Hatters Half 2017 - Championship Race 7
The Stockport FC stadium was our starting point, the small venue making it thankfully easy to spot fellow NWFPAC members and meet up prior to the race. Although I'd done some 10K races since starting to run regularly last year, this was my first half marathon. Had I eaten enough at 6.30am? Would it pour with rain and be my first experience of chafing!? My last-minute anxieties faded away as we headed over to the start line.
After what seemed like ages of fidgeting on the spot under the buzz of a random drone, the whistle sounded and we were off!
The Hatters Half is described as a trail route, which added another unknown dimension for me and turned out to include mud, loose sand, steps and dimly lit tunnels! The route starts on roads (closed to traffic) and heads downhill, then after some tarmac paths it was straight onto the trails. Having no experience of such terrain I found these the toughest part of the course, and did my best to follow where the runner in front of me was putting their feet which just about seemed to keep me upright!
The last two miles dragged by as my legs refused to go any faster, and as an 'out and back' route the downhill dash we enjoyed at the beginning turned into an uphill climb towards the end! Being a small friendly event though, there were plenty of supporters at this point cheering runners on to the finish line.
Our results were as follows:
Charlie Batho - 01:22:23 - 3rd male
Maia Fradley - 02:02:28 - 37th lady
John Williams - 01:37:18 - 45th male
David Simmons - 01:39:49 - 58th male
Rob Dawes - 01:48:42 - 104th male
Ben Bradley - 01:54:05 - 134th male
Well done to everyone who took part in the longest race in the NWFPAC series yesterday and, despite my trepidation, I much enjoyed the race and hope it can be included in next year's series.
For those planning their first half, I'm told I should mention what training was undertaken - although this really didn't go to plan owing to a busy month, I managed to steadily increase mileage over 4 weeks and most importantly to fit in some long Sunday runs before the race itself.
Looking forward to our next - thankfully short! - race at Heaton Park in October and hopefully to seeing more of you there.
