Mike Gratton
Co-founder of Coach the Run.
1983 London Marathon winner (2:09:43 marathoner).
Head Coach at Coach the Run.
Background: Mike’s Marathon win in London 1983, places him inside the top 15 on the all-time British marathon list, more than four decades later.
Mike Gratton won the 1983 London Marathon in 2 hours, 9 minutes and 43 seconds!
The year before, he took bronze in the marathon at the 1982 Commonwealth Games in Brisbane. He has spent the years since doing the thing that outlasts any race result: teaching other runners how to get faster.
That’s what he does at Coach the Run. Mike is the coach behind the training advice on this site, and the reason you can trust it: the guidance here comes from someone who has raced at the very top and spent a lifetime understanding why training works.
Career highlights
| Race | Year | Time |
|---|---|---|
| English Schools Championships, 5,000m - 1st | 1974 | 14:52.40 |
| AAA Marathon Championships & Olympic Trials | 1980 | 2hrs 18mins |
| AAA Marathon Championships - 3rd | 1981 | 2hrs 16mins 40secs |
| London Marathon - 3rd | 1982 | 2hrs 12mins 30secs |
| Commonwealth Games Marathon, Brisbane - Bronze | 1982 | 2hrs 12mins 06secs |
| London Marathon - Winner | 1983 | 2hrs 9mins 43secs |
The running story
Mike’s 2:09:43 from the 1983 London Marathon made him British marathon champion that year and remains one of the fastest marathons ever run by a Briton.
He raced for the Kent club Invicta AC and built his fitness in an era defined by enormous training volume; inspired, as he has put it, by the 200-mile weeks of runners like Dave Bedford, alongside more than fifty races a year.
From elite runner to coach
Winning London was the peak of Mike’s competitive career. Passing on what he learned has been his work ever since, and coaching is a different claim from racing, so it’s worth being specific about it.
Mike has been coaching for many years. His journey began in 1972 when he earned the Assistant Club Coach award to support his original club, Folkestone AC. As a young athlete, he primarily coached middle-distance runners at the English Schools level. In 1984, the British Athletic Board (now UK:Athletics) awarded him the BAAB Level 3 coaching award for endurance running. This recognised his growing experience and shift towards coaching senior runners, which aligned with his own interest in the marathon. He currently holds the Coach in Running Fitness qualification from England Athletics.
Mike was a largely self-coached runner for most of his career. The turning point came in 1981, when UK Senior Coach Cliff Temple began guiding him. The change was decisive: Mike went from a 2:16 marathoner to 2:09:43 in two years. He describes the lesson it taught him in his own words: “Running is an introverted activity, and sometimes you just keep doing the same things. To make the final jump, you need someone to suggest changes. Cliff Temple did this for me.”
That experience sits at the heart of how Mike coaches. Most runners don’t need to train harder. They need someone to spot the one or two things keeping them stuck, and to have the authority to tell them to change.
Why midlife runners?
“I have coached all levels of senior runners, including several GB Internationals at Cross Country and the Marathon. The runners I mostly engage with these days are those looking to make significant improvements to landmark times, such as sub-2:30, sub-3hrs, etc., and a growing number of Masters runners, who are gaining national representation within their age groups. These are highly motivated individuals who strive to be as good as they can be relative to their age.”
Mike Gratton, 2026
Credentials and qualifications
- Physical Education degree, with a lifetime of competitive running behind it (7th in the English Schools 1,500m in 1970; English Schools 5,000m champion in 1974)
- In 1974, while still a young athlete himself, he earned the Assistant Club Coach award to support his original club, Folkestone AC. In this role, he primarily coached middle-distance runners who competed at the English Schools level.
- In 1984, the British Athletic Board (now UK:Athletics) awarded him the BAAB Level 3 coaching award for endurance running. This reflected my experience and my shift towards coaching more senior runners, which aligned with his own interest in the marathon. He currently holds the Coach in Running Fitness qualification from England Athletics.
- Taught the Endurance coaching awards programme in the South of England
- Former contributing coaching editor of Runner’s World magazine, and host of the long-running “Hard Training with Mike Gratton” forum on the Runner’s World site
- Founder of 2:09 Events, organising races and training camps for runners worldwide.
Mike’s coaching, on the site
Everything prescriptive on Coach the Run runs through Mike. Start here:
Coached by Mike Gratton
Mike doesn’t only coach in theory. Coach the Run co-founder Stu Taylor went from a 3:33 first marathon to a sub-3 at Goodwood in 2024 (2:59) under Mike’s guidance. This is exactly the kind of midlife progression most runners on this site are after.
