Marcus Halliday

A sergeant in the Royal Marines, biathlete Marcus Halliday was a physical training instructor who hailed from the Liverpool district of Knotty Ash, made famous by local comedian Ken Dodd. Halliday was an excellent orienteer and took up cross-country running as a hobby while serving with the Marines in Cyprus. He also enjoyed cycling and once took part in the London-Paris race.

One winter while in Norway, Halliday took up skiing after a meeting with Major Roderick Tuck and was talked into taking up the biathlon. Because he was on active service in Borneo at the time, Halliday missed the 1964 Innsbruck Winter Olympics. He represented Great Britain, however, at the 1966 World Nordic Skiing Championships in Oslo.

The runner-up in the British Cross-country Ski Championship in 1967, Halliday was selected for the Grenoble Olympics, but three weeks before the start of The Games he injured his spine during an international event, which forced him to miss both the British and European Championships. Halliday did go to the Grenoble Olympics, however, but was last of the 59 finishers in the 20km and was the lead-off biathlete for the British 4x7.5 km relay squad that finished 12th.