Leicester Marathon and Half Marathon

Tom 3:21:13

The Leicester Marathon and Half Marathon were run on 15 October which saw good conditions for running, overcast with occasional light drizzle and the sun never quite breaking through. As expected for a ‘big city’ event, the first few miles were quite congested but after the marathon split, things thinned out a lot – possibly significant numbers choosing Birmingham. Grantham Running Club’s Tom Fowler was reasonably happy with his run in the full marathon following less than ideal preparation, coming home in 3:21:13 (39/517 reflecting low turnout) with a fairly even pace, fading a bit in the last three miles. The course follows the well-established route, starting  near the University and taking in the ‘Golden Mile’ before heading out onto country roads then looping back in through various parks. Overall, it’s pretty flat featuring  gentle undulations rather than any real hills (although the last uphill mile doesn’t feel like this!) and the slightly broken-up nature of the last few miles (over bridges, tight turns,  through cycle barriers etc) require more strength than I could find on the day. The course was well-supported and impressively marshaled but mile-markers distinctly stealthy  and sporadic.

Robert nabs UKA ranking

Grantham Running Club was represented in the Half Marathon by Robert and Julie Braker running their third half marathon in four weeks.  Julie was the star performer again as she finished in a time of 1.47.26, which is a club record age grade in excess of 90%.  Julie finished first in the FV60 category successfully defending a title she won last year  She was the 54th female finisher of 892.  Robert ran 1.51.32 which was a season’s best and quick enough to earn his a UKA ranking score. He was 14th out of 45 in the MV60 category.

Position	Time	Name		Category		Grading	Ranking
39	3:21:56	Tom Fowler		MV35		62.42%	N/A

Position	Time	Name		Category		Grading	Ranking
411	1:47:26	Julie Braker		FV65		90.69%	11
531	1:51:32	Robert Braker		MV65		69.52%	245