Category: Race Report

Pete’s Northern Excursion

by Pete Mackrell

During my trip up north for Christmas, I decided to have a break from eating and drinking to do a 10k race. The race in question was the Ribble Valley 10k, in the town of Clitheroe about 10 miles north of Burnley. For reasons that I can't quite fathom, this race in a small town (population of under 15,000) has become an important fixture on the Northern running scene, to the extent it is a North of England Championship. This tends to ensure a very strong field and over 1000 entrants. In 2011 there were eight men below 30 minutes, almost unheard of for a domestic 10k race. read more

MK Winter Half Marathon

It would seem that a remarkable thing happened on Sunday. When you get a whole load of people out running an event there are often lots of good performances, but there's usually one or two shockers where the people concerned are somewhat disappointed with their run. I am not aware however, that any of the 17 people who raced the 13.1 miles around MK on Sunday weren't happy with their efforts.

It was certainly a chilly morning, with the mercury hovering around the 5o marker with a bit of westerly breeze coming in too, however, the cloudy skies made it feel much warmer than the parkrun the day before at the same location. It was one of those days where you really didn't want to run in just the basics, but if you were brave enough it was fine. read more

Wolverton 5

By Pat Neilan

November 29th, a sunny cloudless sky and temperature of 11 to 12 deg C. Sounds like running weather? Well it was just perfect for the 50th running of the Wolverton 5.

Only thing though, it's not in Wolverton now, but around Willen Lake in Milton Keynes. A flat scenic course, inviting enough to get me interested. The race was first held in 1965 and has been run every year since on the last Saturday in November. The original course was two laps round the Wolverton Railway Works, but for reasons of traffic congestion it was moved to Willen Lakeside in 1991. The first and last times I ran it were in 1986 (29:27)and 1988 (30:04) so time to give it another go? read more

Half Marathon PB by the Sea

I hadn’t even thought about running the Gosport Half Marathon a few weeks ago. I’d got my PB at the Great Eastern Run in Peterborough at the start of October (76.56) and was delighted by beating my previous PB by 5 minutes and my previous best of 2014 by 8 minutes. 

 

It all changed when my fiancé Sarah (who was due for her half debut at the Blenheim Palace Half also at the start of October, but got ill so couldn’t do enough training) decided she wanted to go for another half before we went on holiday. I looked around for halves nearby that would be good for a beginner and the Gosport half popped out at me. The course was flat and promised great views over the Solent and it was only 20 minutes drive from my granny’s flat in Portsmouth! It was less than £20 to run so Sarah signed up.  read more

The Dirt Half

By Adam Haylock

 

Many months ago when the sun was shining and the days were long, Glen sent out a message to see who fancied running the Dirt Half this year. Apparently it fills up early so I thought “why not?”, and entered.  Throughout the summer I have continued to avoid hills and any kind of long runs until a couple of weeks ago when I stepped up my training and put in one 10 miler and a single 13.1 mile test run. What gets me about half marathons is that all of a sudden you have to start taking it seriously – proper training, fuelling, hydration and improved race tactics, so the preparation started the night before by only drinking 4 cans of Stella. read more

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