Julian puts in the hard yards at Yeovil Half Marathon

Julian Oxborough in the Yeovil Half Marathon

Testing out his fitness and mindset ahead of his impending marathon, Julian Oxborough was in action at the Yeovil Half Marathon

With the prospect of the London Marathon looming large on the horizon, Julian Oxborough had only one actual race to help prepare for the big occasion. That was the Yeovil Half Marathon, which is close to where he now resides in Somerset. Here’s Julian’s report on how the event panned out from his perspective…

“The Yeovil Half Marathon is a significant running event held annually since its conception in 2013. Several modifications have been made to the course over the years including the introduction of the “King of the hill” segment. Attracting many local runners, a strong field of 1,500 took to the start line with Axe Valley Runners organising the proceedings.

The Yeovil Half Marathon was a favourite of Julian’s

Known for its scenic course, the race takes its participants around the town centre, through Yeovil Country Park and along several quiet country roads in the surrounding area. The race typically starts at 9:00am and features a unique finish line in the Quedam Shopping Centre.

Julian Oxborough heads down the round in the Yeovil Half Marathon

A lot of the route was on quiet country roads

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It was the fifth time I had competed in the race and I would say it’s my favourite half marathon. This one was a build up towards the TCS London Marathon 2025 for me. I was using it to assess how physically and mentally well prepared I would be on what is a fairly challenging route.

I’ve been struggling with a persistent achilleas tendon injury since December and, although I was still able to train since it was quite mild, it was a niggling injury that I found annoying. Despite this, I had put some solid training in, including plenty of long runs which gave me some confidence.

Aiming for a target pace of around 13 minutes per mile, I was hoping to get round in under three hours. The first mile felt comfortable at 12:02, which was then followed up with a 13:01 fpr the second mile. I was still feeling quite relaxed after going through the third mile in 12:57. Then achilleas tendon started flaring up then became a struggle forcing me to go a fair bit slower. The change in weather conditions didn’t help matters either.

Julian stops his watch after completing the race

Julian checks his time at the end of a hard fought race

The elevation gain of the course is 722ft which shows it has a fair few undulations. I ended up crossing the line in 3 hours 10 minutes and 41 seconds, giving me an average pace of 14:36 per mile. That put me in 1,117th place and 53rd in the Vet 60 category. In the 60 to 64 division, I came 37th.“

Julian Oxborough in action at the Yeovil Half Marathon

Julian was impacted by a niggling achilleas tendon issue