On a quest to nail down his fastest time yet at the Yorkshire Marathon, Ben Collins checked in at the Chippenham Half Marathon to see if he was on course to achieve that goal.

His training had been going superbly and he’d been hitting 85 to 90 miles for quite a few of the weeks without seeing any loss of speed or suffering any ill effects from fatigue build up or injuries.

Leading from the front more than ever on the Tuesday night training sessions, it was clear to see that Ben was in the best shape he’d ever been in. He’d been doing his own marathon focused interval sessions on Thursdays and getting in a good long run every weekend, usually off road, either in Canford Heath or the Purbeck.

Finishing 11th at the Alresford 10k in a time of 35:43, Ben ran really well on a very hilly course so he had a good base to build from. Ever since then he’s been steadily getting progressively fitter and progressively faster.

In July he got his first win on the track for Bournemouth AC in a 3000m steeplechase race in the National Athletics League. In that one he got round in a time of 10 minutes 39 seconds. That was an average pace of 5:35 per mile which is impressive given the fact he had to jump over the barriers so many times.

Earlier in the year, Ben had been training really hard for a sub 2:40 at the London Marathon. The hot conditions on the day scuppered his hopes though as he downed a whole bottle of water at the first water station and felt sick after that for the next 15 miles.

He still managed to get round in 2:44 which was a good run with the conditions as they were but it hadn’t bettered his time of 2:42 the previous year. Recording a PB of 1:15 at the Fleet Half Marathon in March, he was clearly in brilliant shape during the build up for London.

If he could replicate something similar to that at the Chippenham Half, that would confirm that he was around about where he needs to be to have a shot at achieving his goal in the Yorkshire Marathon.

For the last couple of years, the Chippenham Half Marathon has doubled up as the South West Inter Counties Team Half Marathon Championships. That has made the competition a little fiercer, with teams from Dorset, Wiltshire, Devon and Cornwall battling it out for honours.

This year it wasn’t the South West Inter Counties Team Half Marathon Championships but it still attracted a high standard field with some talented contenders at the sharp end.

The course for the Chippenham Half Marathon starts from Chippenham Sports Club which is next to the Chippenham Town Football Club ground. Passing through the centre of Chippenham town, it then heads out onto country roads, through the villages and hamlets of Tytherton Lucas, East Tytherton, Avon, Kellaways and Langley Burrell. It’s concluded with a fast descent to the sports club cricket pavilion.

The first mile contained a little downhill stretch which makes it slightly faster and Ben got through it in 5:33, setting a precedence for his intentions. Then second mile had a bit of uphill and Ben got through that in 5:45.

After that he settled into his rhythm, churning out splits of around 5:40 for the next eight miles, brining him to mile 11. That put his 10 mile time at 56:39 which would have been a 10 mile PB for him.

On the 11th mile, the trajectory started to go slightly up and that stifled Ben’s momentum a bit. He got through it in 5:53 before hitting the one big climb of the course.

It was a real battle to keep the pace high whilst working his way up that climb which went on the whole of the 12th mile. Registering a 6:07 for that split, he then got back on pace for the final run in, clocking a 5:39 for his 13th mile.

That saw him over the line in 1:15:35 which put him 9th out of 1,017 in the overall standings. That was 20 seconds outside his PB but was still a mightily impressive performance from Ben. His average pace for the run was still 5:43, despite the hill at the end.

Simon Nott of Calne Running Club tied up the race win by a significant margin, getting to the line in 1:09:26. David Lawrence of Oxford City was second in 1:12:46, with Richard Elston of Bristol and West taking third in 1:13:39. Four other runners got round in under 1 hour 15 minutes.

Chelsea Baker of Bristol and West was first female in 1:16:27 which put him in 14th place overall. She was way ahead of the next woman to arrive at the finish. That was he Bristol and West teammate Annabel Granger who crossed the line in 1:23:34. That put her 59th overall.

Jacqueline Rockliffe of Western Tempo prevented a Bristol and West ‘one, two, three’ by finishing third lady in 1:25:11. She was 70th overall, with Bristol and West runner Katy Roy coming in as fourth female in 1:25:54

What was most encouraging for Ben was how well he was running on the flat during those first 10 miles. The pace felt comfortable enough and he was really strong, That can only serve to give him confidence that he could be in line for a sub 2:40 time in the Yorkshire Marathon.

He might even be temped to go for a sub 2:38 time which would gain him a Championship entry for the London Marathon the following year. That’s a dream for many high standard runners but certainly not an easy target to attain and would require some incredible strength and stamina. The way that he’s running though and with the capacity he has to dig deep in races, it certainly isn’t beyond the realms of possibility that Ben could achieve that.