Weston Half

Nikki Fowles has written a race report on her new favourite half marathon!

We set off nice and early on a beautiful morning to head down to the seaside to take on the first ever Weston Super Mare half marathon (it was supposed to have taken place last year, but was snowed off!). Myself and Jon arrived in plenty of time to have a walk up and down the prom and for the first time in all my visits to Weston, the sea was right in! We met up with Lucy & Abi from club and talked through a few pacing tactics then started to get ready. There was a very efficient bag drop system where our bags were kept securely on trucks and we made our way to the start.

The race started with a lap of the sea front and then we headed out towards the beach. We had about half a mile to run on the sand which wasn’t too bad as it was fairly compact. The route then went out around a very pretty village where we saw a different side of Weston. It felt like we were in the middle of the countryside. It was very picturesque  apart from a tiny bit of main road. As we were running, we started thinking we recognised things and we were right – we were suddenly back on the sand! It was a bit tougher second time round but we didn’t have long until we were back along the sea front, past the pier (which was where we would finish later) and out the other side.

This part of the course was tough as it was quite undulating with some long, gradual inclines and we passed runners coming back the other way.

We were, at this point, very glad of the hills around Stroud that we train on! We finally turned and headed back towards the seafront where the crowds were brilliant and cheered us on as we headed towards the pier.

The finish was 1/4 of a mile out at sea on the pier where our medals and finishers T-shirts were waiting  for us.  I would highly recommend this race.  It was brilliantly organised, plenty of water stations, great support and although tough in places – PBs were certainly achievable- and were!! This is my new favourite half marathon!!