Grunty Fen Half Marathon, Witchford, Cambridgeshire,

Matthew Kingston-Lee celebrated his fiftieth half marathon in style with a new Personal Best and a seventh place finish at the 25^th Grunty Fen Half Marathon on Sunday 13^th September 2015. His time of 1:14:46 betters his old best of 1:15:29 set at last year’s Robin Hood Half Marathon. It sets a new Grantham Running Club record and will be his final race before he embraces the dubious honour of becoming a veteran runner.

Conditions in Witchford, Cambridgeshire, could hardly have been better for the 13.1 mile race, with temperatures in the mid-teens and, mercifully, barely a breath of wind on a mostly flat fenland course, which is often compromised by strong winds.

Matthew, who is in a block of heavy training for the forthcoming Chester Half Marathon in early October and had finished third in a Lincolnshire Services 10K race just four days earlier, was further compromised with a bout of catarrh, which was thankfully not too serious, but bad enough just to take the edge off his peak performance.

With this in mind, Matthew ran a solid, but controlled, race, passing halfway in 37:10 and staying strong all the way to the finish, culminating in a sprint to the finish line to finally break the 1:15 barrier.

The race was won by Aaron Scott of Notts AC in a new course record of 1:08:04. The winning lady was Felicity Milton of Woodford Green Essex Ladies, who clocked 1:19:57. There were 455 finishers.