Runner becomes crowd favourite at New York Marathon

A runner with Down’s syndrome – who gained a world record at his first marathon in London earlier this year – has become a crowd favourite after taking on New York.

Lloyd Martin, 20, whose family is from Cardiff, made history earlier this year as the youngest person in his learning disability category to complete a marathon.

While constant dance breaks meant he did not beat his London time in New York, it gained him a new host of fans.

“I’m so unbelievably proud,” said his mum, Ceri Hooper. “Never in my wildest dreams did I think he would he would ever be running alongside me.”

Lloyd’s cross-continental marathon journey began at a young age, as an avid enjoyer of many sports including running, gymnastics and playing football for Special Olympics clubs.

“He had said a few times he’d like to run a marathon, but I really didn’t take him seriously,” said Ceri, a marathon runner herself.

However, after the opportunity arose for London, and Lloyd was given the rundown of the amount of training it would involve, he chose to go for it.

“We literally went from a 5k Parkruns to a marathon in four months,” said Ceri, from Cardiff.

“We only did three runs a week. I really didn’t want him to get injured or get fed up with it… he still had his other training, for football and gymnastics.”

“It’s just such a lovely experience and he understands the health and fitness benefits to the training as well.”

After the success of London, the chance to do it all over again across the pond was a chance Lloyd could not miss out on.

“Lloyd was totally excited, he loved the whole marathon experience,” added Ceri.

Despite his relative stardom in UK running circles, Ceri expected to be anonymous in New York, however this was not the case.

“The amount of people that passed us and said ‘oh, I saw you in London’ or ‘I saw you at the Great North Run’, it was really really nice. He had a lot of support.”

“Because he loves to dance, every music stop, whether it was a choir, a band, a DJ, he was stopping and dancing, which is why it ended up taking us so long.

“He was having such a good time, I couldn’t tear him away from the music,” joked Ceri.

Lloyd completed the run in eight and half hours, but was picking up new fans the entire way.

“Runners were stopping to film him, people in the crowd, they were all filming him and and just getting involved.

“Other runners were stopping and dancing with him. It was quite infectious.”

After getting the taste for marathon running, Lloyd now has big ambitions, with his sights set on completing the big six global marathons.

“I’m aware of just how much training that is going to take, so we’re just taking it one at a time,” said Ceri.