Severn Bridge Half Marathon - 24 August 2014
For most of Britain, everyone was looking forward to a relaxing Bank Holiday weekend with it being the last public holiday before Christmas.
However, there was a “Fantastic 5†who thought differently and decided to join the other 1991 runners to get up in the early hours of Saturday morning to head to the Severn Bridge (M48) for the popular Half Marathon.
Luckily the motorway was closed, giving the runners fantastic views across the Severn estuary. The route took runners from the Welsh side of the bridge into England towards Thornbury going through villages and up a hill before heading back to Wales.
Our “Fantastic 5†wasn’t fazed by the course and returned to Wales with some fantastic results…
Mark Langhamrecorded a new personal best at the Half Marathon distance, finishing 8th overall in a time of 1:19:29.
Rob Bircher was the second Strider across the line also bagging a PB, finishing 29th in his age group with a time of 1:34:45. His training for the Bournemouth Marathon is definitely paying off as he chopped over 5 minute off his previous best over 13.1 miles.
Liza Barry was the first lady Strider to finish and was 9th in her age group with a time of 1:34:52. What is more remarkable is that Liza only had a baby less than 6 months ago.
Striders lady captain Rachel Vines finished with a time of 1:36:44 being 12th in her age group before heading off to Birmingham to see Mo Farah break the British record over 2 miles.
Finishing closely behind Rachel was Andrew Paterson who swiped 5 minutes of his best time over 13.1 miles and finished in 1:37:23 (41st in age group) who also clocked up a PB during training for the Bournemouth Marathon.
Well done to our “Fantastic 5†and we look forward to a large club turnout for the Cheltenham Half Marathon on Sunday 7th September.
Full results are available here.