Former Sunderland Harrier Larry Pratt, one of Sunderland’s top marathon runners, has died following a long battle fighting cancer. He was 71.

The East Herrington athlete shone as a marathon runner and ultra distance runner in the latter stages of his career during the 1980s.

But he started out as a talented schoolboy footballer with Barnes Junior School and Sunderland Boys’ football team before qualifying for Bede Grammar School. It was at Bede that he changed sports and became a leading county schools middle distance runner and cross country runner and this led to him joining Sunderland Harriers at the age of 14.

He studied dentistry at Newcastle University and established his surgery on The Green at Southwick.
His first major athletics success came in 1968 where he was a member of the Sunderland Harriers team that won the Royal Signals Road Relay trophy for the first time in 1968 at Gateshead’s Team Valley. He also played a part in the team success in the first Great North Run where the six team members won a trip to the New York Marathon as their prize.

Larry was also a competitive athlete on the track where he achieved good times of 1.55.4 for 880 yards, 4.17.0 (one mile) and 14.14 (three miles) during the 1960s.

It was in the 1983 London Marathon that he achieved his fastest time for the classic distance with an impressive 2hr 20min 24sec. But his best ever performance came in the British 100k Road Race Championship at Lincoln in 1984 where he finished second in 6hr 58min - which equates to 41.40 for each 10k.

He had a caravan in the Lake District and spent many weekends training over the fells. His love for the freedom of the hills led to many Lakeland challengers.

He successively added the Bob Graham Round to his list of honours by completing the 66 mile, 27,000ft circuit of 42 of the highest peaks in the Lake District within 24 hours. He also competed in the London to Brighton 54 miles road race with distinction.

Friends please meet for service at St Gabriel's Church on Friday, 20th January at 12.15pm prior to committal in Sunderland Crematorium.