Boston UK holds an annual running festival in April consisting of a marathon, half marathon, 10k and 5k distances. It’s an early start to the races and the weather was more favourable than last year. Instead of rain, it was on the rather warm side.
The course takes runners out from Boston Market Place, through Freiston to Butterwick where the marathon route peels off from the half marathon. The organisers encourage spectators to support the runners at certain points along the course, otherwise it can be a rather bleak and lonely route through rural Lincolnshire.
Heading out through Benington and Leverton there is a final loop at Old Leake before heading back towards the half marathon route at Butterwick. At mile 11 the wind was noticeable out in the fields and made up for the lack of hills. This was definitely the talking point for the GRC runners taking part.
At mile 18, there was a sign for the seaside but for the runners they headed back to Boston via Fishtoft to complete the last couple of miles. At this point they felt so close to the end but still needed to tough it out.
The final stretch where runners cross the road to head towards Boston College makes them feel that so close to the finish, but with the time still ticking they continue down the road, before entering the college, with one last turn before the finish line finally comes into view and the accompanying sense of relief at completing the distance.
In the marathon were 6 members from Grantham Running Club. First back was Alan Carley who struggled right before the line, having hit the wall Miley Cyrus-style like a wrecking ball. Despite being near collapse, he still finished in a fine time of 3:31:28, only a minute outside his PB.
Another notable performance was from stealth GRC member Rebecca Hallett who nailed a PB of 3:55:21. Despite this not being her target race (her big goal is a 24hr ultra next month), she entered at the last minute given that it is cheap, relatively local and she wanted to go for a sub 4hr marathon. The fast course represented too good an opportunity to miss having done two previous marathons this year on trail.
Full Marathon results: Alan Carley 3:31:28; Rebecca Hallett 3:55:21; Jason Blair 3:59:47; Caroline Davis 4:03:05; Nick Payne 4:46:45; Ros Sadler 5:00:38.
In the half marathon were 3 GRC members. The most notable achievement was Paul Jepson who was first in his age category. However, the age bandings stop at 65+ and therefore there was no prize for Paul.
Half marathon results: Paul Jepson 1:54:51; Katherine Thompson 2:07:04; Richard Urquhart 2:18:36.
Report by Caroline Davis