Cricklade Half-Marathon

Hi all i just entered the above race and wondered if anyone else has run it before and can give me any insight as to what the course is like

Or if you’re running it and would like to have some support and help support others who are training for this race or another Half a marathon that there’s not a thread for feel free to post and were help each other

Comments

  • Toby

    I have run it a couple of times. It is a great course for a fast time I think. Not completely flat, but not even undulating. All on quiet roads out NW from Cricklade, round a loop and back on the same roads. It does not attract thousands, which is another bonus for many of us. Highly recommended.

  • hey toby 3 im running its my local run ive run it twice nice course although not traffic free but marshells are on hand to slow traffic down but to be honest there is not alot anyway.. and the medal is really nice and well worth the entry fee...see you there and at brighton image
  • Hi Yvonne and Richie sorry i haven’t replied before but i seem to have lost the automatic response you get when you have a message i thought R/W had fixed it but it seems to have reoccurred i just emailed them again

    Yvonne would love to meet up before the race myself and the wife will probable travel up on Saturday and stay at a hotel for the night and then drive back on Sunday as i only have to come from Bristol

    Richie are you running again this year i did phone the organizer to find out whether it was cups or bottles as it cups i my well ware my camel bak for the race as i ran Leicester last year and had terrible trouble with cramp as i could not get enough water in to stop me dehydrating

  • Well i managed 13.1 miles today but got to say only just

    took me 2hrs 12 which surprisingly words out at just over the 10 m/m pace i was going fine up until about mile 7 and then i started to struggle a bit and i have to say there were times when i did contemplate shorting the run all together  

    Oh well at least i know i can still do it but on today’s performance PB isn’t on the cards for Bristol or Cricklade this year

  • Hi Toby

    Probably not running Cricklade this year. There is a choice of Salisbury or Swindon half marathons the weekend after. I have not done either before and live halfway between them, so have not yet decided which to run.

    With 2 months to go it is too early to write yourself off for October. Also if the distance is a struggle you may be peaking too early? Although if you keep running 13 miles regularly for the next 2 months it will be a breeze in October.

    Should be cooler then as well!

  • Morning all

    Well no running for me this weekend as i try to get all the runs done in the week but have done plenty of sleeping which is just as important  

    Spent hours mapping out the cricklade half marathon course last night on map my run using the map they had provide which was as clear as mud first of all try mapping it back words starting at the finish and working back only to find that half way round i had swap to the out run so had to delete most of what i had done

    Then i got most of the way around and couldn’t work out with some way to go that i was already on 12 miles only to realize after 20 minutes of looking at the map that it was in KM not miles i finished mapping it and then work out how to change it into miles only to have it not save properlyimage

    The air by now was getting more than a little bit blue to say the least i then went into the search runs option only to find that the half marathon course had already been map by someone else and all i had to do was bookmark it so that i could look at any time i wanted to image

    Oh well we live and learn next time it’s into the search runs mode first i my sve myself a lot of time and aggravation  

    Richie good luck with which ever half marathon you decided to run

  • Morning all

    Well went over the gym yesterday for a swim i have nothing else planned for this weekend unless you count cutting the hedge and grass later if it dries up enough

    We’re off to Cricklade on Tuesday were going up for the day spending the night and coming back Wednesday i am one of those sad people that hate not knowing  were there going so either leave far too early or do a dry run so where going to find the start and finish lines and check out the parking

    i must say doing it this way it does save a lot of arguments and gives us a good excuse to get away together

  • Morning all

    Well just 3 miles for me yesterday got round in 0:25:45 which works out at 8:35 m/m pace so very shocked off over the gym later went up to Cricklade on Tuesday and was shown  the start and finish line and was by Yvonne we then ran part of the course

    i have the Bristol H/M coming up in 4 weeks time so i shall just keep repeting the last few weeks of my plan to take me up to cricklade

  • Afternoon all

    Just 3 miles for me to day as the tapering down for the Bristol H/M has began took me 26:30 so i am pleased with that as the leg felt heavy today

    Race details for the Cricklade H/M arrived that just 3 weeks after Bristol

  • Morning all

    well my race pack for the Bristol H/M marathon arrived yesterday i was a little disappointed as i feel i been downgraded this year last year for the first time i was in the yellow wave after always being in green this year however i back down to the green again my just be to do with the amount of extra places they sold this year

    They also changed the route slightly this year to they say it’s to make the course faster and the changes do make the course slightly flatter but we will have to see if it makes any real difference

    I think this is a nice touch when we entered the Boscombe 10k we emailed the organizer to find out whether it was cups or bottles and Mrs Toby 3 was i little concerned that she may not be fast enough looking at last year’s times

    This is the reply we got

    There is no time limit on the race and we will wait until everyone is finished whatever the time so no it is not a problem. Bournemouth Joggers is a ladies only club and we actively promote ladies to take up running. For our race we will have a lady who will run at the back of the race so you wouldn't be on your own.

    Which i think i a lovely think to do having someone at the back to help the slower runners along of course it may just be their version of a recover van

  • Hi Toby3

    Just came across this thread and now very curious to kinow how you got on at Bristol. It's my favourite half but this year i decided to have a go at Chippenham instead.

    It was tough. I've been trying to get back under 2 hours after a knee op which was actually 18 mths ago now but i'm still struggling with my pace.

    I'm doing cricklade and as it's the first half i ever went under 2 hours on 6 years ago i'm hoping it will be lucky for me again.

  • Hi Splodge i got around  the Bristol H/M in 1:53:23 missing out on my PB by about 50 seconds but i did knock over 3 minutes off my previous best for Bristol so was still pleased with that it was a bit sad as apparently a runner die this year it was on the news he was only 30

    i am going to run with someone from the Brighton thread who is also running Cricklade she lives there and was kind enough to run with me around part of the course  when i went up for a look she to also wants to get under the 2hr mark so i am going to pace her well i think that s what’s going to happen she may well end up dragging me round

  • WOW!!! that's brilliant. sounds like you're well set for a PB at Cricklade. it's a nice flat course.

    Good Luck

  • i did my last long run on Monday i did 10 miles but must admit a struggled towards the end so am now tapering down did 3 yesterday and 4 today  and i intended to do just to short runs next week
  • good luck to anyone running Sunday
  • Too hot 27 degrees...and not enough water stations  perhaps time to invest in bottles? as cups are useless..on one station had to wait for water to be put into a cup which meant stopping more than id like too...
  • i must agree had the same problem at Leicester but at the time i never had my camlebak i cramp up really badly towards the end

  • Organisers can't do much about the 27 degree heat, especially in October...

    The water stations on the 10/half are well marked on the maps that are available in advance on the website, so there should be no surprises as to how many there are during the run. It was obviously going to be hot, so I took a bottle with me to supplement the stations.

    Would prefer water bottles myself at the stations rather than cups, but as this is one of the cheapest races to participate in for its size, I think its probably too much to expect anything else. Ten quid or less, with medal and chip timing - a lot of other races could learn from that I think!

    You can't please all of the people all of the time...to my mind, the cricklade runs are one of the best organised, marshalled and supported in this part of the world, especially for what is essentially a village.
  • I know organisers cant do anything about the weather i was saying it was too hot for me i felt the heat draining my energy every step of the way...i also take my own fluids as i always do but my gripe was there was a 5 mile gap between 2 stations and surely they could of put on an extrs station  just for the extreme weather circumstances   im not complaining ive ran cricklade the last 3 years and yes its good value for money...
  • Afternoon all

    just out of interest how longs the race been going i know from what Yvonne told me that it’s at least 3 years i only ask as she said for the last 3 years it has rain and so the water stations aren’t quite as important so they may not have had to deal with that short of heat especially in October you just don’t expect it

     

    This may be part of a learning curve for them and if anyone knows the organizers perhaps they could suggest that if it were that hot again a couple of extra table with water on them may be an idea i must agree about the price that what first caught my eye plus it was only an hour down the road

    water for me wasn’t such a problem as i wore my camelbak

  • i have just e-mailed them to ask when the chip times will be posted
  • 32 years its been running. The chip times are all up on the fullonsports website, were there yesterday eve.
  • ie, follow the old 2010 results link from the cricklade website, and just check for new results.
  • I hear what you are saying about extra water. The reality though is that it's not as easy as you suggest to put an extra station in at last minute notice - it requires another 2-3 marshalls, tables, etc. And you cant just shift the existing 4 stations to fit in an equal distance between either. So you'd end up with 2 stations in close proximity, which means runners would likely bypass one.

    Its one hot day in decades, don't think the rule book should be ripped up for it. They were extraordinary circumstances, and probably won't happen again for another 32 years.

  • Jeremy thanks for that have now found it
  • hi all

    well running this race again this year enjoyed it so much it's a good race well organized but small in number

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