Last weekend, Newport & District Running Club’s Phil Dolding made a last-minute decision to enter the Anglesey Half Marathon – and it paid off big time, as he not only won his age category, he even got a packet of his favourite crisps! Afterwards, he sent us this report:
On Saturday 2 March, having just run the Isabel Trail parkrun, I pondered my plans for a training run the next day. My plan said to run about 20 miles (at an easy pace). However, the weather forecast for Sunday looked good and I really fancied a day by the sea. Mrs D was in favour of the hastily suggested “morning run, afternoon at the beach” and so I entered the Anglesey Half marathon, less than 24 hours before the event start time. I had run this event before and the appeal of a packet of Jones crisps was also just too much for me. They really are delicious!
We left home just before 6am and arrived at Menai just after 8am. The roads were pretty empty at that time, strangely enough! Once the town mayor sounded the hooter at 9am, approximately 700 runners set off on an out-and-back, scenic course from Menai to Beaumaris (with a loop at Llanfaes that includes a nasty little climb). The course has stunning views across the Menai Strait to a snow-capped Snowdon.
Even at the start line I had not planned any set pace – “Just enjoy the views”, I thought. The first kilometre split was quite brisk, so then I decided to just aim for a “decent time”, perhaps sub-1:40 if the legs would take it. Although some of the course is pretty much at sea level, the route undulates a bit and includes over 140m of ascent. I managed to latch onto a tall young fella and he made an excellent wind break on the return leg. I was pretty pleased with the finishing chip time of 1 hours 36 minutes, 54 seconds. In fact, VERY pleased when I discovered later that I had won the VM55 age category. I was also chuffed with the prize (running socks plus a Hi-5 energy gel / bottle pack).
Newport & District Running Club 