Brass Monkey Half Marathon, Sunday 19th January.

Brass Monkey Half Marathon, Sunday 19th January.

Race report Matt Podd

This race is very popular as it is rated as the flattest and fastest half marathon around. Apparently over 4000 runners entered the ballot for the 2000 places. It runs from York Racecourse and goes out south of York on closed roads.

I gave Sean and Hayley a lift on a cold, but still day. After faffing about with clothing choice and toileting off we went with Hayley and I setting off together chasing the 1hr 40min pacer. It’s a very boring course and the biggest hills are two bridges that you cross twice.

I managed to get ahead of Hayley at about mile 3, but knew she was close so pushed on as hard as I could. However, at the mile 10 water stop she got level with me, so I entered the ‘only a parkrun to go’ mentality and raced as hard as I could, managing to finish 6 seconds ahead. We both agreed that our ‘race within a race’ had helped us to very pleasing finish times. I haven’t tried that hard in a race for a long time and it really hurts. However, I recorded my fastest time in a half marathon for 7 years and was nearly 10 minutes faster than two years ago.

Nice long sleeved T shirt (if you’d paid for it) and all the chocolate you could eat. In the car on the way back we were discussing what a boring course it was, and I asked if anyone had seen anything of interest on the route. Sean said that his highlight was a dead rat in the road!

Online results

1. Lawrence McCourt, Morpeth H & AC, 1.05.26

    55. Heather Townsend, Leeds City AC, 1.14.15

    413. Peter Crowder, 1.27.41

    506. Sean Hornby, 1.29.52

    1044. Matt Podd, 1.46.53

    1048. Hayley Galvin, 1.46.59

    1711 runners completed.

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