Race Date: Sunday 21^st February 2016

The Sleaford Half Marathon is a surprisingly testing rural route, starting and finishing at RAF Cranwell in Lincolnshire.

The race starts on a pot holed track before veering across a muddy sports field, then very quickly the pot holed road surface gives way to farm track similar to the start and finish of the Trunce, except with far more slippery mud involved – a real test for the agility of any runner wearing road shoes. Apart from the very end, the majority of the race is on relatively quiet open roads. Most of the way round there was a strong head wind to contend with, along with long stretches of steady climbing.

A challenging course for sure, and not PB friendly. I would nevertheless recommend it to anyone tempted to give it a go in 2017!

The winner was Matthew Bowser of Lincoln Wellington Athletic Club, in a time of 1:08:15. He was an incredible 9 minutes in front of 2^nd place. First lady was Jennifer McBain of Alchester Running Club with a time of 1:26:07.

There were 594 finishers, of which 2 were Striders on tour.