Linda Howell reports: A midday start meant a lie in, time to plan what and when to eat and a sociable meeting time to travel the few miles to Droitwich.
After some expert navigation by Stuart and Sarah we successfully parked near the start and walked the short distance to the golf club which formed the hub of proceedings. Gradually more Bournville Harriers gathered and by the time we jogged the quarter of a mile down to the start line there was a respectable sea of teal to huddle with.
The weather, though somewhat deteriorated since the sun of Saturday, was pretty perfect for running, not too cold, no rain and no wind to speak of. The course is essentially a loop with the out and back section being a very small component so for me the whole thing was a journey into the unknown. Some of the BvH guys and gals had done it last year and assured it was mildly undulating
and a good course, happily, even Stuarts description of not hilly proved to be largely true.
The whole course is on country roads of varying widths, but with not much traffic and those cars we did encounter seemed happy enough to slow, avoid us or just marvel at why on earth they were being surrounded by mad people in vests and shorts of varying colours on what had so far been a quiet Sunday in rural Droitwich.
The first half of the course proved to be fairly flat and after a steady start I was able to move through the field which was slowly spreading out and latch onto the back of Kevin. At around mile six it got more interesting with the main incline being up a narrow, winding road which I found thoroughly enjoyable after the even terrain experienced so far. By around mile 9 I found myself
pretty much on my own so pushed on to try and latch on to the small group I was occasionally catching glimpses of round corners. It turned out the group included BvHer Rich and regular racer Mark so I happily tucked in with them for a bit before pushing on with “you only need to run a 5k” in my head.
The final half mile included an uphill section, followed by a very welcome downhill sprint to the
finish line.
The results were up quickly after the race to reveal a number of PB performances by BvH. A very enjoyable event, well organised, encouraging marshalls, a sandwich included and a warm room to gather in pre and post race, definitely a great marker race for marathon training and a good PB potential race in its own right.
Results: http://www.droitwichac.co.uk/events/20130303_DroitwichHalf/Results.pdf
Photos: http://www.yourraceday.co.uk/races/droitwich_13/index.html
Congratulations to all the BvHers who successfully completed the Droitwich Half Marathon. Clearly good pre-marathon training, and some encouraging performances by both the men and the women.
Barrie Roberts