It came as no surprise to the Knowledge that James Milner had spent the early months of his retirement training for – and then running in – the New York City Marathon. Yes, the bleep test-loving former Brighton, Liverpool and Manchester City player recorded an excellent time of 3hr 9min 4sec, an average of 7min 13sec per mile. Not bad for a 40-year-old whose physique is more like that of a wrestler than a whippet.
In 2012 we ran a column listing footballers’ fastest marathon times, with the former Leicester playmaker Muzzy Izzet leading the pack on 3hr 22min 36sec at the 2011 London Marathon. That very respectable time has now been surpassed by the Premier League’s record appearance maker, so we thought we had better take a gulp of our isotonic energy drink and run through a few more tales of football’s marathon men and women. More recent marathon attempts by either active or former footballers puts Izzet down in 12th place, just behind André Schürrle, who clocked 3hr 21min 25sec in Berlin last year, though clearly wanted a greater challenge than a mere 26.2 miles.
This year, the 35-year-old completed the 167.7-mile six-stage Marathon des Sables in 51hr 41min 16sec, placing 675th overall. He also climbed Mont Blanc. But back to marathons, where the fastest time we can find for a female footballer is 3hr 40min 30sec by the former USA midfielder Lauren Holiday.
She is closely followed by her good friends from the USWNT, Leslie Osborne (3hr 41min 33sec) and Abby Wambach (3hr 44min 25sec). The Fulham manager, Álvaro Arbeloa, is 11th on our overall list (3hr 15min 21sec, Valencia 2019), with Kevin Kilbane, who always looked like he had a marathon runner’s spring in his step, 10th on 3hr 14min 44sec (London, 2013). A tip of the hat now to Danny Mills, father to the GB Olympic runner George Mills, with Mills Sr running the 2023 London Marathon in 3hr 12min 18sec at 45 years of age.
Meanwhile, Milner’s run places him eighth as we approach some of football’s more serious runners. The former Dundee United and West Ham defender Christian Dailly clocked a seriously impressive 3hr 6min 26sec at the 2013 London Marathon. When I got to pre-season at Dundee United, I was flying, running away from everyone.” Dailly went into athletics coaching when his football career ended.
We did not expect a goalkeepeer to be jostling for position towards the front of the pack, but the former Derby County and Sheffield Wednesday stopper Lee Grant hared around London in 3hr 0min 33sec this year. And so we get to the hallowed ground of a sub-three hour marathon and a select group of only five. The Real Madrid legend Raúl González was clearly being cheered from the rafters as he ran his home marathon in 2hr 59min 22sec in 2019.
Extract — continue reading at the source.
