Manchester Half Race Report by Nicola Scott

Last Sunday, 15^th October 2017, was the last race of the road season and it ended with a biggy – Manchester Half Marathon.  Sold as a ‘fast and flat’ event, however still a real challenge for people as it is a 13.1 mile run and the pressure was on to do well and go as fast as you could.  What is interesting about these big events which, Captain Chris has introduced this year, is that you can’t always see the competition, so it can feel like you against the clock and then find out later who has beat who.  For further details on a particular sub-race, there is an alternative run report for that.

So it was a very early start to get to Trafford, parked-up (without giving in to ransoms set by pop-up parking attendants), hike over to the bag drop and over to the start line for the 9am gun.  It was a particularly warm day and totally dry, in contrast to the inaugural race last year.  According to the official results, 25 A&T members took part in the race, however there was also Lynn out on loan and a new club member called ‘Smithy’ (NB you need to collect your race numbers the day before in Manchester for this race if you register late…ask Joanne).  There were some really strong performances and our club podium positions were awarded as follows:

Male:

Bronze – Gareth Jones 1.30.50 (tremendous performance for his first half-marathon too)

Silver – Stephen Coleman 1.27.48

Gold – Simon Ford 1.27.07

Female:

Bronze – Louise Simpson 1.49.10

Silver – Susan Fletcher 1.48.20

Gold – Josie Maley 1.31.25 (apparently had a bad day – looks pretty good to me!)

There were numerous PBs that I know of including Jonathon Hall, Paul Basnett, Phil Griffiths, me (Nicola Scott), Joan Cooke (looking angry) and Smithy aka Joanne Gibson who has made a huge leap forward recently in terms of speed.  All in all it was a very good day at the office and the race even provided us all with a wearable T-shirt in a nice shade of A&T blue.  Well done everyone and do indulge yourself in a bit of rest and recovery now.  Thanks to Captain Chris for another great season.