Redcar Half Marathon Report, 28th Sep 2014
By Richard Slack
Had someone told me a year ago that I would be getting up early to go to Redcar to do a half marathon I would have struggled to believe both location and also activity! How things change and thanks to Claremont.
The route is pretty flat throughout with one small rise and fall to cross over the railway bridge. The race itself is pretty much in two halves, all along closed roads. The first half leaves the seafront from the leisure centre and heads north towards the picturesque works of Wilton before retracing the route back to past the start. It then continues south along Redcar seafront towards Marske before turning round for the last 3 miles back to the leisure centre for the pleasant site of the finish. As it is two out and backs I did see Jonathon G. a couple of times with the faster runners. My only prior half marathon was the Great North Run so the space to run in, and being able to spot other Claremonters was quite a new experience.
I set out to beat my Great North Run time of 1.54.00 and targeted to maintain around 8.15 per mile which I achieved finishing in around 1.48.30, so still work to do to get down to below 1.45 and 8 minute mile pace throughout. Overall, well organised throughout with four water stations and if you want a flat half marathon with plenty of running space and easy free parking then take a look at this for 2015.