Adidas Silverstone Half Marathon 15.03.15

Silverstone was a chilly and windy place yesterday but that didn't deter 6656 hardy souls from visiting to take part in the Adidias Silverstone Half Marathon. The event always attracts a large field as this is one of the official warm up races for the London Marathon and is organised by the same people. 

The event is always well organised but this year the traffic was pretty heavy and byt the time we had parked, used the facilities and got to the start area the race was already underway. Thank goodness for chip timing.

Overall the race appears to be quite flat but while the slopes are subtle they are there and over the course of the race these combined with the wind made life difficult enough.

Four of us had taken part in this or other half marathons before but this was Fiona's first attempt at the distance and she clearly had a very good run and finished in an impressive time.

There were 6656 runners taking part on the day and out results were:

Chris Wright              1119th in 1.42.23
Liam Ko                     2432nd in 1.53.32
Les Potts                    3403rd in 2.00.25
Fiona Jones                4936th in 2.16.39
Pete Jones                 4941st in 2.16.41

Well done everyone.

Bedford Parkrun - 14.03.15

With Les and Pete volunteering ahead of the Silverstone Half it was left to Steve Clough to uphold the group's honour at the Bedford Parkrun on Saturday.

He did a pretty good job of it as well finishing in 46th place out of a field of 238 runners a time of 22.35.

Milton Keynes Half Marathon - 08.03.15

On Sunday, I entered my first half marathon, at the Milton Keynes ‘Festival of Running’. There were several races being run, from 5k up to 20 miles, with the half marathon being the most popular, with just over 1900 listed finishers. 

It was well organised, with the half marathon the last to start by which time the 5k and 10k runs were out of the way. It was mainly on paths with a 3 mile section at the start, followed by a 7 mile loop and then a 3 mile trek to the finish. The 20 mile course started earlier, following the same route but with two loops and was carefully planned so that at the point we joined them starting their second loop we were running at pretty much the same speed. 

Anyway, I expected to be OK up to about 8-10 miles and then start slowing and so it proved. I was aiming for 1hr 45min, i.e. 8 mins per mile and was a couple of minutes up on schedule after 10 miles and foolishly thought I would make it easily. However, at around 11 miles we started into a strong headwind that I had hardly noticed previously (!) and when we got away from that, the climb through Campbell park began. My pace slowed to around 9.25mins per mile and I doubted that I would make it. However, I managed a burst at the end which saw me a few seconds under 1.45 on my watch. 

My chip time was 1.44.05 for 423rd place. Overall, I was very pleased but my hip and knee were aching so I’m not sure whether these longer distance runs will be a regular feature for me.

Steve

Cambridge Half Marathon - 8th March 2015

A 9.30am start time meant an early start today, and being Cambridge the park & ride was the only option for getting to the runners village in the centre of Cambridge.

This is the first time I have competed in this race and was impressed by the pre-race set-up & organisation. There was marshals everywhere and ample drinks / gel stations

on the two lap course.

The sunshine contributed to the festival atmosphere as did the large crowds of supporters, and of course the historic centre of Cambridge and several crossings of the River Cam made this a really interesting race.

If there was a negative it was congestion - 4,500 runners on a two lap course meant that you always had too many companions.

The race itself went OK. As usual I started off to quickly and paid for it later. I did however achieve my pre-race intention of completing the race in less than two hours.

Of the 4500 runners results were only published for those that finished before the cut-off time of 3.5 hours - some 3,597 runners. 

My chip time of 1:58:37 placed me in position 2,043 that being an average of 5:38min/km.

Les

Bedford Parkrun - 07.03.15

With various people away and Les volunteering ahead of his Cambridge Half Marathon it was left to Pete to represent the group at Bedford Parkrun this week. 

There were 224 runners on a very pleasant morning which was surprising given much larger turnouts on previous weeks when the conditions were much less welcoming.

Pete finished in 94th place in a time of 26.05.

Cassiobury Parkrun - 28.02.15

Hi Folks

Last Saturday I did a road trip down to Watford for the first Cassiobury Parkrun. It’s always nice to see the Mayor cut the tape and unleash us on the park....

There were just over 150 of us participating and I came in 66th in a time of 25min 21ses. A leisurely pace you may say but you didn’t see the hills! OK neither did I, but it was a nice park and I only got drizzled on once.

Maybe we need a road trip with a stop over !

 

Pete

Bedford Parkrun - 28.02.15

The weekly Parkrun on Saturday was a bright and dry affair but there were many puddles around which were caused by the heavy overnight rain. The morning was however much milder than it had been of late.

246 people took part this week including 3 from our group. Pete was away again ticking yet another Parkrun off his to do list. More about that separately.

Sian, Les and I were in action this week and the results were:

Chris Wright               29th in 22.00

Les Potts                    92nd in 25.49

Sian Jones                  231st in 38.54.