Race Date: 9^th September 2018

The Vale of York Half Marathon returned for it’s 5^th edition on a day that was a far cry from the blazing heat theme we’ve seen for a large portion of the year. Starting and finishing on Sherburn-in-Elmet (But whose helmet?), this flat course looked on paper to be ideal for any high flyers chasing PBs.

Humming the Dambusters theme tune as we took off down the runway I soon discovered my fellow runners didn’t appreciate me doing the arm actions to match and so I focused instead on making my usual far too fast start. The first few miles see runners wind their way out from the airfield to the “main” road and I was lulled into a false sense of security that despite lack of any real decent training I might be on for a good race.

This illusion was soundly disabused when we took a sharp right and what had been a lovely tailwind soon became a very apparent cross wind. The dawning realisation that this meant at least 4-5 miles of the run home was going to be into a fierce headwind didn’t help matters. Still us Striders are bred to be hardy and not worry about such things. This is what I kept telling myself as we carried on into the most scenic part of the course, a lovely few miles through some woods that was very reminiscent of the Worksop half.

Coming up to halfway I was still just about at PB pace but knew from the leaden feel in my feet that I wasn’t going to be able to maintain for the 2^nd half and began the salvage operation. Then we hit the wind….

Starting with a 2 mile drag back to the words after the turn around point, which only offered a brief respite before the last struggle home, I can safely say it was one of the biggest mental challenges I’ve faced in a race. The slow sapping of your effort and pace really takes its toll as you fight every stride to push forward. The downside of a flat and open course on a windy day all too apparent. It’s been a while since I’ve been as happy to see a finish line.

The 1^st male home was Kev Jeffress of Sunderland Harriers & AC in a very respectable 1:11:48 with 1^st female Sarah Lowery of Rotheham Harriers & AC in 1:19:52.

12 Striders on the day took part with a special mention to Arif Ali who obviously is a secret windsurfing expert as he ignored the conditions to set an amazing PB, ably paced by Stuart Jones. A great example all round from both. Striders’ results in full: