The hills are your friends: Salisbury 54321 half, 2019

Monday, 12 August 2019

Salisbury 54321 half, 2019

We parked up in Salisbury good and early, ready for the first race to set off - the 50k ultra. No, not me - this was the lovely Mrs S on her first more-than-a-marathon race (although technically Snowdonia was a mile over the distance). A wiry crowd of ultra people were gathered, ranging from mid thirties to really quite mature, all of them quite out off step with the horrible dross music blasting out of a pimped-up gold mobile disco Landrover.
We met up with Kate, and the soon the ultra ladies were off.

All smiles at the start line

I had another 90 minutes to go, so I walked south into the city, had a coffee and familiarised myself with the final section to the finish, where last year finding my way was a bit touch and go. Then back to the start where I saw the 33k race begin (with Nigel Hemsted) and after a bit of loosening had a chat with Mark Adams and Clarendon JJ before getting into place.

I started in about 8th place, and was 4th after a mile or so, where we headed off the road and started climbing up to Old Sarum. I went into third place when the guy ahead missed a turn and I had to shout after him. Old Sarum is the first of four quite interesting hills that dominate the first 14k; nothing too fierce, but involving some long drags, especially up to Clarendon and up the road to Alderbury. The two lead runners had disappeared out of sight, but somewhere between Old Sarum and Laverstoke I started overtaking the tail end of the 50k runners, which livened things up. There was a section of narrow path through woods where overtaking was quite a challenge, involving lots of thank-yous as I manoeuvred past.

From Alderbury there was the steep downhill on a gravel track before entering the fabulous Longford Estate. I was wondering whether I'd get to say hello to Mrs S and Kate before the 21k and 50k routes split. I caught them with just a couple of hundred metres to spare, and pressed on after some quick waving.

Passing the ladies in Longford Estate

With the field now thinned out, I could see a guy in blue ahead of me, and recognised him as one of the front runners. I pressed on, but was now feeling quite weary, and it was hard work. I was willing the gap to close, but it was hard to tell. And then quite suddenly, I was aware of footseps closing quickly behind me, and a young lad went rushing past.

I now felt I had to catch the guy in blue. As we passed through the village of Britford and closed in on Salisbury, I could tell that I was gaining on him, but I was really tiring by now and was struggling to control my breath. We both emerged onto the city ring road, and then on to a ramp leading down to an underpass where there was a drink station. My adversary suddenly stopped, and I blazed on, determined to hold on to a podium place.

Running through the city centre brought its own fun and games. This time I knew where I was going, but I had to do a lot of ducking and weaving to get around the folk who were out and about. I was glad that I'd recced the final section, and was thrilled to see the clock showing 29-something as I approached the line. I finished in 1:29:52, nearly 2 minutes faster than last year. Here are my stats, and check out my being thoroughly outdone by Cameron Maguire.

I managed to get a shower, thanks to the kind people in the leisure centre, and then off to meet up with Abi and Greg to cheer on Mrs S. Here she is looking good at Salisbury racecourse.

11k to go, looking good

We saw them both go through Quidhampton, and then back to the finish where I caught up with Dad, who had come along to see the fun. The ladies finished in just over 5 hours looking as fresh as anything - what an achievement!