Sunday 13th March saw the 14th annual running of the Silverstone half marathon which takes place on the famous race track and its access roads.

The day started with thick fog on the journey to the venue and temperatures around 3 degrees, on arrival at the circuit the fog started to lift slowly and shortly before the race started the sun broke through and temperatures rose despite a cooling easterly breeze.

4 Harriers were taking part in the event, Andy Fewster, Tony Cross, Keith Conkerton and myself, we all met up on the starting area for a pre-race chat and to wish each other good luck. With the exception of Andy the rest of us had all previously run the race so had a good idea of what to expect.

7000 runners started the race at 12 noon, the first 7 miles or so are on the main race track and some of the smaller circuits within the complex, the race then moves out onto the perimeter roads before moving back onto the Grand prix track for the last 3 miles. With so many runners taking part on a wide track it is very easy to ‘run long’ as Andy discovered he ran 13.45 miles whilst I managed 13.25!

The event is extremely well organised with plenty of drink stations, marshals and support throughout the course. The team that organise the event are also responsible for the London Marathon so have plenty of experience of what runners need for an ‘enjoyable’ event.

Prior to the main event starting the wheelchair race starts, for the 5th consecutive year David Weir won this in a time of 46m53s, Jade Jones was the 1st female wheelchair racer smashing her own course record in a time of 58m55s.

A total of 6712 runners finished the race Michael Aldridge was the winner in 73m06s with Nicki Nealon the 1st female in 83.00m. Tony Cross was the first Harrier back in a PB time of 88m34s (190th) followed by Andy Fewster in 98m04s (703rd) then it was Keith Conkerton with a PB in 1h41m18s (938th) and finally myself in 1h42m48s (1095th) (a course record for me).

We all collected our goody bags which contained a T-shirt, a medal, drinks, porridge, fruit, nuts and various other treats all for an entry fee of £23.

I was personally disappointed with my run having put in so much more training this year compared with last year, my undoing was the sunshine I failed to take on enough fluids, didn’t realise I’d stopped sweating so my ‘wheels fell off’ around 8 miles due to dehydration .Lesson learnt I’ll be back next year with the knowledge of where I went wrong.