Sunday 14 May 2017

Draycote Water Half Marathon

Catherine on her way to first lady

This half marathon is good value for money at £14.00 + £1.50 admin fee for a chip timed race with a medal and a tee shirt. There is a 10k and a half marathon run over the same 8k lap concurrently. The two races starting half a lap apart mean there is a good atmosphere at both the start and the finishes with a good crowd milling around. The different starting points mean the course is never too crowded and you could end up lapping a lot of people. There are a lot of non club runners and the field was wide spread with many runners taking over two hours. It is one to consider with three race days here over the course of the year.



Grantham Running Club’s Catherine Payne enjoyed a winning start to the summer season of shorter races by being first lady over the line at the Draycote Half Marathon in Rugby. This three lap race round the reservoir attracted almost 400 runners on a dry but windy morning to this picturesque setting in the heart of Warwickshire.

With no timed starting pens and not having done the race before Catherine ended up closer to the front than normal with only one lady in front of her who she passed within the first mile. Despite not having raced at anything faster than marathon pace for five months Catherine was able to increase the gap to the second and third ladies to 93 seconds by the end of the first lap. During the next lap Catherine was able to build her lead by another two and a half minutes as the strong headwind on the mile long final straight took its toll on the field. The final lap saw her winning margin grow to over six and a half minutes as she finished in a time of 96:39 to place her comfortably inside the top 50 ranked ladies in the UK in her age group.



Position Time Name
Category
Grading







19 1:36:45 Catherine Payne
FV50
78.12%

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