Haddington Half Marathon 2014

Realising that I was at the point where I needed to sensibly add a few races to compliment some decent recent training, a few weeks ago I decided to enter the Haddington Half Marathon. The race was on a Saturday (which meant I wouldn’t really sacrifice a Sunday long run), and it was also a good chance to see where I was at as regards my training for an upcoming Marathon in October so I felt the choice made a bit of sense.

Doing a bit of research beforehand I knew that the course was undulating, and the forecast in the days leading up to the race predicted 19mph winds so I made a decision to forget about times and try and get as high up the field as possible rather than beat myself up if my splits slipped a bit during the race.

Leaving home at 10am for the East Coast I found the course with minimal fuss, picked my pre registered race number up, and stretched the legs a bit. I had also discovered that the race was the East District Half Marathon Championships so the field would be fairly strong and this pleased me as with a larger field I should be guaranteed company for the 13.1 miles. Although the race was on the other side of the country I was also pleased to also see some people from the West Coast that I knew, so I managed a good catch up with Phyllis and Benny Hands (Motherwell AC), Bruce Carse (Bella RR), and Alex Chalmers and the Garscube guys amongst others.

At 2pm the gun went off for the beginning of the race and within half a mile the first steep hill came into play, followed by a sharp downhill to make it an interesting start as the next 11 miles or so headed out into the countryside. Settling down a bit I went through the first 5 miles in about 29.30 and pleasingly I was sitting in around 9^th place at this point. I also was sure that no-one ahead was a Vet so that was another plus.

Miles 6-10 were definitely tough for the most part as not only was there very few points in the course that was actually flat, but the promised winds were now really coming into play. I had also been passed by a couple of the Edinburgh AC guys but I could still see a number of people not too far ahead and this helped keep me focussed. I passed the 10 mile mark in 59.40ish looking back at my splits afterwards.

The latter stages of the race were predominately downhill, although every time you turned one of the many corners it seemed a hit or a miss if you were going down or up. Thankfully by this point we arrived back in the town and having made sure my warm up took in the last part of the course (wee tip, always do your warm up taking in the final mile or so of a race) I knew exactly where we were going.

I must admit I hadn’t much of a sprint in me as I headed for the line, but with no danger of anyone catching me (and equally no danger of me passing anyone in front) it was onto the grass finishing straight and past the post.

When all was tallied up I had finished in a time of 1.18.29. Not my best, but I was definitely not too unhappy with my run given the nature of the course and the wind. I had finished 11^th overall and indeed First Vet, but more importantly my Achilles that had been bothering me a bit seemed fine and I also had a good, hard Half Marathon under the belt.

In summary this is an excellent event and superbly organised with a not to be underestimated cracking buffet feast afterwards. I don’t “think” it is a pb course but equally if you were to take the wind out of the equation there are tougher Half’s out there. It also is run mainly on quiet country roads so if you like a race away from the streets I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend this.

Scott Martin (10-8-14)