{"id":703993,"date":"2026-01-18T10:01:36","date_gmt":"2026-01-18T10:01:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/703993\/"},"modified":"2026-01-18T10:01:36","modified_gmt":"2026-01-18T10:01:36","slug":"cars-fill-the-streets-of-village-for-marathon-man","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/703993\/","title":{"rendered":"Cars fill the streets of village for ‘marathon man’"},"content":{"rendered":"

Dad John Courtney was described as someone who did “anything” to make others laugh\"A<\/p>\n

A Piper from Liverpool Scottish leads the funeral cortege of John Courtney through Gateacre Village.(Image: Liverpool Echo)<\/p>\n

A well known dad who did “anything” to make those around him smile was laid to rest today, as cars filled the streets of Gateacre Village. John Courtney, from Churchfields, is a well known figure across South Liverpool and the wider Merseyside running community.<\/a><\/p>\n

The grandfather-of-three completed more than 50 marathons, many of them within the city region. He rarely ran alone, however, taking on numerous races alongside his adopted son, James. John, also a great-grandfather-of-four, and his wife Sylvia welcomed James into their family when he was a young teenager after reading an article about Barnardo\u2019s in the ECHO.<\/a><\/p>\n

James was born with a rare condition that meant his eyes never formed, but this has never held him back. He has completed countless races with his dad and, in a unique approach among blind runners, does not use a tether. Instead, James runs beside John, tapping him on the arm to help stay on course.<\/p>\n

Today, John’s funeral took place after he died just before Christmas. Leading the front of the funeral cortege was Piper Alex Smith from Liverpool Scottish.<\/p>\n

\"John<\/p>\n

John and his wife Sylvia Courtney with son James(Image: )<\/p>\n

John\u2019s best friend, Bill Sergeant, 86, from Allerton<\/a>, previously told the ECHO<\/a>: \u201cIf I ever thought about what a comedian was, it would be John. There was nothing he wouldn\u2019t do to make others happy, and seeing happiness made him happy.<\/p>\n

\u201cHis party trick was origami, and he was absolutely brilliant at it. You\u2019d be sitting there doing nothing, and next thing, a surprise was sitting in front of you. He is the kindest man I\u2019ve ever met. His devotion he showed to his son James from such a young age amazes me.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe will be missed by many, some of whom do not even know his name, but stopped to speak with him and James on their training runs around the city and parks. Running was the favourite pastime not only of John but also of James, who blossomed under John’s wing.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

A Piper from Liverpool Scottish leads the funeral cortege of John Courtney through Gateacre Village.((Image: Liverpool Echo)<\/p>\n

Bill recalled how John also led an \u201camazing\u201d life away from running until his passing on Monday, December 22, from terminal cancer. At seven-years-old, John was an acrobat in a family circus before later getting involved in the military, working as a deckhand for the White Star Line.<\/p>\n

John was the youngest of five siblings, born a twin in May 1938 in Cullen Street, Toxteth<\/a> – a year before WWII broke out. His family were bombed out of their home, and today there still remains a gap where their home stood. John attended St Hughes School, where he was taught by nuns.<\/p>\n

Education was limited during the post-war years, and John, his brothers and twin sister, showed tenacity in being trained in circus skills which included rope and plate spinning, knife-throwing, fire-eating, and juggling and aerial performances on a high tight rope.<\/p>\n

\"John<\/p>\n

John Courtney pictured left with foster son James Hughes(Image: )<\/p>\n

He and his brothers travelled the east coast of England during the early 50s with Courtenay Circus, where John gained an appetite for the Saturday Matinee Westerns and the slap-stick comedy classics like Buster Keaton, The Marx Brothers and Laurel and Hardy. He was an autodidact in Shakespeare, before undertaking the national service with the Liverpool Kings and was the last Kingsman in Germany.<\/p>\n

He served in the Army Reserves for over 15 years, concluding in the medical corps. In his early working years, he experienced work in the local mines, a deck hand on the White Star Fleet, sailing from Liverpool Pier to New York, until he settled on carpentry and retired. He used this skill to build furniture and kitchen cabinets for his home in Grinshill Street, Toxteth.<\/p>\n

His son, Kevin, told the ECHO: <\/a>\u201cHe may have been a man of small stature, but he was a big character and always helped others.”<\/p>\n

Speaking about his and James\u2019 running adventures previously to the ECHO, the retired joiner and former paratrooper said: \u201cWhen James first arrived it would take an hour to walk 200 yards.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut we would gradually go a bit further until after two and half years he ran his first marathon. I never expected he would be able to do it, but he has surprised everyone.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Dad John Courtney was described as someone who did “anything” to make others laugh A Piper from Liverpool…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":703994,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8815],"tags":[748,347,393,98442,4884,179,201309,121562,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-703993","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-liverpool","8":"tag-britain","9":"tag-disability","10":"tag-england","11":"tag-gateacre","12":"tag-great-britain","13":"tag-liverpool","14":"tag-liverpool-half-marathon","15":"tag-running-in-liverpool","16":"tag-uk","17":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115915528129587095","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/703993","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=703993"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/703993\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/703994"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=703993"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=703993"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=703993"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}