Buxton Half by Malc Collins

The Buxton half marathon on Sunday 6th June was a family affair, accompanied by my wife Yuk-Lam, our little monsters Abbey (7) and Lucas (4) and friends, husband and wife, John & Lisa Bradley and their kiddies Amelia (7) and Regan (1). Our journey across to Buxton was very cloudy and rather wet at times. But as we arrived the rain cleared and the sun shone. We had a lovely picnic in the pavilion gardens and then got ready for the race. The sun was now getting quite warm and I was worried that we were going to suffer, especially John, an Astley local with a reasonable amount of running experience as well as years of football under his belt. Definitely a target for Jacket Man, Mark get him signed up!

As we made our way to the start we met up with Steve Coleman and Derek Coop which made it a trio from A&T to take on a more demanding and a very hilly half on a very warm sunny afternoon. The race got underway and Steve spearheaded the A&T attack closely followed by me. The first 3 miles were all up hill with about 700ft of climb which helped to string out the field. Steve got away from me but in the first down hill section I caught him up, we had a little tussle in the hot sun before we decided to run together for a couple of miles. At 6 miles Steve was too fast for me and I wished him well and settled down to a more comfortable pace. Steve warned me he wasn’t keen on the heat and the hills and maybe I’d see him again. I followed him for over 3 miles upon which I could see him slightly slowing. The sun had gone in and I felt strong enough to try and chase Steve down. At 10 miles I managed to overtake him and carry on with a very steady strong pace. The heat didn’t suit me, I just kept pouring water over my head but I was relishing the challenge of the tough hills, that’s the mountain goat in me! I finished in 1hr 33min 27 sec. Steve came in shortly after in approx 1hr 35min. Derek in approx 1 hr 45min and John in 1 hr 47min. I hope I’ve got these times reasonably accurate as I cannot find any official times yet and I had to take Abbey and Amelia to look at the ducklings on the pond straight after the finish, no rest for the runner!