The Other Side

I have never been to spectate a road race, so what better event to start with than the London Marathon?

With the RAF's Ben Livesey lining up on the elite start line, and a number of the ladies from all 3 servicees battling it out to duck under the golden 3 hour mark, it was set to be a spectacular race. Notwithstanding it was the debut marathon on Mo Farah and Chris Thompson. 3 new course records, a world record, and record numbers of spectators - not bad eh?

We went to Tower Hill to watch the action which meant we saw the athletes twice. Once just before mile 13 and just after mile 20 going in the other direction.

The first athletes past were the wheelchairs. seeing them in person you get a much better sense of how excruciatingly difficult it must be to power yourself along for 26.2 miles by your arms only. Watching on TV it always seems quite effortless. But then again, so does running! 

Next came the IPC athletes and the support was amazing. The crowd were going mental anytime someone went past and the athletes were loving it! This year was the first time the IPC event has been held in London.The women were next to come past - at incredible speed! It was almost impossible to get a photograph of them!

The main event was the elite men. The first few runners came through still with the pace makers and looking incredibly fresh. Then when Mo Farah came past the roar of the crowd was incredible. When they came back around the 20 mile mark, the masses were passing on the other side. Runners stopped and clapped as Mo came past. 

It was incredibly exciting to see Ben running amazingly, truly inspirational. We were going crazy as every RAF athlete came past. After a quick start - 15m26 for the first 5k (we were tracking him online) the next  25k with even 5k splits of 16m05s, 16m18s, 16m04s, 15m59s and 16m26s. The English International led the RAF to clean sweep in the Inter Service team competition. Livesey's time of 2h17m44s was outside the Commonwealth and European qualification mark by 44 seconds! He finished in 17th position overall. 

In the women’s race Flt Lt Tamsyn Rutter ran a brilliant race and finished in 2h58m55s - a time that would see her win both the RAF and Inter Service gold medals. .

I will definately be back to the Marathon, and definately not to run. As inspirational as all the incredible performances were, they did not make me want to run 42km!

Halton Hills

The Halton Hills is an off-road race which takes place in the woods surrounding RAF Halton. Good news for those non-military people in the local area is 99% of the route is on public byways so you can have a go yourself! 

The race was first run in 1979 and its founder was the late WO Don Cobley, an RAF PTI and British Olympian in the Modern Pentathlon in Melbourne (1956) and in Rome (1960). One of the most grueling hills on the course (Cobley’s Rise) bears Don’s name.

The route winds its way through the Wendover Woods for approximately 7.5 miles, and over 7 hills of varying steepness and longness. There is an overall ascent of 1200 ft, which I can assure you is enough!

The first hill ‘The Snake’ is very steep and very long. This is followed by a small period of respite along a gravelly flat before coming to Hill 2 – ‘Boddington Bank’. This is a gentle incline followed by ‘Wimp’s Way’, a gradual incline which merges into hill 4 – ‘Cemetery Hill’. Number 5 – ‘Cobley’s Rise’ is definitely the worst, and this broke me into a walk. At the top of the hill you reach the Wendover Woods 'Go Ape' so it is likely you will surprise a few members of the public with your panting and red face! Last 2, ‘Cardiac Arrest’ – steep, but short. And finally Hill 7 – ‘Legless Last’, to be honest I can't remember what this one was like. I was just glad it was coming to an end!! You can view the full route on Strava here.

I had a really great race, much better than I was expecting on-top of a fairly tough week of training which is always nice. I finished 1st Lady and 3rd overall, which I think is one of the best results I have had, however there was an absence of the usual male racing snakes. Plus the lead man decided 7.5 miles want hard enough and went the wrong way (accidentally) adding a significant amount of time and distance. In the mens race Mike Kallenberg destroyed the field to finish in 45.40, almost 10 mins ahead of his nearest rival. 

Hill Stats

Order run	Ascent	Distance
The Snake	80m	300m
Boddington Bank	35m	350m
Wimp’s Way	55m	250m
Cemetery Hill	45m	200m
Cobley’s Rise	65m	250m
Cardiac Arrest	55m	200m
Legless Last	55m	350m

Thank you's of course must go RAF Halton for organizing the event, the RAF Sports lottery for assisting with the funding and Ultrasport for the T-Shirts! :)

Full results can be found on the RAFAA website and pictures will be added in due course.