The Worcester Half and Full Marathons took place for the second time this year, with 1200 starting the event and 228 completing the Full Marathon; 664 completing the Half Marathon. This event is organised by ‘Threshold Events’ and starts and finishes at ‘Six ways Stadium’ ( Warriors Way, Worcester, WR3 8ZE).
Three members of Croft Ambrey (Mark L, Ben R, Gemma M) turned up on the very blustery Sunday morning but we managed to avoid rain!
I think overall an enjoyable run but still some tweaking to get the whole race experience just right. It cost £18 to enter and for this runners received a T-shirt and bottle of water at the end of the event! Whilst not expecting a goody bag a sugary snack would have been welcomed (perhaps next year). Although, nice surprise for me to receive prize money for being 3 rd female! Overall, organisation was good but the race, scheduled to start at 09:30, started approx. 10 minutes late (as runners gathered at the start line organisers inflated the ‘start’ marker!). Throughout the course there were mile markers for both races (half and full), which caused some runners confusion. There was also chip timing and results and photos were available online within 24 hours.
The course route was interesting and surprisingly scenic- when I saw the course map and how close the M5 was I was excepting to be chasing cars! There was a nice mix of flat stretches, and undulating sections. I particularly liked that the course crossed the Worcester and Birmingham Canal at several points and for the last 600m or so runners ran along the tow path (all through my childhood and still to this day canal boating is my holiday of choice and I remembered the stretch of locks on that canal from years ago!).
Would definitely race again. WELL DONE TEAM CROFT!!
The Croft Team:-
Mark Lamonby: 5 th overall (56 places up on last year!) Time: 1:25:19
Gemma Mallett: 43 rd overall. Time: 1:35:32
Ben Rees: 66 th overall. Time 1:38:39
