Blackmore Vale Half Marathon

Richard’s report:

Sunday 5th February saw the Westgates at the 20th Blackmore Vale Half Marathon at Bishops Caundle near Sherborne. Being first timers at this race we were very impressed. Organised by the BV Lions Club, what a great job they do – free parking at the start, food in the hall, toilets and portaloos, loads of marshals including police, frequent drinks stations, clear amplified instructions (for those hard of hearing) before the race and commentating at the end. Experience means they can accept up to 650 runners and do all this for £10 including a reasonable T Shirt. We thought it was a real bargain.

Following a week of sub-zero temperatures we were treated to a balmy 6 oC with sunshine. The 500 or so runners soon filtered off the playing field and into narrow lanes. Thankfully the only icy stretch was coned off and we set off downhill for the first mile. I made an effort to run conservatively as I had heard the course was undulating with the final mile re-tracing the hill we started on. With this in mind I tagged along with Jenny Mills for 4 or 5 miles, she runs at a very even pace and I felt quite relaxed. The lanes were largely traffic free and the countryside picturesque. I began to warm up a bit – enough to tip water over my head and neck at the drinks stations and decided to push on a bit overtaking some runners.

Some of the downhills tempted me into some speedier running but for the first ten miles I kept up a 7.5 min/ mile conversation pace. I enjoyed the challenge of keeping the pace going over the final bit and was very happy with 97:12. There were lots of familiar faces about but once again none from Maiden Newton.

Lesley: I have mixed feelings about this one. Set off at a fairly steady pace, and was joined after a few miles by Lesley Nesbitt from Yeovil, running with her brother. I have been in races with her on several previous occasions and usually managed to finish ahead, although it has been a tough battle sometimes. On this occasion she appears to have been doing some “Training”!! She also ran at “conversation” pace for the first ten miles, while I struggled to keep up, and then with three miles to go she just took off, eventually finishing some two minutes ahead. I must say I was a bit dispirited by my legs’ refusal to come up with anything and eased off the pace deciding to finish the race as a training run. I found the last mile particularly hard and was glad to finish in a time of 1:52:23. The runner in front of me inexplicably slowed and stopped just before the finish line giving me one place higher in the results.