NWFPAC ‘Michael Page’ Championship 2022 – Race 7: Cheshire Half

On a cool and sunny Sunday morning, bright and early for a 9am race start, nine NWFPAC runners lined up for a half marathon in the Cheshire countryside which started and finished at the picturesque Capesthorne Hall.

I signed up for the race a few months back thinking it would suit me well around 4 weeks before a planned marathon, but forgot about the ultra race the Sunday before and my club’s championship Parkrun race just the day before, so I got those excuses in early. It seemed a few others also had some (good) excuses. Nicola had also completed the Gritstone Grind ultra just the Sunday before, but actually turned up in good time for the start of this one! Charles only had one good working leg apparently. There was something wrong with Dave and Adrian too but I can’t quite remember what it was.

Anyway, we all lined up and started off on the course at 9am after a 1 minute applause to show our respects for the Queen. The course started on a slightly gravelly section but was soon on roads. Billed as a flat, fast course, it was slightly undulating (78m total elevation according to my Garmin) but nothing too concerning. The weather was great, the roads nice and dry and the course wound its way through some nice countryside, with views of the Jodrell Bank telescope. There was plenty of good support along the way from the spectators. The course was on closed roads although this didn’t appear to apply to the pelotons of cyclists that swept through at various stages, or the guy in his Land Rover.

I hadn’t quite decided at the start whether to go for a steady marathon pace and treat as a training run (the sensible choice) or try racing at half-marathon pace to see how long the legs would last (actual choice). Inevitably I got swept up from the start so just went with it. Luckily the legs held, although I could feel the ultra in them in the last few kms. I passed Charles around 11k, he’d clearly slowed significantly from his starting pace as his leg played up.

Charlotte had a great race and came in with the maximum 20 points, in 20th place for gender position, and a great PB time of 1.36:01.

I started slowing a bit towards the end to avoid a cramp I could feel building but couldn’t resist a sprint to the end to get past someone who had just overtaken me. I came second of the NWFPAC runners in 1.22:30, followed closely by Sam in 1.24:39 and then Charles just a whisker behind in 1.24:50. Obviously having just one leg doesn’t make you too slow.

The other guys soon came in. We managed to get a photo, although Adrian wouldn’t let us wait for Nicola (who was impressively keeping going despite her first ultra just a week before and not being used to running on roads with no steep hills or cattle as obstacles) so she’s sadly not in the photo. Apparently Adrian had to go to a surprise party somewhere in Wales and had mistaken ‘Cheshire’ for ‘Chester’, so had had to get off as he had further to drive than he thought.

Great running everyone – just one more championship race to go!