Emma and Adam brave Bristol!

Two Harriers, Emma Dupain and Adam Miller, braved the crowds in Bristol this Sunday as they travelled up the M5 to tackle the very popular Bristol Half Marathon. Adam reported that the weather was quite warm and the course was quite windy in places. The course takes runners out of the city along the river Avon, passing under the Clifton Suspension Bridge. After about 4 miles the route turns around and heads back towards the city. The last 5 miles wind round the city centre with lots of crowd support on the streets.

Although entries were down on last year, around 15'000 signed up for the event with around 11'000 of those predicted to have completed the 13.1 mile course.

These figures make Adam's run, chip timed at 81.33, all the more impressive as he finished an incredible 98th! To come in the top 100 of over 10'000 runners is an incredible achievement. All the more so when you consider that the race was also staging the UK half marathon championships, which will have enticed a good quality field amongst the UK athletes. Adam explained that he enjoyed the run but he hasn't been doing many long runs of late and so he really started to struggle to keep his pace up in the later stages of race: a struggle that is etched into his face in the photo below which was cruelly snapped in the closing stages!!

Emma also put in another strong performance. The half-marathon seems to be her speciality event as she continually performs well, clocking times around the 95 minute mark. On this occasion she ran 96.48 for 868th place overall and 80th female; though she states that she has the best chance of running a PB when she runs with her sister, Hannah, alongside her! With Hannah having a break from competing for a while, Emma may either have to wait for her return or go it alone...!

Adam digs deep as the pain sets in in the latter stages of the Bristol Half