Race report by Dot Kesterton

It was such a dilemma. Forsaking the annual Ten Ten Ten jamboree, stomping through not one but two local parks and the first Cross Country race of the South Yorkshire League at a third local park but this one had to take priority despite being two hours down the A1.

The Great Eastern Half Marathon was a qualifying race for the England Masters Athletics (EMA) Half Marathon representation race in Swansea next June. I hadn’t run a representative half marathon since the last EMA race in Fleet was cancelled in March 2020 just before the first C19 lockdown. It was time to have another go.

Peterborough promised a flat race through the streets of the city finishing on the embankment near an imposing cathedral which Google tells me was founded in 1542 on the site of an Anglo Saxon minster and Benedictine abbey, one of the nations best preserved 12th century abbeys. It was very impressive but at mile thirteen I confess I wasn’t really looking at wonderful Norman architecture.

Huge numbers of runners turned up for the running festival of which 3200 were limbering up for the half. Kate Waddicor, a late entrant into the race, joined me for the very welcome pre race warm up which we used to eye up any potential opposition. We looked pretty safe as most of the folk jostling near the start were tall young men who didn’t seem too disconcerted to have us jigging up and down nearby.

Just after 10.30am we were carefully herded into pens with the now familiar pacers to await the off. The super speedy ones were up and away while we inched our way to the gantry and a measured start. This probably advantaged us because there was no squeezing of large groups of runners as we’d experienced in the recent Sheffield 10k. It meant that once under way there would be no queueing despite the large turnout. I tucked in with the 1:40 pacers, let them go ahead and made it my business not to let the 1:45 pacers catch me.

The route was a meandering urban out and back from the City Centre using wide streets, perfect for the groups of supporters in their deck chairs who enjoyed weak autumn sunshine as they clapped, whistled and handed out jelly babies. Experimenting with nutrition I chose to have vegetarian Percy Pigs at the start, at 40 minutes and 80 minutes, the idea being that I wouldn’t run out of steam completely around ten miles and limp to the finish. I don’t really know how helpful it was but can report that chewing whilst running is not great for the digestion. I really don’t like gels so any advice on nutrition would be welcome. Water was plentiful on the well managed course so I took advantage of two of the stations to swig and douse myself liberally.

For a runner who has focused largely on 10k races over the last few years the half was a mixed blessing. Yes, it’s more than double the usual race distance, but you can drop your race pace slightly so that your lungs don’t burst in the later stages. I have also come to realise that I appear to have two settings, stop and go. Regardless of the distance, I get up to speed and then hang in for as long as it takes to cross the finish line. I will never be a 400m champion but I might make a mark in the longer distances. Some wonderful co-runners gave supportive comments as they glided past and it was great to finally get into conversation with them at the finishers field where we gratefully admired our medals and T shirts before applauding the overall winners and shuffling off for a well earned drink and shower.

I completed the race in 1:43:26.3, first W70, 95.28%AG and half an hour ahead of the next W70. This keeps me at the top of the UK rankings for 2024 at this stage in the year. Kate was 7th W65 in 1:51:46.8. A month later after her 70th birthday and she’d have chased me in as W70 runner up. I will now qualify for the England Masters race in Swansea next June so had achieved what I had to forsake all those lovely Sheffield fixtures for. We hope Kate will be offered a W70 place given her competitive time and proximity to the new age group.

 

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