"Barcelona! Such a beautiful sight, Barcelona!"

On the weekend of 25th/26th February, 4 Harriers chose to escape the winter chills of the UK and to fly south to run a half marathon in the warmer climes of Barcelona, northern Spain. Mike and Nic Musgrove were joined by newcomer Harriers Martin and Diana Richards, as they decided to combine a winter weekend break with a race.

Their targhet was the Barcelona half, which attracted an entry of c. 12000 participants. A lovely cool morning with blue skys and no wind greeted the runners and so the conditions were perfect for running. It is also a flat course that winds its way around the city, taking in many of the beautifull sights of Barcelona. Fast times were therefore up for grabs and the race attracted a very strong international field.

This was Nic and Martin's first outing running the 13.1 mile distance. Nic had in fact elected to run in the 10k because her longest training run was 9 miles, which she had only done once in her build up to this race. Diana has experience of the distance and was hoping to run in under the 2hr mark. As for Mike, the brief was the same as usual: run hard and see what happens!

Unfortunately Martin was suffering from a bout of suspected food poisoning but he bravely toed the start line and managed to get round in a highly respectable time of 2.06.21secs, for 9361st place overall: a brilliant effort considering the circumstances.

Diana ran in to stop the clock at 1.55.55 and in so doing she smashed her 6 year old pb by 5 whole minutes and claimed 7531st place overall. What a fantastic achievement and great holiday souvenir!

Nic reached the 10k point and decided to carry on and just see how far she could go. After 2h03m12s she crossed the finish line and had completed her first ever half marathon, in 8918th place overall. What determination! Not highly recommended as an approach to building up to running a longer distance, but if she can do just over the 2hrs with very few training miles behind her, imagine what she'll be capable of with a more structured half-marathon programme!

Mike cantered in just over the 1h20 mark at 1.20.33, for a very well placed 255th overall, about a minute outside his personal best. However, Mike measured the coure at 400m too long at 13.35m, so with his average speed of 6m/m pace, he would have dipped in under the magic 1h20 mark over an accurate 13.1 distance.

An altogether fantastic effort from the 4 Harriers and they would highly recommend this event as a great city-half.

The winner was Abel Kirui in a time of 1h00m28s. Most impressive!
Mike and Nic Musgrove enjoying the Spanish sunshine after the race.