Kent Spring Full and Half Marathon – Boys were out in force!

A view of the Half by Phil Stevens

Having battled hills and wind at the Kent Coastal last Sunday, today it was going to be a battle against more hills and a much warmer day. A really lovely sunny day though and the wind was kind to us.
I’ve been here before, in 2021, but on that occasion I was doing the 2 laps, the full marathon. I was thankful just to be doing the 1 today. I remembered from last time the nasty hill around mile 4 and then again a short sharp one around mile 12.
It was great to meet up with some fellow traccies at the start including some who were doing the full marathon. Most of us were doing the Half as it was the latest in the Club Championships.
The race was running to time and good old Vic (Mark Crouchers dad) was there at the start taking photos of the team.

9am and we were all off. Nice Works were hosting this race so no waves, the bonus of 5yr increment vet categories and the race chip being on the back of the number.
My plan was to try to beat last Sundays time and get close to my target marathon pace (well off that at the moment).
Chris Brenchley who was adjudicating but also racing said he’d use this as a training run for London Marathon in a few weeks and said he would run with me.
The first few miles, as always, feel easy, but then I noticed the Wheel Inn at Westwell and saw the road sign ‘Gold Hill’.
I gulped and thought maybe it wasn’t that bad. Well it was and after struggling up this it’s a left and along the Pilgrims Way which, although slightly down, is off road, so it was difficult to try and make time up.
Good old Chris was giving me words of advice and helping me along.

The water stops were plastic cups which was a shame. In 2021 they were small water bottles that gave you the chance to get a lot more water on board.
The course then became flatfish for a few miles and at a switch back I noticed Jamie Hipgrave a little in front. This gave me something to work towards.
I’d already taken a gel at the start and the plan was then to take 2 more, one at 5 miles and the next at 10. This I did, so fuelling went well. Just could have done with more water really as it was a lot warmer than we have been used to.
It was then Chris, Jamie and I who started running together and helping each other out.
The dreaded short sharp hill came at 12 ish but I didn’t find this one too bad.
The good news now was that it was all down hill to the finish so it was a case of digging deep and going for it.
Chris was pushing me along and Jamie made his move.
With about 600 meters to go, we caught up with Jamie and then Chris shouted at me to get on my tows and sprint.
Strange isn’t it how when you see the finish line you get a massive surge of energy and I emptied the tank.
Matt McCarthy, Will Coles and Mark Croucher had already finished and were having their victory cigar.
I grabbed my camera and took some photos of the poor guys who were just starting their 2nd lap for the full marathon.
Really enjoyed that one (slight untruth there) and am heading in the right direction.
A massive well done to Matt, Will and Pete who also won their age categories. Also wow! Mark Croucher! How did he manage that time on that course!

No girls this week, as I guess it’s close to marathons now + this popular race booked up a while back. They will be kicking themselves though as 30 points was up for grabs!

What a great show though from Team TRAC and a continued show of strength in the Kent Grand Prix rankings.

A view of the marathon by Andy Stevens

So I decided to do the full marathon as a long training run for an ultra this summer. I’ve done the half before and knew the course wasn’t the easiest around but thought a double lapper with some walloping hills would build some leg strength.  

My race plan was very straightforward; keep a consistent pace with a low heart rate at a conversational pace. Whatever time that got me round in was all valuable time on my feet. Phil’s already described the first lap and the second lap meant the field were really stretched out once we lost the half marathon runners. Doing the hills again was incredibly valuable training on tired legs (not sure I was saying that at the time though…) and the marshals were top drawer with fewer runners to focus their cheering and encouragement on. Once we got past 20 miles it was just a case of sticking to the plan,not doing anything stupid, ticking off the miles and getting the job done. Over the last few weeks I had done a few runs of over 30 miles and I was really feeling the benefit of these at this stage. The sun certainly had its hat on in the last 6 miles and I was running on my own for most of it. It’s always nice to see the Mile 25 sign in a marathon – especially given most of the last mile was downhill and this was more relief and satisfaction that I had stuck to the plan and felt in good shape at the end. A 3.32 finishing time wasn’t too shabby but the most important thing was avoiding any injury or excessive fatigue which would mean disruption to my training over the next couple of weeks. 

I saw Jude Wood at the end who was another plucky TRAC marathon runner on the day who was pleased with his 3.20 finishing time and was enjoying the sunshine and was interesting hearing him talk about his fuelling strategy ! Big thanks to Chris B who ran with me for a few miles at the start of the second lap to top his day up to a fantastic 20 miles. This is one of the only road marathons which still exist in Kent and it’s important that runners continue to support them. 

TRAC finishers

Marathon

7th – Jude Wood – 3.20.34

20th – Andy Stevens – 3.32.21

Half Marathon
Matt McCarthy – 6th overall – 01:22:26 – 1st MV45
Will Coles – 7th overall – 01:22:35 – 1st MV40
Mark Croucher – 10th overall – 01:24:40
Phil Stevens – 23rd overall – 01:30:23 – 1st MV55
Chris Brenchley – 24th overall – 01:30:24 – adjudicating
Jamie Hipgrave – 25th overall – 01:30:32
Pete Heath – 160th overall – 01:54:42 – 1st MV65

To see the latest Club Champs, click the below link:

Next up is the Ted Pepper Memorial 10k in Bromley – Bank Holiday Monday (5th)