Leeds Half Marathon

John Nevard 2:08:36

Esther Fraser-Betts and John Nevard made the trip up the A1 to Leeds, for the half marathon along with Alex Curtis.The route started in The Headrow , with runners heading out of the city centre, taking in a section of the Ring Road and returning via Abbey Road and Kirkstall Road, past historic Kirkstall Abbey before finishing at Millennium Square.  The final couple of miles being the same fast segment as the Leeds 10k Abbey Dash

The course is moderately hilly (!!) , with a steady incline from 2½ - 4.½ miles and a shorter one at 6-7 miles.   The second half is a mix of downhills a level here and there.    Around 700ft of incline overall, it’s probably not the easiest HM course but not the worst either. The city centre sections were very well supported, and there were plenty of sweets being handed out to runners with motivational signs aplenty.  It was warmer than predicted and the garden hoses/water pistols were a welcome addition.

Esther ran an excellent race chalking up a PB of 2:04:34 , which was nearly 3 minutes quicker than last September’s Robin Hood Half.   A sub 2 hour HM is well within reach. After running with Esther until around the 10 mile mark, John drifted off the pace crossing the line 2:08:36, but was generally happy with the race after limited training.

The performance of the day though was by U20 runner Alex Curtis , who ran a massive 4 minute PB , finishing in 1:21:42 It’s safe to say he was very happy with that performance and an unexpected PB. Alex (who is a student of Grantham College) was especially pleased with his result as he is still recovering from Covid and has moved into the top 40 half Marathon runners in his age group in the UK

The race was won by Joe Sagar (1:08:05) & Aisling Wall (1:23:42)