With only four weeks to go to the London Marathon this was the weekend that several Harriers chose to test how well their winter training had paid off by taking on a half-marathon race. The group has been training hard since London places were announced in October; taking to the streets and byways of Romsey whatever the weather on dark mornings and evenings in an effort to get themselves ready to tackle 26.2 miles.

Five Harriers travelled to Reading for a fast and largely flat city centre race. Conditions were good with just a stiff breeze to contend with on some parts of the course though, unfortunately, this did make its impact felt when it was least wanted in the last two miles. With over 12,000 runners taking part the start was somewhat congested but that didn’t affect Mike Tanner, whose previous best time qualified him to start just behind the elite athletes. Despite finding it difficult to fit in as much training as he would like he still finished in a blistering time of 1:22:30. Dave Kenyon knocked more than a minute off his time from last year to clock a PB of 1:25:45, so goes onto London in a confident mood. Mike and Dave both finished 20th in their respective age groups. Sara Kenyon also ran a great race coming in close to her PB in 2:45:36. The three marathon runners were joined at Reading by Ann Bartholomew who finished in 1:46:06 and Jeanette Parker, 2:21:15.

 

A fourth Harrier marathon runner, Jenny Baverstock-Poppy, opted to run the Fleet half-marathon, which follows an undulating course around country lanes and through several villages surrounding Fleet. Despite being beset by a recent injury she was pleased to complete the course in 2:20 and now hopes to remain injury free during her final few weeks of training.