Kathryn Doudican reports: After achieving a PB in the Milton Keynes half at the beginning of March, I returned home in a slightly over-excited mood and decided to enter another half marathon that evening.
I would have liked to enter the Stratford half but, having a boozy weekend in Leeds planned for that date, Lichfield seemed a better option.
So May 1st arrived… The last few weeks of “training” hadn’t gone so well, incorporating a holiday and bad hay fever. I’d managed to maintain regular running but hadn’t run more than eight and half miles since before Milton Keynes. Nevertheless, I woke up in an optimistic mood and was pleased to see lots of fellow BVHers when I arrived at the event.
The course had been described as flat / undulating; in comparison to Milton Keynes it certainly seemed to be continually “undulating” to me (but I am new to half marathons). I was pleased not to be met with any big hills. It was a pleasant route: climbing up a little past Whittington Barracks, through country lanes, villages, over canal bridges and a railway crossing (no trains luckily!)
I’d planned to try to start slowly (9 minute miles), in the hope that I’d preserve some energy, settling into a slightly faster but sustainable pace as the run progressed. However, after the first few miles with the heat, hay fever and nature of the course I soon realised that the slower pace was more realistic for me. Still feeling fresh, I enjoyed the scenery of the first seven miles or so. Tiredness and the heat kicked in a little after this and I found myself counting down the miles, especially for the last three. Finishing in just over 1 hr 56, I was glad to see the finish line, my husband and some teal vested folk.
Overall the race was a pleasant route and seemed well organised and marshalled, with plenty of water stations in consideration of the hot weather. The start line seemed a little strange, backing up round a corner and up some steps.
Congratulations to Linda Howell who finished as the 3rd lady, as well as everyone from BVH who ran.
Bournville results:
| OverallPos | Name | Cat | Cat Pos | Chip Time |
| 8 | SEBASTIAN HOBBS | M20-24 | 1 | 01:22:18 |
| 18 | STUART PEARSON | M40-44 | 6 | 01:26:32 |
| 38 | LINDA HOWELL | F30-34 | 2 | 01:29:39 |
| 48 | ADRIAN FOWLER | M40-44 | 13 | 01:31:04 |
| 103 | SIMEON PAINE | M35-39 | 18 | 01:37:28 |
| 107 | PAUL DUGMORE | M50-54 | 5 | 01:37:22 |
| 187 | TERRY DOHERTY | M55-59 | 4 | 01:42:24 |
| 270 | GARY HAWKESFORD | M40-44 | 50 | 01:46:44 |
| 301 | EWAN ROSS | M35-39 | 53 | 01:48:26 |
| 495 | KATHRYN DOUDICAN | F35-39 | 22 | 01:56:08 |
| 808 | HILARY ROBERTS | F30-34 | 43 | 02:11:59 |
Congratulations are in order.Running long distance,and successfully completing an `undulating` 13.1 miles, on such a warm day is quite an achievement,and there were some quite respectable times too. Well done BvHers.
Barrie Roberts
Well Done everyone at Bournville on the Lichfield Half Marathon 🙂
Thanks for the link to our images – they should now be searchable on FlickR so you can find all of your runners.