On Sunday morning whilst other Harriers were running at Dartford I was adjudicating the Lydd 20 mile and Half Marathon. It turned out to be a big race with over a thousand runners setting off out of 1300 entries probably due to the fact that so many races were cancelled the previous weekend.
Joining me on the start line on this pan flat course were Ollie Smeed, Andy Goodman, Kate Naylor and Steve Wellstead. Myself, Ollie and Andy were running the half and Kate and Steve the 20 mile. Kate was pacing a friend round the 20 miles.
From the earlier torrential rain there was just a light drizzle at the start which soon stopped. Both courses are out and back and the run out was mostly with the wind behind but on the return there was a freshening breeze which seemed to strengthen on the
return particularly in the last 3 miles.
A thought, had Andy run at Lydd instead of Dartford I think he may have taken even more off the M55 half club record, we will never know.
Mark Taylor
Results below:
Half Marathon. 332 Finishers
| 1 | 01:13:21 | 01:13:21 | Neil | Renault | Edinburgh AC | 1194 | Senior Male | 1 | 1 | M |
| 21 | 01:26:12 | 01:26:10 | Alison | Thomson | Kent AC | 1286 | Senior Female | 1 | 1 | F |
| 80 | 01:45:58 | 01:45:31 | Mark | Taylor | Tunbridge Wells Harriers | 1377 | Male Vet 60 | 68 | 6 | M |
| 86 | 01:47:18 | 01:46:49 | Oliver | Smeed | Tunbridge Wells Harriers | 1129 | Senior Male | 73 | 37 | M |
| 226 | 02:13:58 | 02:13:13 | Andrew | Goodman | Tunbridge Wells Harriers | 1376 | Senior Male | 160 | 62 | M |
20 Mile. 723 Finishers
| 1 | 01:52:33 | 01:52:33 | Phil | Dickens | Cambridge Harriers | 349 | Senior Male | 1 | 1 | M |
| 36 | 02:16:01 | 02:15:58 | Teresa | Murphy | Kent AC | 361 | Female Vet 40 | 1 | 1 | F |
| 256 | 02:57:04 | 02:56:40 | Kate | Naylor | Tunbridge Wells Harriers | 75 | Female Vet 40 | 17 | 63 | F |
| 277 | 02:58:55 | 02:57:08 | Steve | Wellstead | Tunbridge Wells Harriers | 911 | Male Vet 55 | 11 | 204 | M |
The last runner (walker) took 5 hrs 28mins.