Chester Marathon

“We have travelled far, by bus and car and other times, we’ve went by railway” - but by whatever means we took 6 Harriers, family and friends arrived in Chester to run the MBNA Chester Marathon.  The following race report will not only give an insight into the Chester Marathon in terms of the race and route but will also give individual Harriers thoughts on the whole experience.

We had Julie T, Lorraine and Sharon taking part in their first marathon, Andrew and Julie looking for potential PBs and Frances who was selected to represent The Celtic (not the only football reference in this report for the eagle eyed) Masters in the England v The Celtic Masters match, representing Scotland in the F50 team. A wonderful honour for Frances and great recognition for Calderglen Harriers.  We also had a wonderful support crew in Anne, Allan and Hannah McLellan, Andy Thompson and Louise Douglas. Team Ferguson also made a surprise visit on Sunday.

The race itself set off from the wonderful setting of Chester racecourse. Pre race there was ample toilet facilities and the baggage drop was easy enough to access even up to 10 minutes before the race start. The first couple of miles head into Chester city centre passing many of its historic sites before heading out into the countryside.  This marathon has the unique factor of taking place in two countries as 19 miles are run in England and 7 miles in Wales.  Once the race crossed into Wales we ran through the villages of Lavister and Rosett. At mile 12 you have a loop to do where you start to pass runners heading in the opposite direction - this loop was probably 2-3 miles long.  I don’t remember during the race passing a sign that said we had physically crossed into Wales but I did notice the sign for entering back into England. This appeared as I crossed a bridge into the village of Farndon.  The race then beaded back into Chester with the last 3 miles bringing us back into the outskirts of Chester. I had read that towards the end of the race there would be ‘race angels’ who who would be positioned on a hill.  There are a few hills in the second half of the race And the hill I came to a mile 23 was only a prelude to the hill with the angels on at a mile 24. As you are tiring towards the end of a race this hill was the last thing you needed.  The last mile had you running along side the River Dee as you eventually came through the arches and onto the race course for a finish on the grass (however I would say the cobbles in the last mile we’re not too welcoming!).

Before revealing how the 6 Harriers did there is an insight below from a couple of the Harriers as to their Chester Marathon experience


CHESTER MARATHON - BY JULIE T

At some point late last year I managed to talk Lorraine, Sharon and Anne into training and running my first marathon with me. It was Lorraine’s first also.
We agreed an autumn one would be best to allow us better weather to train in. After a chat with Frances during a Sunday run she suggested Chester as it was in the autumn, relatively flat course and most importantly she was running it.

The first half of the year was quite busy training for and running three half marathons and a few 10ks. This got us in good shape for the marathon training programme.

Unfortunately Anne wasn’t at full fitness so couldn’t do the training with us. Which was disappointing to us all but the plus side was that her, Alan, their lovely daughter Hannah and my husband Andy and Julie sister Louise became our fantastic support crew, photographers and general cheerleading squad.

The 17 week training program went well and although we were all nervous felt we’d trained as hard as we could have.

Race day was finally here! We walked down to the racecourse for the start. It was a bright chilly morning perfect for a long run.
I was initially worried that there might not be much support and that the field would be small and we’d be running alone for most of it but I was wrong. The support was amazing every village we passed through where out cheering everyone on which was a big help as the miles wracked up.

Lorraine and I had agreed to run together being our first marathon and as our paces where similar during training. We were both hoping for sub 4hr30 min and we’re on target the whole way. I felt we’d paced the whole race well. Looking back at the splits they were slightly fast for the first 16 miles but managed to keep a good pace going with the exception of mile 22 where I began to suffer, Lorraine on the other hand was a wee ball of energy and happiness smiling all the way. Which helped me no end. I managed to get it together again for mile 23 and 24. However after the hill at 24 miles the 25th mile was the slowest. I do remember mumbling to Lorraine to go ahead but she said no way we are finishing this together. So I picked it back up again for the final 1.2 miles but was definitely on auto pilot by this time. The final 500 meters was into the racecourse and our amazing support team was there taking photos and cheering us on yet again. Finally we crossed the line (hand in hand only for the last 500 meters honest) in 4hr 26 minutes we did it! We had survived our first marathon and in a time we were both proud of.

All in all it was a fantastic weekend with fantastic people.

The organisation of the race was excellent a great scenic route with plenty of support friendly runners and well spaced water, gel and toilet stops along the way. I wound definitely recommend it to anyone looking for an autumn marathon that’s fairly easy to travel to.

CHESTER MARATHON - BY JULIE B

I had never intended doing another marathon this year - London was enough for me.  However due to the heat and a virus it had not gone to plan (finishing in a time of 3.34.02).  However I was barely a few hours finished and my sister was nagging me to sign up for another one.  3 weeks later and I had been talked into the Chester Marathon.  As it happened I would have 5 Harriers for company.

So July came.  The day after I returned from the Gothenburg training camp my Chester marathon training began.  However I soon began to regret it.  The weather was warm and the training was hard.  How much I longed for rain and snow and cold weather.  I probably didn’t train as well as I had for London (I had never trained as intensively as I had for London and felt I had put together some quality training sessions for the London marathon).  I took a slightly different route with my training in that 4, 3 and 2 weeks before Chester I decided to race - a half marathon, a 10k and a half marathon.  This meant I did not do my usual last long run 3 weeks out.

I arrived in Chester nervous but excited.  I ideally wanted to try and run a PB - however small this would be (quicker than 3.24.34) but I had also looked at the pacing required for 3.20 and 3.15.  I decided I would try and set off a 3.15 pace and if it didn’t work out I would just reassess it as I went along.  I settled in to a rhythm and kept to a constant pace of between 7.15 min/mile and 7.21 min/mile for the first 15 miles (apart from a 7.28 thrown in at mile 13).  Inevitably my pace did start to drop but even for the next 7 miles I kept between 7.25 and 7.33 (with a 7.22 thrown in at mile 20).  I knew I had been ahead of the sub-3.15 pace group but at mile 22 they eventually caught up on me.  I did try to go with them but by this stage I was feeling tired and knowing that I was on for a PB (however small) I thought if I just kept running as I was I would hopefully achieve this.  I did find the hill at mile 24 tough - when your legs, body and mind are tired and you have to get yourself up a hill and then push on it did cause me to drop a bit.  I also found the cobbled section along the river difficult on the feet (which were blistered by this stage and every step on the cobbles was burning the soles of my feet).  The finish line could not come quick enough.  Bearing in mind it was finishing at the racecourse I I began to wonder where the finish was as all I could see was the river and a let out a rather loud sigh of relief when I hit the arches and turned onto the grass at the racecourse.  Louise had been stood at the arches and her final words of encouragement spurred me on.  A final push to the finish line was made all the more easier when I saw Team McLellan at the side cheering on!  I crossed the line in a time of 3.15.09 - I didn’t realise how close I was to 3.15 or I may have tried to push on more.  Nevertheless I was delighted to record a 9 minute PB (and 19 minutes quicker than I had run London back in April).  However my PB was blown out of the water when Andrew crossed not long after me to announce he had recorded a 17 minute PB!
All in this was a great event made even more special to have done it with some of my club mates.


BMAF CHAMPIONSHIPS

As mentioned at the top of this report Frances was selected to run for Scotland as part of the Celtic Nations VW50 team.  She had a great race and was another Harrier to record a PB on this course (the race has a good reputation for runners to record PBs).  In fact Frances finished third VW50 overall and earned a bronze medal!  In the words of Frances “I’m one very happy Calderglen Harrier.  Great performances from all the Harriers.  Thanks to our support team, Team McLellan, Team Ferguson and Julie T’s husband Andy for their cheers and photographs.  A day I’ll never forget”.


The finishing times for the Harriers were:

Julie Beveridge - 3.15.09
Andrew Buchanan - 3.19.23
Frances Ferguson - 3.27.43
Sharon Gregg - 4.03.49
Lorraine Buchanan - 4.26.46
Julie Thompson - 4.26.46

Julie B