Coventry best for Carson but sub-75 is just out of reach

Having previously been an early autumn race (and once held in May) Coventry’s half-marathon controversially took place on the same day as the popular BHF Warwick Half Marathon and the Stanford Hall Half Marathon.

Just over 2,000 runners tackled a new course, which had the benefit of fully closed roads for the duration of the race.

First of nine Kenilworth Runners home on a highly successful day for the club was Connor Carson.

Playing down his expectations shortly before the start, Carson ran a superb race to finish ninth in a chip time of 1hr 15min 6sec, bettering his personal best by a second.

The only disappointment for Carson was his failure to break 75 minutes.

Next home was Matthew Kingston-Lee who suffered slightly as a result of heavy marathon training and a troublesome injury affecting his left leg.

Nevertheless, he ran well to finish 14th in 1:17:32.

Richard Broadbent had hoped to run around 1:31 at Coventry, so was surprised and delighted to put in an impressively even-paced effort which saw him finish 44th overall and third in his age category, clocking 1:24:42.

Kenilworth debutant Wayne Briggs knocked a massive 4:52 off his previous PB with new figures of 1:26:07, while another recent recruit, Stewart Underhill, was delighted to take 90 seconds off his best, clocking 1:32:03.

The first of three Kenilworth ladies, Claire Goult shattered her PB by more than four minutes, clocking 1:36:59 to earn fifth place in her age category.

Following Gwyn Davies (1:41:26), who was pleased to finish the race in one piece, there was yet another PB for Kenilworth Runners as Stephen Payne ran 1:42:28.

It was a memorable day for two more new club members both making their half marathon debuts. Angela Dowden ran well to finish in 2:15:20 and Joeann Niblett clocked 2:26:54 having only started running with Kenilworth’s Wednesday morning group a year ago.

Four Spa Striders were also in action with Greg Harris the first home, coming 139th in 1:33:32.

Vicki Smith was fifth F45 in 1:40:49, while Ruth Tennant, two weeks away from running her first marathon, recorded a PB of 1:51:29.

Dale Nash was 1,554th in 2:15:26.

The race was won by Notts AC / Nene Valley Harriers’ Aaron Scott, who complemented his training towards a hopeful sub-2:20 spring marathon with a 1:08:50 clocking.

The winning lady was fellow Nene Valley Harrier Philippa Taylor, who finished in 1:21:53.

Meanwhile, Kenilworth Runners’ Chris McCarthy finishing an impressive seventh in the Liverpool Half Marathon in a time of 1:14:05.

McCarthy was on pace at ten miles for a sub-1:10 finishing time but encountered strong headwinds in the final stages to finish just over four minutes behind the winner, Andrew Davies of Maldwyn, who ran 1:09:52.