Tedious, yes, mentally taxing, yes, but flat and fast, most definitely, which is why 5 PB hungry Harriers, along with the 270 other runners, decided to give it a bash.
The weather on the day was cold but dry and there was just a slight headwind in the homeward direction on the course, meaning that many of us started out with gusto and paid for it later! (Or maybe I'm just speaking for myself here?....)
I, Ellie Sutcliffe, had hoped to use this race to run my first sub-1.25 half. The conditions were great but after the shocking winter season I had, I was not sure whether I was capable of this time with only 4 weeks of decent training to fall back on. This didn't stop me from giving it a bash though and I set off hard - far too hard - and just hoped to be able to hang on. Lucky for me I did and bagged my sub-1.25, finishing in 1.24.29 and knocking 2 mins 21s off my PB. This gained me 18th place over all and first in the female race, beating my nearest female rival by over 7 minutes. :-)
Also having a very good day at the office was Chris Dupain. Each time we went around the loop at the start I could see that Chris was hot on my heels and running very comfortably. He had a great race and finished in 33rd place in a time of 1.28.26 which saw him knock a whole second off his PB: but 1 second or 1 minute, who cares, it's still a new PB!!!
Chris' sister Emma was the next Harrier home. The half-marathon is Emma's preferred distance and she always performs with consistency, churning out solid times between the 1.33 and 1.36 region. Today was no exception and saw her produce another fine performance, covering the 3 laps in 1.36.26 for 69th place over all and 8th female.
Emma's partner, Ben White, will have been frustrated to have been beaten by Emma but he will have also been pleased with his sub-1.40 time. He finished in 1.39.01, very unfortunate not to have dipped in before the minute hand ticked to 39, but this gave him 96th spot, putting him within the top 60% of finishers.
Rounding off the proceedings was Trevor Cope. Not content with having run a hilly half marathon just one week previously at Blackmore Vale in Dorset, Trevor came back for more punishment but this time on a much flatter and forgiving course. Trevor dug in, lap after lap, produced another solid performance, with a time of 2.34.40 for 264th place.
The race was won by visiting runner, Martyn Bean, of Brighton and Hove AC, in a time of 1.15.09.
The finisher's goodie bags were the most, er, unusual assortment of items I have received to date. They contained: a bag of Malteesers, a box of Sun Maid rasins, a miniture deoderant, a miniture Andrex toilet role, a Spa Tone Iron supplement - apple flavored - a voicher for IBR, and a book! Every bag seemed to have a different book and, amazingly, they seem to have got my literary preferences spot on... I hope everyone else had the same luck!!
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