Caroline Davis was the sole Grantham Running Club representative
to take part in the Bedford Harriers Half Marathon, held on a windless but
chilly morning, with a glint of sunshine, on Sunday 1st December.
The course, unchanged for many years, starts and finishes at
the Upper School on the edge of Wootton, taking runners on a tour through the
villages to the west of Bedford. After an initial downhill section to get the
legs moving, runners were treated to a resident’s Christmas display that
appeared to rival the house on Grantham’s Belton Lane!
The course was described as undulating and it certainly
lived up to this when heading out into the Bedfordshire countryside. Miles
4-9 were reminiscent of the Folksworth 15 course with numerous climbs and the
odd descent, but predominantly climbing upwards before a steep descent at nine
and a half miles yielded a quick, mostly slightly downhill finish back to
Wooton. The race continues to be held
with an ARC permit (Which means finish times do not appear on the Power of 10 /
Run Britain websites).
The race has traditionally featured a finishers’ memento
which changes each year. Having previously handed out rugby tops, calendars and
rucksacks, for 2019 the 755 finishers were rewarded with a commemorative memento
bath towel and for those who opted to pay a small additional cost, a wooden
medal too!
Caroline had a good race to finish just over three minutes
down on her PB in 1:50:36, finishing 358th overall and tenth in her
age category.
For those looking to attend future editions of the race Caroline
noted that a little bit of extra time is needed before the start as parking is
a few miles away. A shuttle bus service is provided though which actually meant
there was less time hanging around in the cold.
The race was won by Michael Taylor of Riverside Runners in
1:11:56 with Louise Balloch of Daventry Road Runners the winning lady in
1:27:24.
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