Race Date: 10th June 2018

Report by David Forrest, Photo Hull Daily Mail

Hull, Britain’s most underrated city, steeped in history and culture, chip spice and patty butties, now has a Half Marathon. Run for All have added a 13.1 mile race to the now nicely established 10k, and Sunday saw the inaugural event.

As we’ve come to expect from Run for All, the organisation was excellent. The Half Marathon started 45 minutes before the 10k, so queues for toilets weren’t long, and it didn’t feel at all congested at the start.

The first 5 miles of the course mirror the 10k, which I’ve done a couple of times before, and while it’s flat there are numerous winding and weaving sections and it’s quite hard to maintain momentum. That said, there’s plenty to look at: within a mile we were running past the North Sea, before a picturesque journey through the newly renovated marina area.

After the city centre section, the route opens up, and the tree lined streets of Princes Avenue offer a straight, flat path to the University. Hull’s campus is pleasant enough, but I personally found this section needlessly convoluted, with lots of circling and back and forth again breaking the course’s rhythm. After that, though, it’s a consistent route through to the city centre finish. The volunteers were were full of cheer, and the reception in town was characteristically warm. Re-joining the 10k runners was something of a shock, though, having run the last 3 miles in solitude, but this made for an electric atmosphere at the finish.

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