Buxton Half Marathon, Sunday 25th May
|
Pos |
Name |
Cat |
Time |
1 Dale Annable M 1.16.52
50 (1L) Christine Howard F40 1.35.34
77 Matt Taylor M40 1.40.13
113 Gareth Trimble M40 1.45.42
219 Elspeth Gibson F40 2.06.53
251 ran.
Last year we arrived to blue sky and sunshine and upon finishing all three of us agreed that this half marathon had been one of our favourites. This year we arrived at the Pavillion Gardens to a dismal rainy morning which didn't bode very well for running up the exposed hills around Buxton. Minutes before the starting whistle we found ourselves all sheltering underneath the porches of the Opera House, then the whistle blew and we were off to a hilly continuous climb for the first three miles with rain and a side wind to boot.
Amazingly the different weather conditions didn't do anything to dampen my enthusiasm for this race. The race is extremely well organised, marshals (provided by Mountain Rescue) at every cattle-grid and well stocked water stations (bottles of Buxton Spring Water) ensured a hassle free race.
This is not a race for anyone chasing a PB, with a total ascent of 1500ft the challenge is pacing yourself, knowing that whenever there is a fast descent there will always be another hill around the corner.
Matt, who is running well at the moment, knocked around 5 minutes off last year's time, Gareth ran an almost identical time, and I was nearly 7 minutes quicker. We all enjoyed it again, despite the soggy weather, and hope to be back next year.
Elspeth
Sounds like a nice race – I was in Buxton the day before and saw the Mile 1 marker, so guessed it was imminent. Well done, all of you 🙂