People were in disbelief when a 10-year-old boy took one of the top spots in today's Mersey Tunnel 10K.
Hundreds of people turned out for the return of the much-anticipated event. After the announcement of the Queen's death, a number of events were postponed and cancelled, but organisers BTR Liverpool confirmed today's race would go ahead as planned, with runners observing a two-minute silence ahead of the run.
And among the competitors was 10-year-old Owen Oswick, from Spital, in Wirral, who finished 25th out of 1,200 participants. Owen's mum, Tara, told the ECHO onlookers couldn't believe it when Owen completed the race in a time of 40 minutes and 48 seconds.
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She said: "They don't normally allow 10-year-olds to race in the event. My husband had to write a letter explaining he's a good runner and they made an exception to let him run it as a one-off.
"He can't believe he ran it so fast. Before the race, he was promising he would do it in 40 minutes so for him to do it in just over that is amazing.
"Everyone is so proud of him and people kept coming up saying, "Oh my god, we can't believe he finished it in that time".
The event kicked off at 9.30 this morning yards from the emergency tunnel exit road on Blackstock Street on the Liverpool side of the River Mersey, and saw participants venture into the Kingsway Tunnel, through the Seacombe Ferry Terminal, the Mersey Ferry terminal on Birkenhead Road and the promenade overlooking the River Mersey before finishing on Ian Fraser Walk in New Brighton.
Owen was the youngest competitor to take part, with organisers BTR advertising the event as for runners over the age of 16. The 10-year-old joined Wirral Athletics club earlier this year and hopes to one day make it as a professional runner.
Tara said: "He joined Wirral Athletics four months ago and can run 5k in around 19 minutes which puts him near the top of his age group in the UK. He does park runs every week and his ambition is to be a runner.
"He's a very caring boy as well as intelligent and really ambitious."
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