Race report by Road Captain Jo.
This morning saw 8 Lostockers take on the annual Wigan Half Marathon on St Patrick’s day. Not the easiest of Half Marathon with 194m (637ft old school) of climbing all condensed together between 10k -15k (old school again 6.2m – 9 and a bit miles). The course started downhill past the college with Mesnes Park on the right and gradually levelled out into a pleasantly undulating course. At the point Dave takes the lead for Lostock gone into the distance from the rest of us.
We then went through a business park and past the Heinz factory, we soon found ourselves passing the DW Stadium, home of the town’s football and rugby teams. Then out alongside the canal and back uphill to the town centre, passing the famous Wigan Pier. This, is where the course got tough. We turn onto the towpath of the Leeds-Liverpool Canal. This section was tough on the legs with flat sections between the locks and then short, sharp rises that broke the rhythm. Turning into the woodland known as The Plantations, the course rose gradually before we hit a short, steep descent. Then it came!
This was the point that the dreaded hill started. If we were thinking it had been difficult until this point then we were in for a tough couple miles. The path was muddy and wet, despite being tarmac underfoot, and was riddled with treacherous potholes. Most of all it was flat. Perfectly flat. As long as you ignored the continuous, brutal climb.
This climb lasted an age but we were able to cheer on our faster friends that were making their way back down(Dave). This is the point where Hazel said she was having a pint / pie (not quite sure which one) after the run! As we made our way through the lovely Haigh Hall park, we eventually turned towards the hall, then back on ourselves to enjoy some downhill. The downhill was lovely until we hit another short, steep hill around 12 miles. We then came out of Haigh Turning past the hospital to start heading for home. Downhill all the way back to the park to finish.
Some good performance out there from Lostock today on a tough course:
Dave 1:34:43 96/972 19/78 V45
Jo 1:48:41 309/972 3/45 V40
Hazel 1:51:26 366/972 6/45 V40
Paul 1:51:31 368/972 52/115 V40
Louise 1:54:03 419/972 8/45 V40
Rachel 2:10:18 720/972 24/45 V40
Martin 2:12:19 748/972 62/73 V50
Karen 2:29:34 897/972 34/38 V50
