Helensburgh Half Marathon - 9/08/09
I was through in Helensburgh back in April and when I saw on the website in June they were having a half marathon I decided to enter it.
As it was a 9.30 start, I decided to go through on the Saturday as the thought of driving through on the Sunday did not really appeal to me, as I did not wish to end up rushing about on the Sunday morning.
Decided to take the train to make it a bit more relaxing. You can get a train from Glasgow Queen Street which takes you to Helensburgh so it was all straight forward enough.
I had booked myself into a hotel for the night. The hotel had looked fine on the website but funnily enough when I saw it with my own eyes it did not seem quite as nice – never a good sign when the T from the hotel name on the hotel wall has come off and is lying on the ground. Just to compound matters I had a room above the hotel function suite which had an 18th birthday party booked in for the night. Despite the noise from this I did manage to get to sleep but the sound of the fire alarm going off did manage to wake me up – something about smoke bombs at the party setting off the fire alarm the receptionist said in the morning! The less said about the food provided by the hotel the better.
Come the morning I headed down to the race start, which was only a 15 min walk from the hotel. Weather wise it was really nice with plenty of warm sunshine (maybe too warm for a race) and hardly any wind. There were over 300 people in the race. The most common shirts were Bellahouston Road Runners, Kirkintilloch Olympians and Garscube Harriers, which given where the race was, was not a surprise.
Come 9.30 and the race started bang on time at the pier. The first 5 miles head off along the side of the coast up to the Faslane Naval base (was half expecting to see Tommy Sheridan chained to some fence on the route) and then at the 5mile mark it turns back. The roads are not closed off so you have to try and stay tight to the inside to avoid being knocked down – which always helps if you wish to finish the race. The route for the first 9 miles was mostly flat but there were some climbs which took it out of you, mostly on the way back between 5-9 miles.
Anyway for the first 5 miles I was doing a decent pace (too quick as it tuned out) of about 6.14 for each mile and managed to pick off a few runners. However, as a result of this I found myself running on my own from about 5 – 8 miles as the group ahead was too far to catch up with and then by 8 miles a few of the runners I had picked off were coming back to me and going past me. Unfortunately I was struggling to keep up with them – a sign I had gone off too quick.
At 9 miles the course goes through the back of Helensburgh with a sneaky wee climb just past 11 miles. Then at about 11.5 miles once you are through Helensburgh the course turns back and the final 1.5 mile is back to the pier.
At the finish there is a swimming pool where you can get changed and have a shower and if you have some energy left even a swim.
At about 6 miles I was thinking of getting under my PB of 1.24 but by 9 miles I had to give up on that aim and decided to concentrate on getting under 1.30. I managed to finish with 1hr 28 min 23 secs. It was only my 3rd half marathon and in hindsight I should have paced myself a bit better. Hopefully will put this into practice for the Glasgow half next month.
It was the first race I had worn the PRC vest and I was given a few encouraging shouts of come on Portobello from the marshals and spectators.
If anyone is thinking of doing the race I would recommend it as the race is well marshalled and has a decent course with nice scenery.
I’ll be back next year – but maybe at a different hotel!
Report Michael Fullerton
Website & Results here
Scenes of Helensburgh lifted randomly from the www.
