Wilmslow Half Marathon

The Wilmslow Half Marathon is one of my favourite races.  It is my local half marathon and I always get a good amount of crowd support from clubmates, friends and relatives.  I first ran it in 2000 when I was 21 and ran 69:15, that was my first ever half and I loved it!

Since then I have run it most years, usually in preparation for the London Marathon.  I ran my PB of 65:24 there in 2002 and my only other sub 66min clocking came there in 2003 when I ran 65:50.  Interestingly, my fastest three half marathons ever came on the Wilmslow course in 2002, 2003 and 2004 before the course changed in 2005 (my fastest time on the new course is 66:55 last year)

Last years race hosted the English Half Marathon championships and that was the case again this year.  It’s nice to have a great event on your doorstep but for it to host the English Championships is even better.

I left my car at my mum’s sister’s house as she lives 50 metres after the finish line.  I walked down to the rugby club where most people park and met up with Andi Jones.  We warmed up through Styal Woods, and then when we got back to the rugby club, I continued running back to my car, changed at my Aunt’s house and did my strides from there to the start line. 

The early pace seemed fairly quick and there were three Africans, Andi Jones and Nick Swinburn immediately to the fore.  Jones won last year and always goes out at a good pace, and I remember watching Nick Swinburn running aggressively at the Great North Run last year and know he has just got back from a long stint in Kenya so the fast pace was not a shock.  Matt Pierson, Michael Johnson and Owen Greene were the other athletes in the lead group after 1 mile.  I was maybe 40 metres behind with Martin Whitehouse, James Smith, Gareth Raven, Aaron Scott and a few other guys.  My one mile split was 4:49 compared to 5:03 last year!!

We quickly passed Pierson (who apparently dropped out at 2 miles) and by 3 miles (14:44) I was in a small group with Whitehouse and Smith, the improving Leeds City athlete who was looking very comfortable.  We did have Tom Cornthwaite sitting a few yards off us who let out a “bloody hell” as we passed the 3 mile marker.

I reached 5 miles in 24:34 which isn’t much slower than I ran at Alsager last year and was a faster pace than I ran at the relays last weekend, I felt very relaxed and bouncy as I had eased down a lot for the race but it felt like we were shifting and as we passed 5 miles and hit a downhill I felt the pace increase and Whitehouse and Smith moved away from me.  I was stuck on my own and could tell the early pace had been very fast, a quick glance back and I saw Raven, Scott and Cornthwaite were closing quite quickly and it wasn’t long before they had collected me. 

We passed the sixth mile marker and almost immediately, I spotted a chip timing mat which I assumed was for 10k.  I said out loud in jest to Tom and Aaron “10k PB coming up for you”  and Tom started sprinting like mad for the mats which was most amusing.  My split was 30:36 and I knew that this was not an accurate 10k split.

7 miles came in 35:03 and we were still on for a mid 65min clocking.  Encouragingly over the next two miles, we were slowly reeling in Jones, Greene and Whitehouse, but I was aware that our mile splits had slowed to 5:10s, it was simply a case that those in front were slowing more.  I realised that I would have to try to get the pace back down and picked it up, only to find myself moving away from the other three and back into isolation.  The three in front were coming back to me quite quickly now and I passed Greene at 9 miles.  I put my head down, and started hunting down Jones.  He was visibly slowing and I moved past him at 10, there was little response.  A 5:04 for the 11^th mile saw me move up onto the shoulder of Whitehouse, but he responded and every time I moved past him, he would come back past and have another go, this was good because it was pushing me. 

Martin again took up the pace with a mile to go as we hit the steepest uphill of the race, we came off the top of the hill and I moved back in front of Martin and put my head down and concentrated hard on trying to break him.  I felt myself moving away and put my head down and worked hard all the way to the finish line.

The result was 7^th place in 66:53.  There had been three Africans in front of me, plus Swinburn, Smith and Johnson.  As I warmed down, I was under the impression that I had finished 4^th in the English Championships but it hadn’t registered with me that Johnson is Welsh and I had a message to come to the presentation to pick up my medal.  It was nice to get a medal as I looked around at the start line and saw good guys like Jones, Raven and Pierson who have rarely run outside 65 at this race. It might not have been the greatest field for an English Championship nor a very quick time but I did beat some good athletes and I think the times were perhaps hindered by everybody going off very quickly. 

I was pleased with this result and how I held my race together after the fast start.  It’s a little bit quicker than I ran last year when I ran even paced and indicates that things are progressing well as the London Marathon approaches

1 Jean Ndayisenga