizer Anthony Raynor, who explained how the Englishman’s career is intertwined with the island’s hugely-popular marathon race, which continues to attract some of world’s best distance runners.

His memory will loom large a week on Sunday when the runners gather at the start line. And few will not remember or have heard about his famous victory in 1980 when he won in a time of 2hr 15min 20sec — a blistering display that remains unbroken.

Holden, who competed for Great Britain in the 3,000 steeplechase at the 1972 Munich Olympics, also won the Bermuda marathon in 1979 and 1981 to complete a hat-trick.

And Raynor has urged this year’s runners to take to the course in celebration of the record-holder’s life and career.

He told the Bermuda Sun: “We had even talked about inviting him to come over for the 40th anniversary of the marathon in 2015 as the record holder but unfortunately it’s a loss for his family and we send our condolences and our best to them.

“I was young at that time but I heard about it [the marathon record] definitely. I’ve heard many stories about when he was here.

“The event has been magical forever and when he did that, the conditions, I was told, were not the perfect conditions.

“The course was more challenging than it is now — and he ran faster.

“When people find out about the Bermuda marathon, they always say to me ‘Andy Holden’, so he has been joined to the event, which is pretty nice.”

He added: “I was first told [about his death] by someone overseas who emailed me. Marathon Tours have been coming here since 1979 so that group of people will remember him very well. Geoff Smith, the 10k event record holder is back this year and he used to run against him in England.

“As runners we can celebrate his life and his accomplishments and go out there and see what we can do about his record!”

Champion Kessio returns

Meanwhile, it has been confirmed that last year’s men’s marathon champion Richard Kessio will return to defend his title a week on Sunday.

The Kenyan powered through the line in 2hr 27min 08sec in pouring rain last year and will look to make it a double in hopefully better conditions.

Also returning is Heather Kempf, who won the women’s KPMG Bermuda Invitational Mile (Front Street Mile) in 2013 and Sarah Brown, who came runner-up. James Thie, from Wales, is back for some mile action but last year’s men’s Front Street hero Julius Bor, of Kenya, is unavailable because of military service.