The Bath Half Marathon
When Mike Harper told me about the opportunity to run the Barf Half Marathon through qualifying for a free entry based on my time from the race at Gosport in November, I thought he must be mistaken, but he wasn’t. For our age group the standard was very achievable at 1hr 25min and I was in it with my time of 1hr 20min 53s. The race turned out to be a great experience.
It’s a big event 9,700+ finishers and lots of support as you run round the streets in this beautiful city. The race organisation matched the size of the event and was similar in quality to the London Marathon, excellent marshalling, provision of energy drinks, bag drop etc.
As one of the favoured few with an elite number you got to go off from a pen right at the front under the start banner and could warm up in the starting straight along with various Kenyans, I was pleased to see a number of older faces in the group up front, although everyone looked intimidatingly fit.
At the gun, the order was soon established with the really fast guys streaming away. Of course this meant I had a bit of a fast start, (5:36 first mile), although it was slightly down hill. It did turn out to be a cracking race for me with a best time for about 6 years of 1hr 20min 34s. I’d recommend the Bath Half and I’ll be in it again free next year based on this year’s time. Standards for free entries are given on their web site. (Not sure if any other Stubbies ran the race this year, I didn’t see anyone) – Mike White