11 members of Grantham Running Club made the journey to Quibell Park Stadium in Scun-thorpe on March 2nd to take part in the North Lincs Half Marathon, which saw some great per-formances including several new personal bests.
First held in 2012, the Tape2Tape hosted North Lincolnshire Half Marathon makes full use of the famously flat Lincolnshire landscape, with only two road bridges in the third and twelfth miles spoiling a near pancake-like elevation profile. The sun was shining and with minimal winds, it made for better-than-expected race conditions on the exposed, flat roads.
Finishers ran towards the line on the running track, accompanied by drummers who helped to motivate on the final stretch towards the finish line. Runners were then presented with a large, colourful medal and there were even donuts available for those needing a sugar boost!
The first runner home for Grantham Running Club was Joe Clarke, who bagged an impressive new PB of 01:19:11. Joe felt the conditions on the day were perfect and was pleased to race with negative mile splits.
Not far behind him was Matthew Kingston-Lee who finished in 01:20:07. Followed by Peter Bonner, who ran focusing on heart rate and finished in a time of 01:27:37. Both comfortable and impressive sub 90-minute times.
Also in attendance and achieving a new PB was Alan Carley, who ran well to finish in 1:33:13. Just over a minute later and running a race of two halves, next home for GRC was Matthew Atter. The first 6 miles were steady and focused on heart rate, and then the second half of the race saw Matt increase his pace to finish in a time of 01:34:15.
Cameron Hoggan crossed the line next in 01:36:27. Cameron raced as part of his London Marathon training block and was pleased with his performance despite finding it tough from 10 miles onwards. Another member achieving a PB was Johnny Gilbert, who finished in 01:39:24. Johnny felt both the course and conditions of the day were perfect for racing.
First female back for the club was Holly Wragg, who achieved a new PB by 2 minutes 26 sec-onds, completing the distance in 01:51:30. This gave Holly a much-needed confidence boost ahead of her first Marathon in April.
Zoe Wragg followed shortly behind her sister, to finish in 01:52:10, giving her a 5-minute im-provement on her previous half marathon time in Benidorm at the end of 2024. Next home was Catherine Pell in a time of 01:56:05, getting comfortably under that 2-hour barrier.
After a challenging few weeks battling with injury, the final finisher for GRC was Addelle Town-ing, who was more than pleased to finish her first half marathon race in 02:05:52. Proving that her hopes of a sub-2-hour race are more than achievable once she is back to full fitness.
The race was won by Gavyn Chalmers of Leeds City AC in 1:06:12 with Charlie Thornton of Lincoln Wellington AC the winner of the women’s race in 1:15:28.
Thanks to Zoe Wragg for the report.
Photos c/o