East Coast Half Marathon – Sunday 14 August 2016
Seven Jaguars took part in Great Yarmouth Road Runners’ 2016 Half Marathon – also the penultimate race in the Leathes-Prior Grand Prix series.
With hot and sticky weather in the days and weeks before 14th August we were all delighted to wake up and see there were some clouds in the sky and a lively breeze. The race organisers had brought forward the start time to 10am after a really scorching race in 2015 and also provided extra water stations just in case.
The race started at Gorleston Ormiston Venture Academy which meant plenty of room and facilities including a baggage drop – and an ice-cream van! The course itself soon left the built up area and was mainly undulating country lanes with a picturesque stretch right through the grounds of Somerleyton Hall at around the half-way point. 355 runners completed the course.
During our warm-up on the field Tony A was saying how he had never previously run the 13.25 mile half marathon distance. He needn’t have been concerned! Tony was the first Jag home storming in with a gold standard time of 1.29.18. Now there’s a time to beat to PB Tony.
Second Jag over the line was Ken Bowman who picked up an age category win with his diamond standard time of 1.37.48 .
Nicola Lambert-John and Vicky Tovell hatched a last minute plan to run at least some of the race together – until Nicola ditched Vicky or vice versa…. That never happened and they ran the whole thing together until the final lap of the school playing field where Nicola had a Leathes –Prior rival in her sights and produced a super-fast finish. Nicola was delighted with a well-deserved PB by over 5 minutes and a silver standard time of 1.44.16. Vicky crossed the line with a gold standard at 1.44.25 – and was most surprised and happy with an age-category win.
The three musketeers – or Peter KC, Sonya Wragg and Emma Jordan – who had started off by saying they would treat the race as more of a training run romped home well under two hours. They certainly had the most impressive finish – all holding hands and crossing the line in unison – all receiving the time of 1.55.08, a silver standards.
The race was extremely well-marshalled, with a guest-marshall appearance from our own Becky Durant! It was well organised and all finishers received a medal, an orange T-shirt you just can’t miss and a can of Adnams Ghost Ship! Thanks for a great event to GYRR.
| Name | Time | PB | Standard |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tony Alborough | 1.29.15 | FT | Gold |
| Ken Bowman | 1.37.48 | Diamond | |
| Nicola Lambert-John | 1.44.16 | PB | Silver |
| Vicky Tovell | 1.44.25 | Gold | |
| Peter Kean-Cockburn | 1.55.08 | Silver | |
| Emma Jorden | 1.55.08 | Silver | |
| Sonya Wragg | 1.55.08 | Silver |