Sheffield Half Marathon, love it or hate it, it’s an amazing half marathon. It’s race 4 on this years road race championships so we had a lot of interest from Striders. The race has so much climb at the start that southerners like me get a nose bleed just looking at the elevation profile.

This was the 5th time I’d entered this race and with a pb last year, Monsal Trail 10k the day before and London Marathon just 2 weeks after I was just wanting to finish.

The forecast was rain and winds gusting up to 49 mph, rough enough for the organisers to tell participants that a decision would be made at 6.30am as to whether the race would go ahead. No message in the morning meant it was going ahead so I made my way to city hall for the Striders photo where I found a sea of gold and green all chatting and laughing, keen to get going.

After the photo we made our way to the start, the driving rain starting made me shelter in the doorway of the Crucible for a while hoping it would stop. Thankfully it only lasted a few minutes and I headed to the starting pen.

The race started on time, an improvement on last year but as I was a long way back it felt like ages before I crossed the line. It didn’t matter as I was only wanting to finish. By the time I hit Ecclesall Road the sun came out and I realised that the wind had dropped too, what I didn’t notice was my pace was quicker than I’d planned but with marathon training in the bank I guess it felt easy. I pushed on up Ringinglow and Sheephill Road where the wind started to pick up again. The struggle was short lived though because as we started to head downhill the wind was behind us. I managed a blistering (for me) 4.1 min/km heading into Dore and as usual this section felt fantastic.

The wind helped all the way down Ecclesall Road and towards Hunters Bar roundabout I passed the 1:55 pacers, this was a surprise as I’d not looked at my time or pace at all. I realised a pb was possible and pushed on to the finish spurred on by the crowd including many Striders cheering and taking pics (many of them showing me gurning like a man having a medical episode).

Ryan as the field gurns in unison at Ringinglow. (Peter McKoy)

My time was 1:53:15, 1 minute 17 seconds faster than last year and 28 seconds faster than my half marathon pb overall! To say I was pleased is an understatement.

Sheffield Half Marathon remains my favourite half, it’s tough but with the downhill at the end it’s deceptively fast overall, supported all the way round, well marshalled, and with pacers from SCS you can be assured of a great chance to finish strongly. I’ve already signed up for next year as I’m sure have many other Striders.

First male finisher Samuel Moakes in 1:08:59

First female our very own Abbie Pearse in 1:21:17 who was reportedly having a bit of a ding dong with our first man back, Steven Cahill, who just pipped her at the end.

One athlete who definitely enjoys the Sheffield Half.

Full results

Sheffield Half Marathon 2024 Results

Striders results

Position	Name	Category	Chip Time	Category Position
23	Steven Cahill	MS	01:20:54	23
26	Abbie Pearse	FS	01:21:17	1
69	Sian Evans	FS	01:25:29	3
82	Alex Rice	MS	01:26:37	73
91	Michael Cockings	M40	01:27:05	7
106	Sam Needham	M40	01:27:53	9
109	Chris Ireland	M60	01:28:04	1
123	Chris Johnson	M40	01:28:35	10
125	Marcus Dearns	MS	01:28:44	106
174	Sina Pournouri	MS	01:30:49	144
195	Jed Turner	M60	01:31:39	3
229	Yasmine Chaffer	FS	01:33:13	9
230	Darren Barnett	M40	01:33:03	31
238	Joel Kesterton	M40	01:33:23	36
282	Ollie Carlisle	M40	01:34:27	42
289	Hannah Shillitoe	FS	01:34:28	13
291	Dimitrios Mamalopoulos	MS	01:34:23	214
293	Michael Cambell	M40	01:34:35	44
295	Benjamin Baxendale	M40	01:34:31	45
296	Rob Byers	MS	01:34:38	216
297	Naeem Stevens	MS	01:34:39	217
301	Russell Stevenson	M50	01:35:03	13
331	Connor Brown	MS	01:35:30	241
334	Ian Hunter	M40	01:35:51	49
354	Phil Mason	M60	01:36:10	7
357	Alexander Briggs	MS	01:34:14	257
390	Jonathan Smith	M40	01:37:02	63
406	Colin Hardy	M40	01:37:25	67
414	Adam Mcauley	M50	01:37:34	24
461	Matt Connell	MS	01:39:19	314
462	Paddy Treehowes	M50	01:39:02	32
473	Ian Black	M50	01:38:41	34
481	Robert Hoffman	M40	01:39:19	77
482	Neil Schofield	M50	01:39:19	35
486	David Naisbitt	M50	01:39:32	37
500	Enda Duffy	M40	01:39:42	81
529	Steve Blake	M40	01:40:28	88
588	Katrina Gillett	FS	01:41:33	36
595	Nick Burns	M50	01:41:58	45
605	Thomas Cossham	M50	01:42:06	47
731	Nicola Ross	F40	01:44:01	11
749	Owen Laing	MS	01:43:47	485
781	Sergei Shkul	M40	01:44:41	131
825	Claire Wren	F40	01:44:14	12
868	Giulia Neri	F40	01:44:25	13
869	Brian Jenkins	M50	01:43:52	77
899	Leah Epton	FS	01:45:22	65
1015	Andy Hinchliffe	M60	01:45:58	1
1025	Richard Gilbert	MS	01:47:44	646
1114	Mark Wood	M40	01:48:38	173
1120	Martin Hughes	M60	01:48:51	24
1152	Robert Hale	MS	01:43:22	711
1179	Nicholas Coleman	M50	01:50:07	101
1199	Annie Chambers	FS	01:50:41	121
1230	Ben Stittle	MS	01:49:23	750
1256	Rachel Hardy	FS	01:49:29	128
1299	Anthony Bell	M60	01:51:27	28
1372	Matt Broadhead	M40	01:51:16	212
1500	Martin Downham	M60	01:54:03	35
1520	Josie Hill	F40	01:50:17	37
1571	Richard Somers	MS	01:52:38	927
1601	John Liddle	M50	01:52:51	130
1620	Lucy Alderson	FS	01:55:06	185
1633	Sharon Colyer	FS	01:53:35	188
1641	Ryan Talley	M50	01:53:15	134
1644	Andreas Constantinou	MS	01:50:39	961
1645	Craig Lucas	MS	01:50:31	962
1646	Chris Froud	M40	01:53:27	261
1690	Andrew Rowland	M50	01:53:30	139
1691	James Lawrence	M40	01:53:46	267
1700	Karen Clark	F60	01:53:22	5
1723	Paul Bentley	M60	01:53:59	39
1781	Helen Royles-Jones	FS	01:54:50	216
1783	Sam Ainscough	MS	01:54:50	1036
1798	Lee Kenton	M40	01:52:50	281
1808	Nicholas Ibbotson	MS	01:54:52	1051
1935	Jamie Manton	MS	01:55:24	1109
1983	Mollie Stradling	FS	01:57:30	260
1993	Trevor Cleveland	M60	01:57:56	44
2161	Matthew Trinder	MS	01:55:55	1214
2241	Roger Brookes	M60	01:58:04	55
2257	Letitia Hancock	FS	01:59:36	317
2279	Emily Green	FS	01:58:36	321
2280	Ben Elliot	M40	01:58:38	347
2327	Lizzy Parrish	F40	01:57:46	76
2335	Andrew Fowlds	M50	01:57:14	186
2360	Tom Nuttgens	M50	01:59:02	189
2372	Guy Birkby	M60	02:03:04	57
2444	Ashley Mellors	M40	02:00:33	360
2554	Kevin Haighton	M60	02:02:57	64
2678	Richard Binks	M70	02:06:22	7
2709	Vikki Mcauley	F50	02:03:40	37
2794	Dave Threlfall	M60	02:05:12	74
2814	Martin Evans	MS	02:06:37	1491
2847	Richard Adams	MS	02:07:08	1497
2970	Charlotte Constantinou	FS	02:05:03	489
2998	Ian Blackburn	M60	02:07:50	86
3006	Tud Keith Jackson	M60	02:05:38	87
3007	Paul Johnson	M40	02:05:41	431
3013	Stephanie Ann Street	F60	02:06:42	12
3093	Sophie Mckie	FS	02:05:16	519
3418	Jemma Anderson	FS	02:09:41	613
3420	Cara Hanson	F40	02:09:43	164
3470	Humphrey Fu	M40	02:13:14	487
3495	Jo Rose	F50	02:10:24	64
3558	Nada Ross	F50	02:10:06	69
3748	Catherine McKeown	F50	02:14:33	83
3781	Nancy Hookham	FS	02:13:57	741
3789	Rebecca Robson	F40	02:15:15	191
3825	Sam Keen	MS	02:15:10	1835
3883	Caroline Brash	F40	02:19:19	205
4065	Arif Ali	M40	02:19:24	534
4178	Rosie Smith	FS	02:24:55	868
4213	James Johnson	M50	02:26:18	334
4288	Eleanor Bull	FS	02:23:21	905
4343	Jo Gleig	F60	02:24:41	30
4344	Kevin Wong	M40	02:24:42	562
4449	Ady Good	M40	02:27:44	573
4549	Malcolm Baggaley	M40	02:30:02	587
4550	Tessa Bainbridge	F40	02:30:04	259
4854	Tracey Gledhill	F40	02:45:22	304
4887	Jane Clawson	F50	02:49:20	165
5029	Helen Musther	F40	03:08:27	328

montage summing up the day which had even some accomplished athletes struggling with the course and conditions.