Sunday 9^th September, 2018

The Welwyn Half marathon was scheduled to happen in March this year, but due to the adverse weather conditions was postponed till September.

The race starts and finishes on 400m of the athletics track at Gosling Sports Park in Welwyn and runners had use of the sports centre facilities both before and after the race. Was not far from the A1 junction which made it pretty easy to get to.

A baggage storage area and a refreshment stand had been provided and parking was free although limited so was worth getting there a little earlier than required.

Runners were called to the start line dependant on their predicted finish time and helpfully pacers were there. Didn’t catch all the times they were there for but definitely for 1 hour 45 and 2 hours. The run kicked off at 9am and once underway, the first part as mentioned was part of the athletic track and then around the sports centre. This did cause quite a frustration (seemed to be the theme for a large portion of the race) as the footpaths were very narrow and we had to go through a gate to get out of the centre grounds.

Once out it was on wider pavements for about quarter of a mile before we were directed off road across a park, under an underpass and then through housing estates on the pavement. Roads weren’t closed for this so runners HAD to use the pavements and in a number of places the footpath was single file, not great if you were stuck behind someone slower than you. The park also had a couple of small footbridges to contend with that again caused a bit of a hold up. They did have marshals on all of the junctions though to ensure that traffic was stopped so we could cross which was a plus. Once through the housing estates it was then onto an old disused railway track, Cole Green Way which was traffic free and allowed for runners to spread out a bit more. The track was open to walkers and cyclists though so you had to be watchful.

It was a straight run out along the track and then at the 10k mark you were turned and then went back on yourself for about half a mile before splitting off and doing a separate loop. Chip times were logged at the 10k mark which I though was a nice touch. After the loop it was back the way we came through the housing estates to the Sports Park and then 400m on the athletics track to the finish were you picked up your t-shirt and medal. They also had the facility to get your time/position printed out.

Water stations were provided at around mile 3, 7 and 10 and the finish were bananas were also available. The course had a couple of inclines but nothing too major.

Good Points

• Fairly flat course
• Use of sports centre facilities
• Well marshalled and organised
• Medal and t-shirt as part of the cost
• Pacers for those looking for a particular time
• 10k time check-point

Not so good Points

• Open roads
• Narrow pavements making overtaking difficult
• Gates and footbridges in the park, which caused a bit of a hold up
• A bit of a drive from Peterborough

It’s not a bad run, but it would have been nicer if the roads were closed and there weren’t quite so many bottlenecks (gates, footbridges and very narrow footpaths). It did seem to attract some very fast runners with the winning man coming in at 1hr 8 minutes and the top lady coming in at 1 hr 20 minutes. Unfortunately I wasn’t feeling very well which put a bit of a dampener on the race, so would like to give it another go when am fully fighting fit.

Course Elevation

Medal and T-shirt