Viceroys Run Inaugural Brooklands Half Marathon

Viceroys Peter Bell, Ian Talbot, Kate, Jon, Simon and Suze all had a shockingly early start for an 0800 race on the morning the clocks went forward – a beautiful running day though for the inaugural Brooklands Half Marathon: cold first thing, but warmed up nicely.

Peter Bell was running a different race to the rest of his team, finishing in 1.24.38. 1st in his age group and 18th overall, averaging a 4.01 minute km/h pace for 13.1 miles… and that was after claiming not to be on top form!

‘I’ve been down with manflu since Wednesday,’ Pete bemoans, ‘so wasn’t sure whether to run or not. Felt awful on the start line but decided to push as hard as I could and if I had to stop out on the course, so be it! I ended up in a small group of 4 runners battling for 13th to 18th place. We passed the Viceroys club ride on their bikes and their shouts were a great booster as we ran by.We kept up a decent pace until about the 15km point – on the climb up from the minnow towards Weybridge cricket club I fell off the group and couldn’t get back. From there it was a hard slog to the end – I was dropping 10-15 secs off my target km pace from then on. Luckily I retained my position and was within sight of the guys in front at the finish

So, pleased with the result – all things considered. The work I’ve done with Mark Yeoman over the winter has built a solid base that got me through this race! Hopefully better to come this season.’

Although not quite in the same league as Peter, all Viceroys loved the event and would put it in the calendar for next year. Perfect weather and the pleasure of running on closed roads made this a lovely event – good marshalling and friendly locals combined to make it a thoroughly enjoyable trundle from Weybridge to Walton (and back) on very familiar roads and a pretty flat course. Well done to Ian for smashing his sub 2 hour target, Simon and Suze for just missing the same barrier by 1 minute, Kate for taking 5 minutes off her half marathon time from 3 weeks ago and Jon for completing a half marathon with 3 days notice!