Race reports from Dot Kesterton and Jonathan Smith

Half Marathon

Dot writes:

I decided to run my first half marathon since pre lockdown to see how I’d manage four years on. My choice was Edinburgh but I failed to complete and submit the application correctly so ended up choosing somewhere closer to home. That’s how, on a wet and miserable St Patricks Day I huddled at the start of the North Lincolnshire half marathon, Scunthorpe, damply waving at Abbie Pearse, Caroline Brock and a motley assortment of equally wet Striders.

The race is organised on a large square, each side approximately three miles which allows the runner to break the race down into manageable sections saving a bit in the tank for the final mile which leaves the road to finish on the track in Quibell Stadium. With only 28m elevation it can be described as fast and flat, if a little dull.

My last half marathon time in Chester 2020 was 1:43.39. I’m four years older and in a new age band so calculated a good result would be anything around 1:50. My plan was to start as close to the front as I could manage, allow the 1:40 pacers to steam through and settle to a sub 5k pace keeping ahead of the next pacers for as long as I could.

A glance at my watch at 10k showed I was running at 10k pace so assumed I’d blown it for the remaining 11k. I kept my eyes focused on the pacers ahead, now slowly gaining ground, and dug in for a long run to the finish. The rain was easing a little by now and we’d managed the three miles into the wind so had the wind behind us in the latter stages. Huge puddles across the road meant you either diverted or waded. I chose to splash through them since I couldn’t be any wetter, all the time expecting the 1:45 pacers to come pounding and splashing past with their posse of runners. Into the last mile and really struggling to hold onto any form I trundled into the stadium for the 300m stretch to the finish line. A pleasant surprise there to not only finish ahead of the 1:45 pacers but even slightly faster in 1:43.05 than my Chester time when I was a mere lass of 68. That gave me a first W70 placing, a 94% world age grading, a Striders half marathon age group record and a first on the UK rankings for now at least. A good morning’s work and job done.

Abbie Pearse put in a stunning run to finish 3rd female in 1:17.16 chip and Caroline Brock smashed the W35 race in first place in 1:22.23. Simone Young-Alls was 13th F in 1:24.15. Three great performances in the top 13 women in the race. Naeem Stevens led the Striders males in 1:14.49. Abbie improved her pb and the women’s club record by ninety seconds whilst Naeem took a minute of his own pb and Simone took her pb down by a whopping four minutes. My congratulations to all Striders who raced and represented the club.

A lovely conversation with Katelyn McKeown as we slowly recovered after the race about her  recent stunning Palestine marathon which sadly had to be run at Rother Valley. What an amazing venture. One day Katelyn I do hope.

Striders Results (all chip times):