Boston (UK) Marathon Race Report and (Half and 10k) Results

By: Chris Boland (with additions by: Brian Jenkins)

Race Date: 13th April, 2025

Venue: Boston, Lincs.

In the flatlands of Lincolnshire there’s the town of Boston. Famed for its main exports: potatoes and pilgrims. It’s probably thanks to those pilgrims that we have the Boston Marathon Festival (and its overachieving American cousin).

They say that route is flat and they mean it. From the start line, at 5m above sea level, you make your way all the way down to sea level, then all the way back up again. The downside is, it’s not exactly the most scenic of route, unless you’re a big fan of fields or sky.

The complete lack of terrain mean you’re at the mercy of the wind. While it could have been worse on the day, the wind will always be the wildcard on this course.

I (Brian) had done the race before (in my pre-Strider days). In fact it was my first race after the easing of restrictions after the COVID lock-down. It was postponed at least twice (once because the local council had concerns that lots of “heavy-breathing runners” could constitute a risk of COVID contagion). Another date was set, my response was “here we go again”, they then confirmed it was actually on (a few days before the race). Without the proper preparation for such a run (and bearing in mind it had been so long since my previous race), I ran it (we formed-up in the race marshalling area in the park wearing face-masks), and got round, but my lack of proper preparation showed, both in terms of my time, and the state of my feet afterwards.

Brian and I arrived about an hour before the start but we could have been a little later. Bag drop, toilets and the start line were all within a few meters of each other. The start was delayed by 15 minutes due to the huge queue for the toilets and the bag drop. Other than that, it was pretty flawless.

At the start line the weather was overcast but we were soon running in full spring sunshine. The wind was light but pretty noticeable when you had to run into it.

I was hoping to run the race in under 3:10 but really any PB would be great (so sub 3:14). I’d also forced myself to allow that actually, sub 3:30 is also an acceptable outcome.

There’s was a distinct lack of pacers at the start line. My pacing plan was to go out easy and stay with the 3:15 pacer for the first few km then push on to my goal pace of 4:30 m.p.km. Now I had to rely on my own, lacking, self-control.
Predictably I went out far too fast, around 4.25 m.p.km for the first half. At that point, I figured I might as well try and hold on, waiting for the other shoe to drop.
Around km 27, the fatigue and wind started catch up with me and started to slow. Hamstring pain added further delays with the occasional walking breaks.
With 5km to go, I found I could push through more and more, although my pace had dropped to about 5 m.p.km.

I ended up coming in a couple of seconds over 3:12, not my target but a PB all the same.

On the other hand, I (Brian) had gained a marathon P.B. 2 weeks previously (in Ghent, Belgium in 03:55:29), and a personal record in the Sheffield Half Marathon the week before that, so although I had no great hopes of what I could achieve, I was hoping to make the most of a flat road marathon (and exorcise some demons from my last race outing in South Lincolnshire).

I was going well for the first 11 miles (with the help of the wind direction), and then a niggle in my right calf flared-up. Initially I slowed-down, and by the time I got to the halfway point, I was unable to run for anything other than short bursts.

As the distance that I was able to run (O.K., hobble) was getting shorter and shorter, I had to increasingly rely on walking. Once again, I made it round, and dodged a DNF result. I managed to summon-up the resilience to run over the finish line itself, but it certainly wasn’t pretty.

I’d love to say I’m not going to make all the same mistakes again next time, but that would be a lie.

The marathon was won by Matthew Orford (Lichfield Running Club) in 02:32:26 and Johanna O’Regan (Riverside Runners St Neots) in 02:52:33 .

The half marathon was won by Sam Pedley (Herts Phoenix AC) in 01:11:58 and Jenny Davies (HRRC) in 01:24:10 .

The 10k was won by Marcin Soszka (Saltaire Striders) in 00:33:04 and Nicola Curtis (Off That Couch Fitness) in 00:37:31 .

Striders’ Results (Marathon):

Pos Name Gender Cat Finish Time
54th Rob Ireson M 40-44 02:55:36
163rd Chris Boland M 40-44 03:12:03
326th Ben Heller M 60-64 03:35:57
493rd Katrina Gillett F 35-39 03:57:12
600th Steve Haake M 60-64 04:14:19
809th Brian Jenkins M 50-54 05:15:57

 

Striders’ Results (Half Marathon):

Pos Name Gender Cat Finish Time
112nd Richard Gilbert M 35-39 01:40:52
478th David Bownes M 65-69 02:49:22

 

Strider’s Results (10k)

Pos Name Gender Cat Finish Time
203rd Darren Woolley M 45-49 01:13:47

 

Full Results (all 3 races):

https://www.stuweb.co.uk/events/2025/04/13/4368/

 

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