Robin Hood Half Marathon & Marathon

Subject: Robin Hood Half Marathon & Marathon

There was prize winning and personal bests for Grantham Running Club as six members headed to Nottingham on Sunday 25^thOctober 2016 to take part in the Robin Hood Half Marathon and Marathon. 

First to finish for GRC in the half marathon, which incorporated the British Athletics National Half Marathon Championships, was Matthew Kingston-Lee, who initially was not overly enthralled with his 1:16:33 performance until the final race positions were announced. They saw him finish an impressive third in the V40 age category and 29^th overall in a race of over 6000 finishers:

"I went into the race feeling a little under the weather and my legs didn't feel good from the moment the starting gun fired. The new opening half of the race was particularly hilly and twisty and I wasn't really enjoying myself." commented Matthew after the race. 

"I was able to sit in a group of around five for quite a few miles midrace. When we joined the old, familiar, half marathon course at around ten miles I felt comfortable that I could push on. I left the group and finished strongly, picking off a number of runners in the last few miles.

"When I heard I'd finished third in my age category I was extremely pleased, especially considering the race incorporated the National Championships. The top two were out of sight for me, even if I'd run better than I've ever done, so I'm happy to have achieved the best possible result with the minimum amount of effort!"

Finishing together in 1:33:19 were Nick Rossington and Andy Atter. The two worked as a team through the race pacing each other. Andy was delighted to secure a big new PB, taking over five minutes from his previous best set in 2011: 

"I knew I was in good shape - I had in target a time of around 1:34:30, so I am delighted to have run as quick as I did on a challenging course.  The target race for both Nick and me is the Great Eastern Half on October 9^th, where hopefully we can both bag new personal bests," stated Andy after the race.

Competing in the marathon with over 1100 other finishers was Paul Davis, Nick Payne, and Gav Meadows. Paul ran a very solid marathon on his debut over the testing 26.2 mile course, coming home in a highly respectable 3:38:18 for 197^th position. Nick also ran a fine race, demonstrated in his final mile being the quickest, to slice just shy of five minutes from his old PB, clocking 3:50:45. Gav, who is targeting the Valencia Marathon in November, felt the efforts of the Equinox a week earlier in the closing miles of the race. Nonetheless he did well to finish in 3:52:05.

Photo: Half marathon runners Matthew Kingston-Lee, Nick Rossington and Andy Atter

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