A hot weekend in October, it must be time for the Basingstoke Half Marathon, although based on how long we actual spend in Basingstoke I’m sure it should be renamed to the Cliddesden and Ellisfield Half Marathon.
The race was won by Kenyan Nicholas Kirui in 1:05:33, with the second placed Kenyan coming in over 8 minutes later. Over 1300 runners then crossed the finish line, in various states of dress: Elvis, Spiderman, Nemo and one very grumpy chap running in full police riot gear, perhaps he was just being prepared for those over enthusiastic supporters trying to offer him jelly babies.
This is my local race race so it always seem rude not to enter (this is the third year of running), although I do like the look of Bournemouth for next year.
Organisation is excellent, I've never seen a race with so many port-a-loos, it looked like was enough for one each. So after a bit of faffing about with the microphone at the start the race started.
Last year I managed to break 1:45 in slightly overcast conditions so I was looking to try and beat it. I had set a target of 7:30 minute miles. A neighbour was also also running and he went off very fast indeed, I thought I better try and keep up. The first 2 miles were close to 7:00, and it was getting warm - I am so going to suffer later I thought.
Running through village of Cliddesden, lined with home team supporters really gave a boost and helped keep the pace up. The course covered lots of my training ground so I know the hills really well. The first accent up White Hill, after mile 3 was fierce - I even use this hill for hill training, but the speed we ascend that hill was still phenomenal. The pressure eased a little as the road flattened out and then descended passed Ellisfield church.
The decent was short lived as we started to climb up a short hill out of Ellisfield Green. I was hanging on just behind my neighbour at this point and I was starting to feel the heat. There is a long down hill stretch here - some of it in the shade. When needed I am quite good at descending quickly - so it was here I finally over took my neighbour and ploughed on as quickly as I could. That mile clocked in at 6:36
After all that down hill, comes the inevitable climb back up hill - slow and steady rise of 2.4% over 1.6 miles. Cheered on mu the lovely people of Elliesfield I ground out the climb.
Even at the top of this climb the course turns a corner and still manages to go up hill.
The big dipper was a quick decent, followed by a slow climb - although I did manage to loose a gel from my shorts at this point - those side pockets were not such a good idea after all.
Farleigh Wallop was quite until the very top of the hill, where there were lots of supporters and lots of noise. The down hill decent was speedy - I was overtaken by a guy in vibrams who was running like a gazelle.
Back into Cliddesden for another burst of support, trouble is at the end of the village the support runs out and there is a slight incline to slow down on. 2 miles to go and it's time to grind it out. Back into Basingstoke before turning into War Memorial park, and another climb. Finish was excellent, a straight forward grass track, with the race announcer calling out names as you approach the finish line.
Goodie bag: Tech T-shirt (bright yellow), medal, banana, water, lucasade, clif bar.
Excellent race for old pros and beginners alike and the result 1:36:38 - get in there!
(it does mean of course I need to break 1:35 next year though)
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