It was a first go at the Gloucester Half Marathon for Sanjai Sharma as he continued his build up to London
As his main preparation run for the London Marathon, Sanjai Sharma headed north for a scenic city centre and surrounding area half marathon in Gloucester.
Usually Sanjai does the Wokingham Half Marathon in February and in fact, he has done practically every year dating all the way back to 2010. This time he decided to change it up though and as a result, Gloucester was the chosen venue.
Sanjai (far right of photo) gets the show on the road
The event was organised by RunThrough and also included a 10k race with the courses starting and finishing in Gloucester Park. The route went through the pedestrianised city centre streets, past Gloucester Cathedral, then on a closed road circuit round Gloucester and Quedgeley including a stretch along Sharpness Canal Path.
Sanjai heads along the road
Not really being able to put the raining miles in due to other commitments, Sanjai wanted to use the Gloucester Half as a barometer of where his fitness is at and perhaps what sort of time he should be targeting at London.
Sanjai gave the race his all
Completing the course in a chip time of 1:35:01, Sanjai finished 197th out of the 1,713 that completed the course and was fourth in the V60 category. He did have to make a pit stop at one stage as well which cost him a couple of minutes.
Completing the course in 1:35:01, Sanjai was fourth V60
Based off that performance he felt a sub 3:30 would be achievable at London so that would likely be his aim.
Callum Hanlon won the race by a huge margin, completing the course in a very quick time of 1 hour 7 minutes and 41 seconds. Four minutes passed before Philip Taylor arrived to seal the runner up spot in 1:11:43. Jamie Hall of Stratford-Upon-Avon was third in 1:12:21 and Luke Maskew of Wolves and Bilston was fourth in 1:12:34.
Nine runners finished in under 1 hour 14 minutes. Erin Musty of Cheltenham and County Harriers was first female in 1:16:43 and she’s under 20 so has a bright future ahead of her. She finished 21st overall.
No other woman reached the finish for close to 10 minutes before Alice Tredgett of Severn AC arrived in 1:26:19. She came 80th overall and Isabel Brinsden, who was third female in 1:26:56 crossed the line in 85th place.
The 10k race was won by Luke Carr in 34:30, with Marcus Bennetto of Forest of Dean AC taking second in 35:07. Marc Barnett of Gloucester was third in 35:09. Chloe Potter of Hallamshire Harriers was first female and fifth overall in a time of 36:44. She was some way ahead of Emma Meecham-Jones who was second female in 41:31 which put her 38th overall.
A total of 828 athletes successfully completed the 10k race.