Bath Half Marathon 2009

Last updated: 18 March 2009

Today I ran the Bath Half Marathon.

I have spent too much for this race. The entrance fee was £32. Transportation to Bath was £49 by train. And shower facilities cost £1! I could fly to Rome and back with £80!

Bath is 185km or 1.5 hours away by train from London. That's probably the same distance from KL to Muar. I could have spent more had I stayed over night.

This is my second trip to Bath. So I didn't bother spending too much time there. It was just a day trip. More accurately, I was there for only 4 hours! A run "mercenary"?

Bath is hilly

There were 11,000 runners today. It was a nice half marathon. The weather was excellent with clear skies despite many runners complaining post-race that it was "frying"! I suspect it was around 18 deg C but the direct sunlight made it feel more. For me, I could run another loop with this kind of weather!

The crowd

River Avon

People do anything to enjoy the sun which is a scarce resource in this country

The route was scenic and hilly. This means the race wasn't the best place to achieve a PB. However, this was well compensated by a good distance of downhill run.

Start/Finish

Panorama shot of runners' village (click to enlarge)

It was a two-loop run around the city. So, there were plenty of opportunities to strategise my run and identify overtaking spots by the time I completed the first loop. Am sure others felt the same way!

Each loop was around 10.5km, probably less the first because the second loop ended with a long haul run down the finish line. The distance appeared to be accurate and consistent to the timed pace.

Despite all the talk about this hilly terrain, Bath was the place I smashed my previous PB.

My time: 1hr 35mins:46secs
First 10km: 47mins 47 secs
Overall position: 1082

First medal for 2009